Silvervine

An LLS Production

九：Asagi

I haven't told Asami about Old Liu, or Yan. For one thing, that was stuff that was over and done with. For another thing, I had no idea how he'd handle the revelation. Feilong certainly seemed to turn even more bonkers.

Okay, after Feilong shot the flaming Russian bird-human, my pet carrier had been tossed into a storeroom once Feilong reached back to his base. It smelt musty, and I sensed the rot associated with drains and easily hosed-down places. This was where interrogations took place, I imagined.

"You're new here. What're you in for?" I asked the old guy in the wheelchair next to me.

The old guy gave me a level look, and sighed. "A talking cat shouldn't scare me anymore. You're from Japan, boy?"

"Born and bred, mister. But that long-hair changshan bastard Feilong kidnapped me, so here I am," I sighed, careful not to touch the bars. "Are you visiting family?"

"I guess you could say that," the old man sighed. "The... Feilong is my son. I took the chance to come and see him, but he's such a bright boy. I worry about him, you know. That people from our side – not his world, our world – would harm him."

"He's got very strong white snake blood, don't worry about that," I replied.

"What do you mean?"

I explained what Godmother said about Feilong's ancestry. It seemed very important at that time. The old man apparently thought so, depending on the strange look on his face. "Fei... my son would rather...?"

"And now he kidnapped me because he thinks he can become a demon," I sighed. "It's so troublesome. I just got caught after escaping and now he's just leaving me here to stew."

"I think I can help you with that," the old man offered.

"Oh?" I perked up.

"But you must help me to... contact... Fei."

I set my head back down and started to groom. "Hell no. He'll come sooner or later. Either Tao or him."

"What about the rest of his men?"

"They're too scared of ghosts and ghouls." I stopped grooming for a bit. "Aren't you stuck here too? Shouldn't you know these things?"

"No, I've only managed yearly visits since... seven years ago," he recounted. "Perhaps, if things were different... no, perhaps I should have made it clear from the start. They can't see me anyway. Perhaps it's best for them not to think about the world beyond the present, but I must face Fei at all costs."

I was beginning to get a bad feeling. "Erm... sorry for asking such an awkward question, but what is your relation to Feilong?"

"Ah, I'm Liu Yan, Feilong's father," the old man smiled at me. "Just call me Old Liu, everyone does that! I died seven years ago, and such things happen, especially between Fei, my other son Yanzhui and that Japanese bastard."

"That sounds tough, mister."

"You're right. It's enough to break an old man's heart..." Old Liu then looked at me. "Will you help an old ghost talk to him?"

"You're here for Chūgen, talk to him yourself!" I yelled, throwing myself back down in a huff of errant frustration in the face of Old Liu's enthusiasm.

"I can't get close to him," the old man admitted. "Now that you've told me it's his blood, I feel both relieved and sad. None of the vengeful ghosts that he has killed will ever come after him, but none of the people who treasure him can come after him either. Even his house is so pristine that I can only dwell in this room, which is the only place where blood has been shed in the house."

"Your guys must have been very thorough." I commented.

"No, it's a new building."

I could have face-palmed. I totally fell into that trap, didn't I?

"Who are you talking to, Akihito?" Tao ran into the room, looking around. He'd changed to a sleeveless top and black pants, although all his clothes still sported the Chinese knot-buttons. "Is your crow friend here too?"

"Takato?" I asked.

"Yep! Fei-sama was so surprised when he flew me back!"

I'd say. That must have been humiliating for Takato. "Oh."

"So, who are you talking to?"

"I'm talking to your grandfather."

"My... grandfather?" Tao blinked, looking around. "There's no one around."

"Oh, don't you know?" I lowered the pitch of my voice. "It's the Seventh Month right now. For one month, the doors of Heaven and Hell are open and the ghosts of the dead come to the human world. Your grandfather has come to see his first grandson~"

"What are you doing? He's just a kid," Old Liu sighed, moving to place his hand on Tao's bare shoulder. Since ghosts tend to absorb heat wherever they went, I'd imagine Tao to be feeling cold only at one shoulder.

"Oh, what's that, mister?" I pretended to be listening to an invisible speaker, though I was actually acting to watch Tao's face pale and his smile turn even more nervous. "You're so happy with your grandson, you want to follow him around? Don't worry. This grandson of yours is very easily possessed."

"GHOST!" The kid ran out screaming.

Old Liu looked at me as I started laughing, awash in Tao's fear. "You're terrible."

"I'm a monster cat." I pointed towards the talismans. "Besides, this is the fastest way to summon Feilong, right?"

"Hmm..." the old man peered around. "You're right."

Sure enough, Feilong came flying into the room, gun in hand with Tao following him behind. The gun was levelled at me, predictably.

"I have spent four days tracking you since reports of a blond-haired dancer was reported in the Kowloon area," he hissed. "If Mikhail ever found out what you were, he'd have dissected you, Takaba. And when I saved you from Mikhail, the greatest irritation ever since he took an interest outside of the frozen hell of Russia, you repaid me by frightening Tao. Shooting you right now would be like shooting fish in a barrel."

"You think I want to be here either?!" I yelled back. "It's Chūgen! Right now all the summer festivals would've opened and I'll be celebrating Obon! Food, drink, the chaos of the Hyakki Yagyō all in one place, so why do I have to stay stuck here in Hong Kong?! If Tao is scared, fine, but you can't blame me if your house is fucking haunted!"

"Shut up!" Feilong barked. "Do you know what claiming that ghosts exist to men who kill for a living would do?!"

By the simple rule of the carrot and the stick, I doubted that anyone would have stayed in such a violent lifestyle if they knew exactly what went on in East Asian Hell. But the rule here was to hurt him back.

I was a youkai. He was a human. I scared humans.

"Huh? What's that got to do with them?" I bared my teeth. "I didn't think you cared about anyone, Feilong, beside yourself and Asami. Your papa's gonna cry for you."

"Asami?" Old Liu echoed, unheard by the dangerous guy with the gun. "Now why is he involved? Besides that, a little cat shouldn't risk getting shot, you know."

I was actually banking on the bullet to break a small hole in the talisman barrier. I saw Feilong's hand twitch. He wanted to shoot me. Alright, it'll hurt like a bitch, but I'd have another chance at escape, and it was harder for them to catch a cat with the rational abilities of a human, than compared to a human-sized human. No, wait, maybe that was wrong, because humans could literally eat anything.

The hammer thumbed back. Feilong was prepared to shoot me. Behind him, Tao clung to his jacket hem, wide dark eyes watery with tears.

Sorry, Tao.

"He couldn't have come back." Feilong took a deep breath. "He couldn't have."

"It's August, right?" I commented. "Lots of people burning paper goods, burning incense and candles, setting out oblations... return my summer vacation, you idiot!"

Feilong might be a dumbass, but he certainly proved to be fast at catching up. "Z- Zhongyuan? Chūgen?"

Shit. Why did I have to say that? I'd rather have Feilong mad at me than looking at me like... well, like I'd just killed Tao and the rest of his men, too. "There's no way that Asami could have told you..."

Old Liu was relaying more details. "'You are unmistakably my son, my pride'," I quoted after Old Liu. "'Whatever anyone may say, that, at least, will not change. Feilong... let me see your face'."

The gun clattered to the ground. Feilong's hands kept shaking, and then he turned on his heel and bodily dragged Tao out of the room at top speed.

...maybe I scared him too much. "Uhm... I might have overplayed my hand, mister."

"It can't be helped," Old Liu replied in a businesslike manner, but he was still scratching at the bleeding gunshot wound on his torso that made me wince just looking at it.

Feilong's copy of the Chinese Book of Songs fluttered to the ground. I'd been reading some of the simpler couplets that Godmother had taught me – both the Old and young Lius had been trying to ascertain the exact extent of my education, when one of the Baishe men came in. Somehow, that man had barely flinched at my presence – he was more occupied with his Boss reading to the ancestral altar.

Feilong took the phone, listening for a moment. "Asami...!"

Did I want to listen? I cocked my head closer, letting my hearing do the work.

"...in my hands right now. To lose your cool over something like this, you really haven't changed."

"—! I see. As you haven't shown yourself since Japan, I figured that you didn't want the stray cat anymore." Feilong bit back. "It seems you really don't care about his life."

"I heard that Mikhail Arbatov wants this deed. If I give it to him, I'm sure that it'll create a good route for us."

"If you'd called me a month before, my reaction would have been different," Feilong replied. "Since you called me now, I wish you the best of luck, Asami. May you live in interesting times."

Feilong hung up, staring at the phone before he sighed. "...Akihito."

I flinched, but turned to face him.

"Will you stay with me from now on?"

"Huh? Wha?!" I demanded. "What are you saying now?! You're the one who kidnapped me! Are all humans as illogical as you?"

"He's gotten hold of my weakness to threaten me," Feilong dismissed. "But, the real weakness... my real weakness... has come home for this month. It's so strange, you know. I think I would've cared, but now... now I can plan a counter-attack with no regrets. It's because of you, Akihito."

"Me?!"

"I don't want to be human," Feilong whispered. "You demons can change forms, know magic and do anything you wish. I want to be a demon."

"...but you are human," I replied, slightly afraid. Because, you see, some youkai used to be human. The Bridge Princess of Uji. Kiyohime. Hannya. Hone-onna. Dorotabō.

"Father, I am sorry," Feilong whispered, putting down his teacup in favour of the harder stuff. "I just can't muster up the effort right now."

"It is I who should apologise, my son," Old Liu told his son, who couldn't hear him. "If you can find it in yourself to let go, then let go. If you cannot, then don't."

The expensive crystal-cut glass fell to the floor and shattered.

"...father? Was that you?"

"Boss!" More men in black suits were already pouring in. "Are you alright?"

"It's alright. I'm fine, I just dropped a glass." Feilong dismissed them all. When the room was emptied of subordinates at last, Feilong sank back into his chair. "Akihito, I don't think I'll drink today. Make some tea."

"I'm not your parlour maid," I grumbled, but I kept shooting looks at Old Liu, the sad old ghost, as I made the tea. Pu-er, because it was late and he needed sleep. Only when he got the cup did I set out to clean up the shards.

"You could be," Feilong mused. "You have been honest and upfront about things, even if they are out of this world. At this point I'll trust a parlour maid and a cat over my men. Stay by my side."

"You're cutting off your nose to spite your face at this rate," I whispered. "The deed belongs to Old Liu, right? And he left it to you? So isn't it important? I'm not just saying this because I wanna go home, but the deed is something entrusted to you, right? Don't you humans hold that as valuable?"

"The people are more important," Feilong replied. "You are needed with me to see Father. In the absence of Yanzhui, someone must burn offerings for him."

"Who's Yanzhui?"

"Ah, yes," Old Liu glumly nodded. "My idiot son who got himself landed in Avīci Hell."

"Holy fuck, what did he do?!" I shouted in response to Old Liu's statement.

"...patricide."

"So... your elder son killed you, and- how does Asami fit into this picture?" I hadn't realised that I'd spoken that aloud until Feilong rounded on me.

"What do you mean?!"

I looked into Feilong's wild, dark eyes, and I swallowed. With me as a translator, Old Liu began to relate the entire series of events that ended with a son shooting his father out of jealousy and Asami shooting the son, and then another father shooting his son and generally complicated events with some guy called Toh.

Holy shit. This is ridiculous. What kind of tragedy after tragedy is this crap?!

Because I'd missed the Kanto celebrations during my kidnapping to Hong Kong, I'd gotten started for the August celebrations. So, I might have used up all the skewers in Asami's kitchen.

Believe me, it's an improvement. This is a guy who probably thinks alcohol is a food group.

Anyway, morning dawned as I made breakfast for two. My clear sight greeted a hastily assembled cucumber horse. I was making an eggplant cow when Asami appeared, having just taken a morning shower.

He was halfway through donning a cotton singlet, but he stopped and watched me.

"What is... that?"

"It's a cucumber horse, Asami."

"It looks like a terrible art project."

Asami was giving my cucumber horse a look bordering the line of being endearing and irritating. "Why are you defacing fruits so early in the morning?"

"You've never done- course you've never done them," I sighed, correcting myself. "Well, cucumber horses and eggplant cows are standard prep for Obon. You want your ancestors to come home fast, on the horse, and you want them to leave slowly, on the cow."

He looked slightly lost.

"Unless... you don't even know what's Obon?" I was beginning to feel pity for this guy who'd never celebrated what, to me, was the entirety of summer vacations.

"I've never seen it celebrated in... such a manner," Asami replied. "I do know what's Bon-odori.1 I'm just curious that you do... these. Even when you don't have a blood family. At least, one that's mortal."

"My Godmother has friends," I replied. "One of them, Takaba-san, gave me his name so that I could go to school, get a job, and live as a human. He doesn't have a family, so I'm doing these for him."

Asami sat down at his dining table, taking one of the prepared breakfast plates. I'd tried Japanese this time – my portion was very clear, depending on which plate had the spring onions. Asami immediately took the one with spring onions. "Alright. Do you need anything else?"

"No, I'll just set up an altar for him at my apartment later."

Asami paused mid-bite. He swallowed. "The one that your landlord packed all your stuff up to let out?"

I scowled at him. "I'll move back there."

"Move here."

"Asami, my lease is finished in-" I calculated, "-two years and three months."

So that meant... Was it only three months since we first met? It sure felt like forever.

"And there's the nekomata issue, too," I felt compelled to add. "By taking me in, you'll become a tsukimono-suji. I'll be haunting you for the rest of your life and beyond."

Asami gave me a blank look. I might still find him incomprehensible, but I could tell that this was, somehow, a look far worse than him invading Aokigahara after an injured cat. "You're doing arts and crafts with my groceries. I think we've gotten somewhere beyond that stage."

"Excuse you, I'm not a pet!" I retorted, setting down the aubergine cow with more force than I'd intended.

"Feilong apparently disagreed."

"That's because of you, as always," I scowled. "I'm so lucky it was the Seventh Month over there."

"Does that have a special meaning?"

"Well, from our point of view, it's the demonic version of summer vacation." I counted. "So there's plenty of ghosts roaming the mortal world. For a Triad, those guys are surprisingly big on not killing during this time."

Asami paused, trying to wrap his head around the concept before he gave a bark of laughter. "I can see the logic in trying to avoid vengeful ghosts. A talking cat is one thing, but it invites... suspicions about the ontological nature of Hell."

"Really?" I asked. "No wonder Tao kept asking so many questions."

"Does being in Jigoku hurt?"

"Uh, I've never been there," I honestly replied to Tao's innocent question.

I'd forgotten the next most irritating things about humans. It's not the multitude of scents, or the hypocrisy of their society, or their weak bodies and reliance on tools to get the job done. It's that they're so damn curious about a world which is secretive by tradition and necessity. Tao sticking ice cream sticks into his cucumbers notwithstanding.

I'd been let out of the pet carrier on the condition of good behaviour. Then a can of paint had been mysteriously upended on it, and now I was just hanging around as a feline intermediary between Old Liu and Liu Feilong. The father-son conversation would have been heart-warming if I wasn't stuck relaying words at Feilong's convenience. Plus, since now he had a viable reason to keep me around, Feilong's stares had become super creepy.

"Japanese customs are amazing," Tao had finally fixed a cucumber horse once I'd transformed to human form and showed him. "Do spirits really ride this?"

"Well, it's a pun," I replied. "Godmother made it move before?"

Tao's eyes grew even bigger as he looked from the cucumber horse to me. "You can make it move?!"

"I've seen it done, and Godmother taught me the basic principle. I need top-quality rice wine-"

I'd overplayed my hand. Tao had supplied whatever I needed, and then I stood in front of the cucumber horse in Feilong's kitchen, racking my brains for the Steps of Yu dance.2 Walking, walking, get injured, lame in one foot, continuing on to restore order, invoke new life-

I took a sip of the rice wine and blew.

I really hadn't expected anything to happen. For one, it was probably the most haphazard shikigami creation ever. For another, I'd only been intending for it to twitch a bit. So the scream that echoed around the kitchen could have been Tao or me.

"Cool!" Tao exclaimed as the cucumber gave a whinny and started trotting around the table on stubby, unbending legs of ice cream sticks.

I watched as the cucumber horse reared up on its hind legs, got too high, and toppled back.

...holy fuck.

Feilong had more or less the same reaction when the cucumber horse nosed around the table and he'd just walked into the kitchen.

"Fei-sama! Akihito made the horse move!"

"So he did." Feilong glared at the cucumber horse, and it reared up, shuddered, and fell off of the table, where being broken on impact shattered its rather short veggie life. From his sleeve, he pulled a piece of paper. "Does this work?"

"The old mister is still here, what are you doing...?" I took the paper, frowning at the torii sign made in red ink at the top.

"...sorry, Kokkuri-sama doesn't do service beyond the Japanese archipelago-"

"I mean for talking to Father."

My hand flew to my mouth. I hadn't expected that. "You... You're actually a good son-"

"What's that supposed to mean, Takaba?!" A vein pulsed at his temple. "I would prefer not to have you in my conversations with my father."

Yeah, humans and their curiosity would probably kill me first. "It's only been three days!"

"It's not like every grieving family gets a chance to make up with their late family, is it?"

"I... don't know."

Fourth day... still the first week of August. Time was crawling slowly, while I was trapped in Hong Kong for however long it took for Godmother to leave the Yalu and spirit me back to Japan.

"Four days less to spend with Father, yes," Feilong's eyes narrowed. "Tao, if you can guarantee Akihito's behaviour for the next... twenty-six days, I'll... send you to Disneyland."

"Really, Fei-sama?!"

"Yes."

"Why the hell is my behaviour compulsory?" I complained.

"You're not going to misbehave," Feilong's expression turned serious. "Not as long as I have that woman who sheltered you as a hostage. And the reason you're here is apparently because Father gets stronger with you around."

Then his eyes turned contemplative as he leant towards me. "And you're going to remain in human form for the rest of your stay."

The pad of one finger stroked my cheek, and I was getting the willies again.

"Your skin is so smooth," he murmured.

Behind him, Old Liu shook his head. "Sorry," the old ghost mouthed.

Godmother said that the lineage of Haku Sotei is blessed with talent, but cursed with an unpredictable romantic life as a result. Granted, she said that to explain why the head of the Baishe became so fucking crazy. As in, crazy enough to imprison not one, but two demons in his house.

"These talismans are probably Duanmu work," Kō-san commented as I paced back and forth in front of her jail cell. It was my improvised cage, except the previously burnt talismans had been renewed and replaced. "They're extremely strong."

"Kō-san, are you alright?"

"I'm alright, Xiaoqiu. That white snake boy has much to learn before his blood can harm me." Kō-san looked towards certain talismans that, instead of black ink, had been drawn with rust-coloured ink that smelt like... blood. "How ruthless."

"I'm sorry for getting you involved in this."

"No, I should be sorry. I thought it was safe, that they wouldn't notice you in this great city... it was my mistake." Kō-san admitted. "That Jiang, what was she thinking? She didn't even teach you dancing. You can't even conjure fire."

"I..." I sighed. "You're right. She only taught me dancing. What use is dancing when I can't even get you out of here?"

But Kō-san was no longer listening. She was instead playing on the pipa, each note eerie and haunting. I left when it was clear that Kō-san wasn't going to pay attention to me.

"Dance," she said before I could reach for the door.

"H- Huh?"

"The first dances she taught you," Kō-san stopped playing. "That Jiang is the same as her master; not a single move made without calculating in advance. For a troublemaker like you, she must have left you some method of evasion."

"Huh? Oh," I started to move through the ritual steps in time as Kō-san started playing again. One rotation, two rotation, and then I realised that Kō-san was playing in canon – repeating the same motif over and over and over-

Kō-san reached through the bars and gave me a hard push. It was so hard, I fell against the door and landed flat on my back.

"Ow!" I complained. "What was that- for...?"

For I realised, I was now on the other side of the door from Kō-san.

"How did I...? The fuck?!"

"I knew it!" Kō-san cackling could be heard on the other side where I had been previously. "Jiang Beike, you bitch!"

And she kind of segued off into Chinese, but I was too distracted by the fact that yes, my Godmother had taught me a magic dance and didn't even tell me it was magic.

Who does that?!

I was so lost in my head, I haven't even noticed that everyone was giving me a wide berth until Tao found and dragged me to Feilong's library – and yes, I did mean the big room with books.

"Akihito! Let's play Monopoly!"

"...huh?"

Critiquez, s'il vous plaît!

1 Bon-odori is a style of dancing performed during Obon. Originally a Nenbutsu folk dance to welcome the spirits of the dead, the style of celebration varies in many aspects from region to region.

2 Yubu, translated as Pace(s) of Yu or Step(s) of Yu, is the basic mystic dance step of religious Taoism. This ancient walking or dancing technique typically involves dragging one foot after another, and is explained in reference to the legendary Yu the Great, who became lame on one side of his body from exerting himself while establishing order in the world after the Great Flood.