Originally, this was going to be one really long chapter. But then I hit writer's block and decided you guys would prefer to see this much now, rather than wait another three weeks or so. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy.
Yin
Chapter 9: Unfortunate Discoveries
Harry was scowling. He'd worn this expression for much of the past school year and the several months of traveling from one country to another, but he'd started to have some safe relief in the fact that it hadn't adorned his face once in since he'd entered Japan.
However, he found it quite impossible to keep the scowl away now, especially since one Draco Malfoy currently right across from him, just on the opposite side of the large room, his newly re-wrapped bandages being checked diligently by Kimura as a rather short Exorcism Squad member (wearing a large lime green band on his upper right arm) packed up the healing potions.
Malfoy, naturally enough, mirrored Harry's expression right back at him, but it softened into one of mild indifference every time he turned back to speak with Kouichi. For some reason, that annoyed Harry more than anything. Seeing Draco Malfoy, the Death Eater, his hatred rival since their first moments in Hogwarts, acting familiar and almost friendly with someone like Kimura, who'd he'd betrayed and assisted in kidnapping, just made Harry…He couldn't find a word for it, but it was something between furious and sick to his stomach.
He was so focused on the feeling that he nearly jumped a foot when a cold, wet cloth wrapped around the gash on his upper arm. The sudden scent of sour, icily burning potion invaded his nose, and Hermione's voice broke through to his ears.
"You know, Harry, that's not really the way to present yourself when entering a foreign sanctuary."
Harry's scowl deepened, this time aimed at his female friend as the potion quickly healed the gaping spell-wound. "He attacked first."
"No, you did." Izumi muttered from not-too-far-away, sitting beside the wall with Takuya. "All he did was go for his wand. You fired the first shot, Potter."
A light blush spread over Harry's cheeks, a red one of shame and contained anger. It was true that his first instinct upon laying eyes on Malfoy was to try and blast the damn fool's head off, and the blonde had retaliated, mildly wounding both Harry and the surrounding remains of the doorframe.
Harry and Ron, lying on his back not too far away, were both rather annoyed with the other young man's presence. Surely Harry's pent-up rage was…understandable at least, given the person in question and the circumstances under which they'd last seen each other.
And besides, Malfoy was a Death Eater, so what in the name of hell was he doing here in the first…
The door slid open suddenly and Kouji walked into the room, looking rather exhausted. He had a lightly-bleeding scratch on his right cheek, and a large blue bruise was rising up from under his collar. He rubbed his neck painfully and slide down to the floor with a light groan. Harry didn't blame him - though the Squad had taken over the search for and extermination of demons soon after their initial arrival, his own body ached and screamed at him angrily, chastising him for not going to sleep all night long, as Ron had.
"You okay, Kouji?" Tomoki asked worriedly. He was the only one of the kids who, after being released from their warded hiding place by Kouichi, hadn't been sent home with their parents.
"Just tired." Sighed the guardian, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. He massaged his neck with one hand. "I think we've got nearly all of 'em…Tanuki, mostly, a couple of stray cats."
Harry nodded in understanding. They'd seen quite a few of the badger-like creatures leaping into and out of the woods as they'd charged up here. One of them had gotten Hermione lightly on the ankle, the reason she and Ron had lagged behind slightly.
"They're nothing special. Common rat-hole hiders, most of 'em wet themselves and gave up the minute they saw the Squad." Kouji shook his jacket out slightly to illustrate his casual talk. "The only problem is…there's an awful lot of them…"
Takuya cocked his head curiously to one side. "More than usual, you mean?"
"Exactly that."
Kouji's body went through a rather conditioned spasm that would have normally set him at strict attention, but the fact that he was sitting down limited his motions to jerking backwards and banging his head on the wall. Mizuki-sempai smirked down at him rather irritatingly as she passed by.
Her green hawk-eyes scanned the room contemplatively, falling on each of the teens who had 'followed' them into the attack, and especially checking on the blonde boy they'd found nearly unconscious from both pain and blood loss. She bent at the waist to check his progress and received a scowl in return, but, used to deal with tough-attitude teenage boys, she just grinned.
"Looks like everyone's doing all right then." She straightened, brushing her ponytail back over her shoulder. "Good. Wouldn't be much of a rescue mission if someone got wasted…"
"Hold on a sec!" Ron sputtered, sitting straight up. He hadn't been hurt or even scratched up, just generally lazy as usual. "Don't just change the subject like that, lady! What the hell do you mean by-"
He had to cut off then, because Mizuki spun around and connected a sharp kick to the side of his head, knocking him over hard but skillfully avoiding any actual damage. "Watch your tongue when speaking to a lady, young man."
Harry instantly recorded that to memory, and understood in flash why Kouji and the rest of the Squad was willing to jump at her every command.
"I think I know what he means, ma'am…" Hermione cleared her throat lightly, nodding to the woman respectfully without rising from her sitting position. "What did you mean by 'exactly that'. This kind of thing…isn't normal?"
Mizuki's eyes darkened, but not in the way they had when she'd attacked Ron. "No. This isn't normal at all."
Kouji glanced up at her with a knowing expression and pulled away, crossing to check on his brother. Mizuki followed him with her eyes, but, finding nothing she could object with, took a deep breath and continued with her explanation.
"Demons are relatively solitary creatures, operating alone more often than not. Even when they do work in groups, they are usually no larger than three or four animals strong." Her frowned deepened another few wrinkles worth. "This group was larger. Much larger. At least twenty Tanuki, eight cats and two high-level foxes, no less than five tails each. An attack that large, on a place where they consciously knew there would be several wizards ready to defend, couldn't have been constructed by demons alone."
"Wait…" Izumi sat up straighter. "So you mean there was someone controlling them?"
"Commanding them, more accurately. Most likely a human. A wizard." Mizuki narrowed her eyes sharply, her hand resting on the hilt of her sheaved sword. "And to direct that many demons at once, it would have to be a very powerful one…with Some very malicious motives."
Harry narrowed his eyes. There was a short list of people that burst to his mind instantly at that simple description, but they all boiled down to the same common denominator. And one of them was sitting right across the room…
"But, there's no time to fret about that. There's one place left to check." The blonde woman brushed her hair back again and strode over to the three boys leaning against the opposite wall with a light grin on her face. "Kimura-san, how is your neck doing?"
The young priest touched the bandages around his bruised throat contemplatively, but smiled at her. "Just fine, Mizuki-san."
"Good, good." Mizuki nodded. "You did here that we found Kenkyo-san? She's shaken up and a little delirious, but she looks like she'll be fine. Took on eight Tanuki on her own, the old devil, always knew she was stubborn as a mule."
Izumi giggled behind her, but most of the others were too anxious around Mizuki to do so. The leader of the Exorcism Squad just grinned, however, and turned back to Kouichi again.
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to fine Hakaishi-san yet." She explained. "The only place left to check on the shrine grounds is the Yami no Jinjya, and I'm afraid the doors are locked."
Harry leaned over to Takuya and Izumi at the same moment that Hermione asked the question he'd been reaching for: "The Yami know what?"
"Yami no Jinjya." Izumi explained softly. "Literally the 'Shrine of Darkness'. It's a place only the Yin-based wizards can enter."
"How come?" Ron asked, a bit lamely.
"Well, one, it's against the rules." Takuya pushed his goggles further up his forehead smartly. "It's kinda of a tit-for-tat thing, since there are plenty of places that are the Yang-only type. It's only fair there should be someplace just for them, too."
"Besides, it's specifically made to support and balance Yin-based spells." Izumi added brightly. "Yang-wizards like us can get pretty disoriented if you hang out in there too long. You can get pretty sick if you're in there too long."
Hermione still looked confused. "But if the door's still locked, why do you need to worry about it?"
"It's the best place for a Yin wizard to fortify himself against an attack." Mizuki said simply. "Hakaishi-san might have hidden from the demons in there and passed out. If that's the case, he'll need medical attention right away.
"However…" She turned to Kouichi with a light nod. "The only ones with a key to the Yami no Jinjya are the Yin-type priests. Hakaishi has one of them, naturally. Which means the other one must be…"
"Right here." Kouichi tugged at the leather cord around his neck, pulling a tarnished silver key from the folds of his robe.
Malfoy leaned over to examine the object without touching it. An untrained observer would think it nothing but a normal old key, but a trained wizard such as himself could tell that it contained a very specific unlocking spell that would only work on one magical lock. How interesting…
"If you don't mind opening it for us, Kimura-kun, we'll get this taken care of and get out of everyone's way." Mizuki nodded. "That okay?"
"Yeah…sure." Kouichi shrugged. Kouji popped up quickly and helped his brother to his feet. Draco scowled a bit and leaned against the wall, obviously annoyed that he had to stay behind but without the physical energy to do so.
Harry, partly out of curiosity and partly out the evil little desire to annoy Malfoy as much as possible, followed after them as they left. He heard a distinct hiss behind him and felt a nice glow of satisfaction.
( - ) ( - ) ( - )
The Yami-no-Jinjya looked more like a shed, with a plain red roof and white walls with plain brown double doors. A truly observant eye might have noticed that it was situated right where the first shadows of evening would fall when evening set it, but it wasn't so obvious now, as the sun began to rise lazily in the east and the light was slipping through the trees and into the shrine.
Mizuki and Kouji both had their blades out and ready as Kouichi approached the door. "Just unlock it, Kimura-kun. Don't open it." Mizuki warned. "It could still be a trap. Let us go in first."
"Okay." Kouichi stepped up to the door and slipped the key into the lock. He turned it, the tumbles falling into place easily.
The priest backed off. Izumi, hovering several feet away with Harry and Takuya, took a deep breath as the two squad members advanced forward and slipped into the doors. "Oh, I've got a bad feeling."
Unfortunately enough, she proved to be right, as Kouji suddenly reappeared through a small gap in the doors and slammed it shut behind him, gasping slightly as though suddenly without breath.
"What's the matter?" Takuya's body went rigid instantly.
"Nothing. Nothing's the matter." Kouji said so it was clear that there was something wrong. He took a few deep breaths and took a few steps away from the door. "Nii-san, don't go in there."
Kouichi looked surprised, as did the others. "Um…What?" Izumi asked innocently.
"Don't ask. Just don't go in there." Kouji snapped.
Kouichi examined his brother's features a moment, then started moving. Kouji spun around as his brother pushed past him, seizing the doors. "Nii-san!"
Kouichi opened the doors…and stopped dead.
Everything about the mini-shrine was crimson red. Harry took in a sharp breath when he realized that the entire interior of the small shed was soaked in blood. The artifacts that had obviously been stored there for protection were completely drenched in the red substance, the walls were splattered, even the ceiling had been hit. And in the middle of the room, Mizuki was knelling beside a prone form lying flat on his back, also covered in blood and wrapped in a familiar white robe.
"Oh…my…god…" Izumi whispered, her hand over her mouth.
Takuya's eyes widened. "Ha…Hakaishi…"
"Sen…sei…" Kouichi stuttered lightly, and slumped backwards in a dead faint.
Harry lunged and grabbed the dark-haired young man before he could hit ground, sliding down with him to support him as best he could. Kouji was instantly next to them, a panicked look on his face, so Harry tried to pacify him with a supportive smile. "It's alright. He's just fainted."
"Must be from the shock." Mizuki muttered, coming over. She checked the prone form's pulse lightly. "…Yup. Don't blame him. It's an awfully big blow."
She sighed, turning back to glare at the bloody room, as though it was somehow responsible for the priest's death. "This does bode well…Not at all…"
TBC…
Remember how (in OotP) the Healers in Saint Mungo's wore lime green? Color-coded concepts like that tend to spread across countries, especially to a place like Japan, which manages to incorporate a little of ever country that comes in contact with it.
Tanuki - Raccoon-dogs. A class of demons with illusion powers similar to foxes, but not quite as powerful and with an attitude more like the trickster Coyotes of Native American myths than the conniving, often villainous foxes.
"…five tails each." - Depending on the legend, fox demons either earn more tails as they get stronger, or gain their strength as they add tails over hundreds and hundreds of years. Either way, the number of tails equals the strength of the fox. The maximum is nine (except in the case of the Mother Fox, who had either 10 or 10,000) so five tails is pretty darn strong. For those who know Yoshihiro Togashi's Yu Yu Hakusho, this is a handy bit of reference: Youko Kurama has, in about a millennia, earned himself five tails.
'Jinjya' is the best translation I can do of the hiragana in my Japanese 2 textbook. (Idiots print it way too small for us visually-challenged types…)