Chapter Nine – "Family"

~Kierra~

Kasugami's auburn eyes stared up to the sky. She had been standing there for hours. When I say standing, I mean she was stumbling almost precariously around a given spot. The only thing not moving was the gourd-like bottle in her right hand. It was like that bottle was magnetized to that spot in the air. It didn't so much as twitch. She stabilized herself enough to take a drink. The alcohol dribbled down her chin, dropping into the snow on the ground. I sighed heavily, making a face of disgust.

I wish Kasugami wasn't by nature a heavy alcoholic I grumbled in the connection. The actual Kasugami was no different than the incarnation standing before me. Maybe worse, but it didn't matter. It bothered me regardless.

Is it really that bad? Okuro replied, nudging me with his elbow. I turned to face him. The fact that I barely came up to his throat bothered me. But the fact remained that even if he was bigger, I had strength, speed, endurance, agility... basically everything but lightning backing me up. I had long since accepted I'd never be able to use lightning. It was a handicap I quickly overcame. Okuro learned that one the hard way.

Yes! That gourd is refilled at least six times a day… It's terrible. That has to be her third fill today… and judging from the angle she's got about three swigs left in it.

A silence greeted me for a few moments, followed by, You have GOT to teach me how you do that.

I grinned devilishly, sending a sideways glance up at him. I thought I didn't have to teach you anything.

Okuro didn't respond, instead he shoved my head with the heel of his hand. My head was all that moved before I whirled around and pushed him back, causing him to stumble and fall backwards. I laughed as I stood over him. All you have on me right now is size, Brother mine.

He laughed in response, his face showing a rare change from his usual placidity. Sometimes I wondered if the gods messed up and he was supposed to be the incarnation of Nuregami. His attitude was more fitting to the snake of the waters than the tiger of lightning. He didn't have the wild aura that lightning tends to bestow on someone. But perhaps that's an advantage. He could catch his opponents by surprise that way if they didn't already know him.

I snapped to attention, Kasu was relatively still, aside from her head lolling this way and that, her dilated pupils trying to focus on something in the sky. I closed my eyes, breathing deeply. The fiery aura blazed around me, and I instinctively cringed. Not from the heat of the aura, no, I hadn't been fazed by that since I was fifteen. It was the source. The tundra of Kamui suddenly glittered as a massive bird soared low to the ground. His primary flight feathers as red as the fires he wielded, the snow melted from his mere proximity. Kasu's body shivered with the anticipation of his return. I shivered from the dread of it.

The massive firebird landed, the feral embodiment disintegrating from him. The man in his place was rather lanky yet birdlike, taller than Okuro, and with the same olive skin as Kasugami. He also spoke with the same mysterious accent, though his mannerisms were far more causal. But that's not why I dreaded his coming.

"Moegami!" Kasu practically fell into him, and my face mutated in disgust again. Mo took her into his arms, wasting no time before pressing his lips to hers. I looked away in an equal mix of disgust and decency. I turned to get away as quickly as possible. Kasu was downright annoying this way and the less I had to deal with it the better.

Okuro, let's-

"Kierra!" I heard Moegami call happily once he wrenched himself from Kasu.

Oh sh- With no time to finish, I tore away as quickly as I could, not even realizing I was running towards the fire pit, which had a fire in it. He used its energies to teleport in front of me before my mind caught up, and wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug. For someone who personified a bird, he could apply a lot of pressure.

I wheezed as he lifted me from the ground like I was a feather. "You thought you could get away from me this way? I thought my love trained you better than that."

I wriggled in his grip, which got me nothing but hysterical laughter from Okuro. I didn't think he could squeeze me any tighter before he did. I coughed and wheezed more, and not just because my airways were constricted.

"My you have grown since I last saw you."

You have? Okuro prodded through the connection, though judging from his outward appearance I doubted he knew I heard him.

I heard that. The second Mo puts me down you're dead, sir. I watched in satisfaction as he cringed in my peripheral vision.

Mo put me down, and I gasped for air I didn't realize I still wasn't getting. Mo looked to Okuro. "Who is this man?" He said to me.

"My brother, Okuro."

"Ah, so this the one Kasu said you trounced with the basics."

It was Okuro's turn to redden under Mo's suddenly serious stare.

"Mo… Be nice… He didn't learn from a fellow incarnation like I did."

"Ah. It does show. We shall start his training in the morning!" Mo yelled excitedly, and I backed away as Kasu stumbled over to him like a puppy on anesthetics.

"Yeah?" I coaxed. "Who starts him then?"

"Well he looks too rigid to use his full potential so it's on you, kid."

I nodded calmly, whirling to face Okuro. I pulled his face down to my level. "Come tomorrow… You're paying for that comment." I said in a low tone. I released him, and trotted away oh, so nonchalantly.