This has gone un-updated for far too long. I apologize.
Chapter 10:
False Fur
"Nap time's over, Sleeping Beauty. Chop-chop now, you don't want to miss all the fun, do you?"
The voice sounded like a squawking ostrich grinded between millstones. Or maybe it was just the headache, Alejandro couldn't tell. It hurt even trying to think, attempting to move probably would have caused each and every bone in his body to snap in two. Unless they hadn't already, for all the teen felt was only stinging pain after even the slightest moves of his possibly torn muscles. It pained him to even breathe- he could practically sense his ribs grinding together just above his wheezing lungs. Aside from the pain, nothing else indicated his body actually was there. He was otherwise totally numb. It was like someone had shoved him into a set of medieval armor, rendering any attempt at movement impossible. The dark-skinned boy was barely able to fight against his aching body- even his eyelids refused to open at first, feeling heavier than lead.
Of course, they did eventually- right after Al had stopped fearing that his lungs were going to burst and just before the horror that his stiffened neck would snap like a twig if he tried to look up settled in. The sinking feeling of his nose being double its normal size didn't help either. Nor did the constant itching that was starting to rapidly spread around his right arm for that matter. Whoever the speaker was, he must have had enough with waiting for the teen to reply. Al found his head forced up, a gruff hand suddenly clutching his dreadlocks and hoisting him up. The possibility of his scalp detaching itself from his skull seemed imminent and, in fact, so was the pain for that matter. An anguished scream of pain swelled up inside the Brazilian boy but all his sore throat could produce was a pathetic nonsensical grunt.
"Not so giddy now, eh, punk?" said the man and shook the boy by his shoulders a couple of times. Alejandro thought he was going to finally break in pieces. Oh, he would gladly choose such fate if he knew for sure that it would make the pain go away.
Still, his vision did clear shortly after. The unmistakable surrealistic visage of a glistening, foot-long pompadour immediately came into view, along with the man attached to it. Or was it the either way around? Al had great difficulty telling the difference in his condition. What's more, the rather disturbing realization that he was shirtless, bound in rope and in some kind of abandoned warehouse soon struck home. Even the pain was reduced to a background sensation as Al's rebooting brain grinded to a halt. Miraculously finding himself able to move, maybe due to the shock upon realizing his situation, the dark-skinned teen rammed his forehead into the stranger's face with full force. Ignoring the new set of aches that the headbutt had managed to achieve, Al dashed blindly in a vain attempt to find the exit.
A faint curse and an irritated grunt behind him hinted that his apparent kidnapper was now hot on his heels. Knowing full too well that there were no chances of actually outrunning a grown man on his own territory in his current condition, Al grinded to a halt and attempted to surprise his opponent with the first kind of roundhouse kick that came to mind. Alas, his hope of the creep getting stunned by the audacity and sheer stupidity in his sudden change of tactics died out immediately. A gut-wrenching pain sent his body into a convulsing shock, his very abdomen suddenly feeling so hollow and utterly empty that it somehow threatened to devour him from within. Ironically, the only reason that Al didn't slump all the way in a pathetic heap on the concrete floor was that the man with the ludicrous hairdo had oh-so-effortlessly caught his foot.
"I strongly advise you against any sudden movements," said the hulking stranger and let go off Al's foot with a sigh. "You're enough of a headache as it is.
"Why… what… do you want with me?" barely managed to wheeze the dark-skinned teen as he fought for every breath of air.
"Could it be possible that you are as dumb as you're incompetent?" said the man and laughed out loud, muscular hands on his hips. "You think that you can just go around and play avenger without someone noticing you? What, did you think you were the only one with such a gift? Or maybe you thought you were doing the world a favor by ridding it off that scum? Well, here's a newsflash for ya, gringo. You can't go around killing people like some rabid animal and expect to be hailed as a hero. Some knight in shining armor you are, you would've turned on the girl afterwards if I hadn't been there. Lousy control doesn't even begin to describe it."
Al had the vague feeling that his dumbstruck expression was what tipped off the grown-up about his initial conclusions. Or maybe the guy with the weird hairdo could read minds and had taken a glimpse at Al's silent prayer of thanks to the Almighty that his jeans had apparently stayed on all the time.
Given the man's reaction, Al wasn't completely willing to rule out that particular possibility.
"What? Did you- I mean- damn it, punk!" said the man as his eyebrows knitted in frustration. "Are you blind on top of stupid? What, are those bulging muscles so hard to miss? Or my rugged macho features? And the hairdo! Would you think that anything less than the manliest of men can have it look so drop-dead stunningly gorgeously good on them? HUH?"
Almost seething in righteous fury, Pompadour Guy, as Al had dubbed him in his mind, threw his hands up in the air and started circling around in frustration. All the Brazilian boy could do was watch the ridiculous situation from his place on the cold floor.
"Oh, you're awake already? You deserve a penalty, y'know, for giving me such a scare! Tsk, silly teenage boys and their urges to protect cuties like me!" berated a surprisingly familiar female voice, the speaker coming into view soon after. Ayame giddily skipped from the inconspicuous door she had entered through to her wounded schoolmate and kneeled next to him. A swat on the head soon followed as the girl deadpanned, "Dummy."
The folded teen magazine in her hand hit like a mace- at least from Alejandro's perspective. Still, despite the renewed pain in yet another part of his body, the dark-skinned teen found enough strength to shout.
"What on Earth are you doing here, Ayame? WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT FOLLOWS THE CREEPY OLD GUY TO HIS DESERTED HIDEOUT AFTER YOU WERE ALMOST RAPED BY ANOTHER? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE ANGSTING OR SOMETHING?"
"That's not a very nice thing to say. He did help you, y'know," deadpanned yet again the black-eyed girl and proceeded to use her improvised weapon once more. Apparently even such grim events couldn't bring her down. For a moment there, Al seriously thought that maybe she would have beaten up that old creep after all.
All color draining from his face, Pompadour Guy threw his hands up and roared, "OLD?"
"Okay, okay!" said a scowling Al and tried to get back up on his wobbling legs. Alas, after only a single step his legs gave up on him and if not for the steady hand of the muscular man on his shoulder, the boy would have surely found himself with face planted in the concrete. "What-" asked the Brazilian with voice shaking, his breaths once again becoming erratic. "What on Earth is happening here? I'm fed up with all of this! If you really know so much then tell me, WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME!"
If not for his righteous fury and the persistent pain throughout his whole body, Al would have surely cracked a smile at the dumbstruck expression of Pompadour Guy upon witnessing the boy actually losing his temper. Well, losing it without sprouting claws and fangs at least. Contrary to his expectations, his schoolmate just whacked him once again and berated him for his use of foul language. "I never expected this from you, Al-kun," she said as she wagged her finger threateningly at the boy.
"You mean you don't know?" finally asked the muscular man, mouth still slightly agape.
"See, silly?" chirped Ayame and after flicking away a stray lock of her shoulder-length hair, placed her hands on her hips and smiled triumphantly. "Al-kun would've surely told me if he knew about all the cool stuff he can do if he knew! Right, Al-kun?" asked Ayame and to Alejandro's horror enthusiastically slapped him on the back.
Pompadour Guy plopped down on the nearest wooden box, his abnormally long feet sticking out comically in front of him. The man rested his chin on his hand and let out a heavy sigh. "Once again, I'm stuck with the greenest of the green, aren't I? It's in moments like this when a man truly appreciates a nice drink to make him forget."
"Ooh, can I have one, too?" perked up Ayame and clasped her hands in a prayer. "Pretty, pretty, PRETTY please with cherries on top?"
"You're underage," cut her off Pompadour Guy.
"But you're, like, a super-ultra-viciously cool renegade operating outside the law, aren't you?" spat out the schoolgirl in a single breath and bore her wide pleading eyes straight into the man's shifty ones. The most adorable of pouts now adorned Ayame's suddenly oh-so-innocent angelic features.
A beat passed.
"No."
"Oooh, drats!"
"Look, can someone here at least untie me?" interrupted Al and glared at talkative girl and the freakishly tall man.
"Hell no!" cut off Pompadour guy and, with no small amount of effort, crossed his long legs. "I'm not taking any chances with you, punk. Not after seeing what you could do with only about one-third Huyoi-gattai. Sure, your spirit's in what you could say is a… tangled situation but still! One can never be too careful right? Even if you do get a hold of him again, I'd like to see you try tearing the rope apart. Interwoven steel threads, gringo. Just a little pressure and it'll cut you up like a ripe fruit."
"What, you've stolen my soul with some local voodoo mumbo-jumbo or something?" spat out Al and lifted a skeptical brow. The man seemed barely able to resist the urge of shouting in frustration.
"Look, punk, I'm only saying this once so you listen well. First, introductions," announced Pompadour Guy and fumbled through his pockets, a rather difficult task considering his current seating arrangement. After half a minute or so, he managed to take out a card out of his pocket with great effort. After having it shoved to the tip of his nose, Al squinted in an attempt to read the contents.
"Umemiya Ryuunosuke, The Lovable Ladynator?" read out loud the dark-skinned teen and, despite all his hardships and pain up until now, had to bite his cracked lips to resist laughing.
"What?" exclaimed Ryuu in shock and almost dropped the card. Tossing it away with a grumbled curse, he went on another raid through his pockets and produced yet another card. Al had to lean back to be able to focus on the piece of paper that had almost ended up being shoved in his mouth.
"Eki-san! The man who will make your ghostly troubles go away?"
"S'right, punk! That's my alias when dealing with the more… abnormal aspects one with my profession has. And I better stay known only as Eki-san, got it, punk?" Ryuu's shifty eyes bore straight into Al's black ones, sending cold shivers down the boy's aching spine. With that kind of face the man could surely lead a successful band of cutthroats, concluded the dark-skinned teen.
"So here's the real deal, gringo," continued Ryuu, obviously happy with Alejandro's audible gulp. "Open those ears of yours wide and listen carefully 'cause here comes the revelation that will turn your life upside-down and leave you with your jaw cracking the floor!" declared the man with burning passion and gleaming eyes as he shoved his pointer finger between Al's eyes.
"Spirits, gringo! Spirits exist in this world of ours! And you, like me, are a shaman that can see, interact with and control them!"
The following minute felt like eternity, time slowing down to a snail's crawl and bringing along tension and silence that could probably be cut with a dull half-broken paper-knife. Chaos engulfed the teen's mind and the best, most logical and sensible thing Alejandro could come up with was…
"What?"
"A shaman!" almost shouted Ryuu in frustration at Al disbelieving his story. "Honestly, don't tell me you have never encountered something strange that can only have a supernatural explanation? Graveyards full of seemingly living people? An old lady talking to you while no one else sees her? Pfft, that aside, you were in Huyoi-gattai with that spirit of yours. You can't possibly not know. It's too dumb to even play dumb in this situation."
"Huyoi -whatchamacallit?" blurted out Al, still as dumbstruck as ever. Eki-san looked ready to rip his precious seemingly magical hair of alien origins off, if the way he grinded his teeth was any indication. Still, the Brazilian boy had an unusual stroke of luck. Ayame's folded magazine found itself clubbing a certain pompadour-sporting head this time, to its owner's great surprise.
"I told you already. Al-kun doesn't know a thing," said the black-haired girl and folded her arms. "Stop being such a bully and tell him already!"
"But, Aya-chan!" protested Ryuu.
"Aya-chan?" exclaimed Al with widened eyes. "You're probably twice her age!"
"Enough!" suddenly shrieked the tender schoolgirl and glared at both males, black eyes ablaze with fury. "No more interruptions! Tell him what you told me! PRONTO!"
Barely resisting an audible gulp, Ryuu shook his head in frustration and finally obliged to proceed with his explanations.
"Look, gringo, believe it or not, what I'm saying is true. For lack of better examples, take the classical shamans from the history books. Spiritual guides, healers, mystical warriors- that's what we are. Basically, the shaman is the link between this world and the next. Thing is, many spirits linger on our side. Humans, animals, even some things that aren't either. You name it, we have it. The shaman's job is helping these sprits enter the afterlife. And that's why we need a mochirei- a guardian spirit of our own. Y'see, some spirits aren't too keen on ascending- they kinda like it here. Plus, there's this whole 'nother thing with rival shamans attacking you. Huyoi-gattai or Spirit Unity is among the most basic of shaman abilities. It's the act of allowing another spirit to possess your body to gain access to his abilities. Say, you pull off a Spirit Unity with a pirate and now you can use a broadsword and a pistol proficiently, get it? But not only the spirit's abilities get passed onto you- a part of his or her personality does, too. And lo, behold, you're now cursing like a sailor and inclined to rape, pillage and burn."
Alejandro found himself listening carefully, despite his sense of logic practically screaming 'nonsense!' For some unknown reason the Brazilian boy could sense some kind of truth in Ryuu's words, however strange they actually sounded. It felt more like… instinct than anything else, just a nagging thought in the back of his mind whispering to him to at least try and believe, even if for but a second.
"Now, the problem here is this," continued Eki-san after realizing he wasn't going to receive a better reaction than Ayame's overly-enthusiastic nods. "When in Spirit Unity, there're two souls in a single body. So, one of them has to follow the other's orders or they both have to agree on a given action. It's either complete trust and striving for a similar goal on both sides or complete obedience of one of them. Anything in-between yields only lackluster, average results. But sometimes one of those spirits that like it here get in their heads that it'd be better if they had a physical body of their own. So they seek out a shaman whom they can possess and force his spirit into total obedience while claiming his or her body for their own. They can possess a normal human's body but an Average Joe's spirit would just ascend and the body would eventually decay to the point of being useless."
"That must be it!" exclaimed Al and almost jumped, eyes widening once again. Even the pain seemed to alleviate as the teen's broken mind could finally cling to a piece of the jigsaw puzzle that could prove his innocence. "I must've gotten possessed by some kind of serial killer or something! That just proves I'm not the one who did-"
"Nonsense!" said Ryuu and punched the nearby pile of boxes, sending them flying. "And what about the physical changes, idiot? Claws, fangs, animalistic instincts? There was an animal spirit inside you and you know it! Will it kill you to just adm-"
A faint echo resonated between the warehouses walls as Ayame's slap almost made Ryuu fall over.
"Explain," grumbled the girl through her gritted teeth, the impact of the motormouth uttering only a single word affecting the grown man more so than the sudden slap.
"Aya-chan, no matter what you want to believe and how much-" started Ryuu with a suave tone that almost made Alejandro puke but the girl only kept glaring sternly at the man. A petite girl looking down on someone who was taller than her whilst sitting down was truly a sight to behold. With a defeated sigh Eki-san buried his face in his hands. "What allows the link between shaman and spirit is spiritual energy. For shamans, it's called Furyoku and for spirits- Reiyoku. The main difference is that while a shaman's Furyoku is a fixed thing- it's basically our sixth sense, a spirit's power can grow with age. A weak shaman can't control a strong spirit. We use our Furyoku to materialize a part of the spirit on the physical plane. But if a shaman with, say 300 Furyoku tries to do this with a spirit with 600 Reiyoku, he'll either fail or just materialize only a part of the spirit up until 300 and even this will only last a very short time. It's simple math really."
"I thought you said spirits possess shamans to grant them their strength," asked Al with desperation evident in his voice as his brain tried to comprehend all the infodump.
"It's the same with possession," replied Ryuu with a shrug. "if that spirit tries to enter that shaman's body and just persists on staying there, well… death is the usual outcome. Unable to handle all that pressure- both spiritual and physical, the human body will go really desperate and start eating itself from the inside out in hope of transforming its physical essence into Furyoku. You can guess how this turns out for a shaman whose heart, for example, gets absorbed in hope of gaining enough power to keep up the Spirit Unity going."
Even if Ryuu had kept on talking after that point, the dark-skinned teen had no way of knowing. The sure footing beneath him slipped away in an instant, shifting into a metaphorical quicksand that threatened to devour him. In Alejandro's own little world- a wretched and twisted barren wasteland now compared to what it had been before- nothing existed anymore. Nothing but the sinking feeling of emptiness into his stomach and the dozens upon dozens of voices ringing in his ears. Arguing, whispering, panicking- all of them aghast as to how a 'disease' like his could even exist.
"Hey, hey ,hey!" came a female voice from somewhere near him, dispersing the ramblings of a past long gone. A tinge of concern was hidden somewhere beneath the cheerful exterior of the speaker. "Are you alright, Al-kun?"
"Theoretically," started the boy with a sunken voice, his eyes now hidden behind the veil of his dreadlocks. "Is it possible for someone to keep on living after getting part of him… sacrificed like that?"
"When, it's no actually impossible," shrugged Ryuu and gave the boy a stern look, clearly wondering why the sudden change of attitude. "But given that the whole process targets the internal organs first it'd take a miracle for anyone to make it through. Even if you somehow manage to get a transplant on time, it'll just get sucked in as well. The only possible way is for the two spirits to, well… merge partially. Kinda. Look, gringo, all that shaman and spirit stuff, no one has gotten down all the facts as of yet. What I'm talking about is a sort of… symbiotic relationship. The invading spirit and the host's one just find a way to coexist in the same body, both of them lying dormant. Until none of them tries to expel the other, they can both continue existing. But that depends on the perceptions of the spirits as a whole! No adult spirit can achieve this- look at yourself, you're almost a man now! Our spirits are used to only us living naturally in our bodies- our psychological egos just can't accept anything else. For this to happen the host has to be a little-"
Chocolate brown widening upon the sudden realization, Ryuu jolted up from his improvised chair as if electricity had suddenly coursed through his body. The man's long legs took him to the tied-up teen in an instant. Completely uncaring about any possible pain or discomfort caused, Ryuu hauled Alejandro up almost effortlessly. Eki-san held the boy at arm's length, tired black and curious brown eyes locking into a duel of wills.
"Unless the host happens to be a little kid," finally finished Ryuu with a whisper. "Y'know, things are really starting to make some pathetic kind of a sense now."
"What are you-"
Alejandro wasn't allowed to finish for after a casual click of Ryuu's fingers, a green burst of something vaguely resembling flames erupted from a spot in the empty air behind him. For a moment the dark-skinned teen was really glad that his throat was sore. The appearance of a small slightly elongated disembodied head made out of green energy- and with snake-like hair no less- would have made anyone scream his lungs out. The fact that Ayame showed no signs of even acknowledging the sudden arrival of the ghostly wisp didn't help either.
"What's this thing?" asked Al with a small voice and eyed the floating intruder with suspicion.
"My mochirei- Tokageroh. And this one is your… err… well, it's yours," concluded Ryuu with a frustrated wave of his hand and only then Al noticed another little wisp entangled in the wild mess of tendril hair the green one had. The second ball of light was silverfish in color and the closest thing it resembled was the disembodied head of some kind of wild beast. A wolf was the first thing that came to mind.
Needless to say, the silver wisp certainly didn't look happy to be confined by its fellow spirit. It trashed around violently, howling and growling and glaring at everyone with its burning eyes.
"They don't look very… threatening," admitted Al after carefully studying the wisps, one of which could easily fit into his palm.
"They're in a… compressed form," explained Ryuu after ignoring the semi-hurt 'hey!' that came from his own partner. "Look, gringo, I may've been a tad rude with you since we've met but… err, no hard feelings for what's about to happen, right"
"Wait, what are y-" started Alejandro but couldn't finish as he found Ryuu's abnormally long and strong hand crushing his windpipe. The dark-skinned teen desperately tried to break free but even if he wasn't in such a condition- and tied up nonetheless- he could never hoped to wrestle free from the vice-like grip of the muscular man.
With a serious expression, Eki-san grabbed the silver wisp and tore it free from Tokageroh's flailing hair. The wolf spirit didn't take kind to its new captor either and tried to slip away but soon seemed to realize it was in the same situation as the Brazilian boy. Ayame let out an angry shout and lunged towards Ryuu, little fists striking him repeatedly, but the hulking brute just chose to ignore her attempts at freeing Al.
"Once again, sorry, kid. I advise you start praying now. Huyoi-gattai-"
Ryuu pulled back his left hand, the one with the silver wisp, and after a single second in which his eyes showed a faint hint of changing his mind, rammed the wolf spirit right into Alejandro's chest…
"-100%!"
"Funny seeing you here," said Ryuu as if to the empty air and took a large sip from the bottle of amber liquid in his hairy hand. "Didn't see any crows flying around."
No one replied to him at first, the only sound coming from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan Tokyo far down below and the howling wind that always adorned these heights. Even Tokageroh- still a luminescent flying head of green energy- stayed silent. Just like his master, who was now tiredly leaning on the railing, the spirit didn't pry his diligent eyes off the streets of the city. Like tiny bugs crawling around endless ceiling-less tunnels, the residents of Saitama scurried in each and every direction, unawares as to what kind of miracles and dangers hid around the corners of their city.
"Maybe I took the stairs," eventually replied a boyish voice, its mischievousness given away by the chuckle that followed soon after. "Or you're just getting old and your sense dull."
"Now, now, is that any way to greet an old friend?" shot back the hulking man as he finally tore his shifty eyes off the crowds below and threw a smiling look at the newcomer.
"Well, that depends," replied the boy with clearly obvious false uncertainness. His lavender eyes answered the challenge in Ryuu's ones and bore straight into them, unblinking. "Do I have any friends here?"
"Oh, I give up!" said Ryuu and shook his head, the contents of the bottle once again ending up in his dry throat soon after. "It's been one hell of a day up 'till now."
"Something tells me the night's gonna be even more interesting," said the violet-eyed boy with a chuckle and skipped next to the black-haired man. Sprawling himself over the railing, the young teen took a deep breath with gusto, allowing the wind to play with the wavy fringe of his silvery hair. "Y'sure you want to face what's coming drunk?"
Ryuu let out an indignant snort, cheeks flushing. No other answer came after that but the boy seemed content with the silence. Eventually he just shrugged and after taking out some kind of a book from the bag hanging off his shoulder, slid down the railing and immersed himself in it. The sun just kept on descending down the horizon, the sky turning as crimson as the sides of the glass giants of Tokyo whose walls reflected the dying sunlight. Tokageroh was the only one of the misfit trio who dared move. The green wisp, still preferring to stay in this form in case of a need for immediate intervention, flew around the skyscraper's roof tirelessly. Whether he was just unnerved by their unwanted guest or his partner just wanted to keep an eye on all directions, Ryuu couldn't tell.
"I might've killed a boy today," eventually said the black-haired man, the half-empty bottle once again going to his lips.
"Why did you do it then? Why force-speed the process? Besides, you weren't much older when Mr. Terrifying Bandit here tried to hijack your body," pointed out the boy as he flipped over a page in his book.
"That's ancient history!" swiftly shot back the green wisp and let out an indignant hiss.
"That's precisely why," replied Ryuu after a short pose, eyes still glued to the pedestrians in the distance. "I wasn't even able to see spirits before then. And if one like me can pull it off, why someone like him who already has shaman powers can't?"
"You fought off Tokageroh's influence," shot back the silver-haired boy with a laugh as he finally looked back from his book. "This one is facing something way more than the angsty spirit of a bandit not even remembered by history."
A faint grumble could have been heard from the other side of the roof.
"Who exactly is that spirit? Tokageroh had quite some trouble restraining him."
"You said it yourself," replied the young teen with a shrug and finally obliged to stand up. "Toka-"
A stern look by Ryuu shut him up but the look in the boy's lavender eyes didn't show any actual fear, despite the man being around twice his size.
"It's one of the Patch's spirits," eventually answered the teen as he leaned on the railing. A grumbled curse escaped Ryuu's lips at the mention of the name. Overseers and organizers of the great Shaman Fights that took place every five-hundred years, that particular Indian tribe seemingly lost to the annals of history had access to one of the strongest spirits of nature.
"Aren't their spirits supposed to be all of the Seirei class? Y'know, refined, talking, wise, not being rabid murdering machines?" asked the hulking man almost with disinterest, his attention once again glued to the rapidly emptying bottle in his hands. "And what's it searching for here in Tokyo anyway?"
"True, this one has reached the needed half a millennia of age to evolve," said the boy as he nodded in agreement. "But you do know that the other main requirement is letting go off one's ego and willingness to discard the form he has had during his life. This one is still tied down by one single emotion: revenge. And that is the answer to your second question, actually."
"I doubt there's anyone still alive from his time," said Ryuu, playing with his wispy goatee in thought. Then, after a single look at the boy, had to stiffen a laugh before continuing."So he must be chasing another spirit? Or is he just blindly wandering around and unable to vent?"
"Maybe both, maybe neither," shrugged the young teen as a mischievous smile played on his lips.
"Pfft, like you wouldn't know," said Ryuu with a snort. "And what's the deal with that kid anyway?" asked the man, his chocolate brown eyes squinting. "However you look at it, he should be dead a thousand times over by now. How long has he kept it going anyway? Even with the possibility of a spirit meld that kind of a spirit can't coexist with him for long. Eventually the shaman's spirit rejects the intruder!"
"Quite nasty, right?" seemingly agreed the boy, lavender eyes wandering away in the distance. "Even those who manage to bond their souls to another as children always inevitably grow out of the ability to sustain the meld. So sad, really- it just proves we are unable to connect on such intimate levels without our egos ruining it all in the end. Growing up really does suck, no?"
"I didn't ask about a Psychology session," grumbled Ryuu in response. His young interlocutor just sighed.
"Alejandro Lopez met the wolf spirit Snow Claw at the tender age of six during a family trip through the Brazilian rainforests around ten years ago. Silver Claw's Reiyoku is 4,700. At the time of the forced possession, the boy's Furyoku was 170. His current Furyoku is… 3,400."
Ryuu almost drop the bottle over some unfortunate passer-by's head down bellow as a stunned 'WHAT?' escaped his lips.
"That's impossible! The very fact that he should've been practically vaporized on the spot the second that spirit entered his body aside, Furyoku is a… it's fixed! Determined at birth. He can't just have his increase over the years."
"Pfft, you should know better, my freakishly tall friend with a ridiculous do," replied the younger male with a boyish laugh. "There are four exceptions to the rule and s'far as I remember, you have experienced some of them. First, managing to throw off an invading spirit's possession can awaken the dormant shaman potential in an otherwise normal human," said the boy as he started counting on his fingers. "Secondly, being stripped off one's five senses and leaving only the sixth can 'trick' body and spirit into thinking they're dead and then have more Furyoku added up to what they already have upon returning of the primal five senses- a sort of false rebirth and hence, a new amount of Furyoku 'assigned' to the individual. Thirdly, a near-death experience. And last but certainly not least, literally dying and being brought back to life."
Ryuu just kept on staring emptily at the reflections of the glimmering city lights on the skyscrapers' walls.
"Given that the boy lost half his innards, spend around two years nearly in coma and around eight more fighting to keep the balance between the two souls in his body, I say he fits number three quite well," concluded the silver-haired boy and beamed a smile at the older male. "If you ask me, I'm surprised his Furyoku swelled up so little, not so much."
"That punk kept a Huyoi-gattai going for more than decade without even noticing?" finally asked Ryuu, his left hand gripping the railing tightly and his left threatening to shatter the bottle. "Has anyone even tried sustaining Spirit Unity for so long?"
"Well, there was this crazy old guy back home who-"
"-Y'know what," cut him off Ryuu as he held up the hand with the bottle and pointed irritatedly with his index finger. "I'm starting to really think I'm getting too old for this and the feeling ain't pleasant. At all."
"Meh, suite yourself," shrugged the lavender-eyed boy and with one swift move took the bottle from Ryuu's extended hand. "I don't really think you should drink anymore."
And with a mischievous smile, the young teen drank whatever measly amount of amber liquid was left on one go.
"You can't do that!" protested Ryuu, albeit more concerned with the act of stealing his goods than the boy actually drinking them. "You're under-"
"Underage?" cut him off the younger male and let out a hearty laugh. "Are you really that drunk already? After a single bottle?"
"Well, appearance aside, your irritating bratty behavior doesn't help remembering certain facts about you," grumbled Ryuu through gritted teeth.
"I just like it. Can't I enjoy what I do anymore?" asked the silver-haired teen, voice suddenly raised and shaking hand gripping tightly the empty bottle.
"What about the books then?" pressed on the matter the black-haired man, his interest flaring up at the chance to learn something personal about his interlocutor. "And the crossword puzzles? Hell, you were playing chess against yourself last time I saw you!"
"Well," hesitated the boy, eyes now hidden beneath his wavy fringe. "To get smart. Smart people don't make mistakes so often, do they? And I don't want to make any more mistakes… than I made last time."
Before Ryuu could say anything, Tokageroh's anxious shout grabbed his attention. Far down in the shady alleys below, the shadow of a monstrous four-legged beast darted in the labyrinth of Saitama's backstreets.
"Apparently this particular game has entered its final stage," said the boy as he peered over the railing. "A rivalry from five-hundred years ago is going to be resolved tonight and something tells me… the winner may yet play a bigger part in the events that are to come."
"A rivalry?" almost shouted Ryuu and seized the much smaller male by the shoulders. "You're telling me there is a second spirit rampaging around and you did nothing to stop the murders? How could- dammit, you're the-"
"What? The figurehead?" finally snapped the boy, violet eyes now ablaze as their piercing gaze bore in the brown ones. "The time is almost nigh," finally admitted the boy with a sigh and looked up towards the sky- almost no stars were there to greet him. "The defense measures that I was so thankful about all those years ago are coming back to bite me in the ass. Hard. I was forced to take the only option I had and if I just so happen to interfere directly…"
Silence descended once again between the duo, the boy's shoulders now slumped and eyes once again sunken.
"Do you even know how frustrating it is to be unable to do anything? To be forced to watch from the sidelines while knowing full well what kind of disaster will happen eventually? I've only one ace and one only up my sleeve. And I can't afford to use it until the right time comes."
The sound of shattered glass tore apart the silence as the bottle's neck snapped in two. Dots of crimson now adorned the concrete, somehow a darker color than even the darkness, like holes in the night. The seconds passed and with them, the drops of blood eventually retraced their way back to the boy's hand, flesh and skin mending back together without even leaving a scar behind.
"I pushed my luck just by diverting the other one's attention the other day," eventually admitted the younger male. "Snow Claw seemed content with just breaking a few bones and running away but when the other one came and tore apart the gang… the wolf snapped when he realized who his opponent was. I think that's why Alejandro became so increasingly violent and pushy. Even the spirit couldn't control his primal instincts, what was left for the human bo-"
The lavender-eyed male's word ceased to a halt as he suddenly found a large heavy hand resting atop his head. Ruffling the wavy strands of silver, Ryuu signaled to Tokageroh to come back and prepared to descend down to the street level.
"Then we just have to pray that the greenhorn punk of a newbie pulls it off," shrugged the hulking man and threw one last look before retrieving his wooden sword, leaning on the wall not too far away from them. "Ain't I right, Arty-kun?"
TBC