Chapter Eleven
"Jump," Kobe said, his voice laced with bored.
Rei Kisaki swallowed through a dry throat and stared at the 30 foot expanse to the other building, clutching her clothes to her against the wind. The she hopped a few inches off the ground.
"Very funny," he rumbled. "But I don't have all night. Jump."
This had to be a joke, Kisaki thought. Like that movie The Matrix. Where the large black man in sunglasses tells the pale, wide eyed person, new to the world that's been opened to them to jump off a skyscraper. Only in that scene, Keanu Reeves didn't make it to the other building. He fell to the soft, pillowy concrete below that molded to absorb his impact since it was a training exercise and he was in no real danger. Except this was different. Kisaki wasn't quite on a skyscraper, and she doubted the ground 80 feet below would be soft.
There was a large black man in sunglasses here, however. There was that at least.
Kisaki stepped to the edge and looked down. Kisaki didn't realize until that exact moment that she was uneasy with heights. Not a good sign. "Isn't there…some advice I need? Any helpful tips? Wishing of luck?" Kisaki stammered, hoping to stall him somehow.
Kobe snorted. "Advice? On how to jump? This isn't origami. It's not a Zen riddle. You just jump. You asked me to help you. This is step one." A beat later he added, "Right off the side of a building."
"B-but you said we'd start slow," Kisaki pleaded.
"I was going to take you to a station and shove you in front of a bullet train," Kobe murmured. "But that would've been too much of a hassle. I'd have to deal with a dead body if it didn't work. Or an angry whatever you are if it did. This way is slower, but it trades for convenience. See, if you die, it'll look like suicide. Much easier on me."
Kisaki wasn't sure what kept her jaw from falling off her face. She was waiting for the punch line, for him to smile or laugh, to let her know he was joking. She didn't need to wait long to see how serious he was. This were-lycanthrope would've casually thrown her in front of a bullet train? And he regards her death look like a suicide as a less troublesome outcome? She could understand it on a practical level. But on every other level imaginable it was madness. Pure madness. She should turnaround and just go inside her nice warm apartment and forget this ever happened. And turn around Kisaki did, heading towards the door back into the stairwell.
No, a voice in Kisaki's thoughts whispered, that made Kisaki stop in her tracks. That's exactly what he wants you to do. This, all of this, is a test. It's not just physical, but mental. He's testing your mental resilience. Don't fail in this. Don't show him weakness. You've already stood strong before him in the comfort of your home. You're merely atop it now. Show him no weakness. Be confident in your budding true nature. Show him what you can do. And give him awe.
Yes. Kisaki could do it. She didn't want to look afraid, to look weak. She had a new lease on life now. She couldn't scurry away like a frightened kitten.
Kisaki exhaled deeply. Something renewed and strong surged through her. He stopped clutching her clothes to herself and let the wind billow through her dress. She spun smoothly on her heels and faced the expanse and the other building's roof beyond it. Kobe had been staring off dully at the city, but sensing the shift in Kisaki's demeanor, he glanced over. Kisaki returned his glance, then found herself smirking smugly.
One of his eyebrows quirked up.
Kisaki ran.
The speed, the acceleration, was instantaneous. Kisaki had never felt anything like it. When she was playing volleyball, Kisaki knew that she was holding back, that she was capable of so much more. But she never knew how much, just how much power she had. And now she did. Experiencing it surprised her, confounded her, intrigued her, thrilled her. Oh, how it thrilled her.
Yes! Like this, just like this. Show him more. More, more, more! Show him!
It was an electric thing, that exhilaration. The world around her tunneled, all else becoming unimportant. She was weightless, her steps bounding towards the edge. And in the midst of this, her perception changed.
More!
Time slowed to a crawl.
The world became a fluid thing. Kisaki could see shapes and colors she couldn't have fathomed. She could see various swirling hues in the air around her, in the city surrounding her. In tiny motes of light too numerous to count, like the stars above her, but in constant buzzing motion. Like a swarm of insects. She saw how the motes congealed and focused around several points, several objects, several beings. Yes. She was seeing the people in the city. So many of them. Just so many. No two confluences were alike. Each was distinct in shade, size, and intensity. And without any reason to know it, Kisaki knew that some of those beings were not human.
And it wasn't just the living beings Kisaki saw. She saw what looked like rivers of light and energy running beneath the earth. The rivers ran this way and that, under buildings and roads alike, seeming to grow thicker where the motes of light were most concentrated. She saw how at varying points the rivers of energy would branch upward and expand. And at almost every single spot was a large building. As if people subconsciously placed buildings where these rivers of energy were thickest, because they offered protection against the other things Kisaki saw in the city.
Where ever the motes of light dwelled, Kisaki could see their polar opposites. Ugly things. Like slimy black slugs writhing about on the ground in all the areas that were with the fewest motes of light. Some buildings were covered with them. Like, Kisaki realized, this very apartment building. There were few motes of light here. And like with the motes of light, some of these black slugs festered together in clumps around other beings.
This stark contract between the light motes and the dark, shadow slugs was…beautiful. It was the ultimate harmony. The perfect balance of things.
That's at least, until Kisaki's fluid world grew in scope, spreading out to encompass a larger area and her perceptions revealed something else.
An ominous sensation washed over Kisaki as she looked away from the area that was immediately around her. Astounding her in the fact that though she was seeing so much, experiencing so much, she was only glimpsing but a few city blocks. Looking up at the greater expanse, she came across other things. They were confluences that dwarfed the others by great magnitudes. And they weren't at all like the motes of light. Something all at once was wrong with it. Where the other beings, the other people, were filled with varying hues and shapes, that would warp and shift upon itself, with the changing of the beings thoughts and perceptions, even the ones that to her seemed black. These were solidary things. Things of one color that never sought to change nor shift perception of itself. And it seemed to draw in light motes and black slugs into themselves and not meld or exist with the motes, but it absorbed them entirely. There were far fewer of these…things. She counted four before something fearful in Kisaki's mind told her to take her attention away from them. A cold and heavy feeling lanced through Kisaki's core.
They noticed you looking upon them, that part of Kisaki's mind thought. And they gave her a flicking glance that she felt from here. The nearest couldn't have been any closer than…
It was inches away.
Can't…think. So much wrong.
It looks at her.
Too much wrong.
Looks in the direction of Kobe.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
It snorts. Then turns back to her. And it reached for her.
Kisaki screams.
And all at once, that cold feeling ended the fluid world Kisaki was seeing and she had reached the edge of the building. The wrong was so…
Kisaki screamed again.
Panicked, Kisaki throws herself in the air before she ran completely off the edge. Time wasn't slowed now. The world wasn't tunneled. The world around her was a spinning blur. Stars above. Ground below. Stars again. And then everything turned to bright light and she felt an intense heat about her face, her eyes. Kisaki screamed again as she tumbled blindly through the air out of control, certain that she had just leapt to her death. But she would gladly accept death if it meant she wouldn't see that…thing again. Yes. Death would be peace from the nightmare.
She could just slip away into-
Something big and furry slammed into her. Hard. The last thing Kisaki felt was flash of pain on her eyes so intense and livid all of her strength left her body.
Then darkness stole away all else.
Kisaki remembered this scent. A warm, earthy scent. Not overpowering or too subtle. So very familiar too. It brought her back to another time when she was enveloped by darkness, vulnerable.
That time, when the darkness faded, she was standing in front of a hospital, dazed and confused, to answer questions from doctors that could find nothing physically wrong with her.
What would await her when she awoke this time?
"You're stingy, Kobe," a voice said through the darkness. "You bring a pretty young Japanese thing home with jugs like that, and you won't let me cop a feel? Can't even introduce us?"
"Away, imp," Kobe growled. "And stop speaking Japanese. She's waking up."
"Fine, I'll go. But I still don't know why you brought her here of all places. You're really risking that homeland security you go on about. And what if she burs up my stuff?"
"You don't have any stuff. Now go."
Someone groaned. "Fine. Just make sure she stays away from the pizza in the fridge," the voice said, his words seeming to fade away until the last was barely audible.
"I don't like pizza," Kisaki murmured, trying to sit up.
A hand on the middle of her chest gently pressed her back down.
"Don't move just yet. You haven't fully recovered. And I don't want you vomiting on my floor," Kobe told her.
"Uh. Okay," Kisaki said. Kisaki tried to open her eyes. She couldn't. "Why am I blindfolded?"
"A precaution," he said simply.
"You care that much about me?" Kisaki asked, a wry smile on her face.
"I don't want you vomiting corrosive acid on my new couch or for you to set things on fire by looking at them."
"I can do that?"
"Like I said: a precautions."
Kisaki frowned. "If I could set something on fire by looking at it, shouldn't I be setting the blindfold on fire?"
"Not that blindfold. It's made of dragon hide."
Kisaki rubbed the outside of it. Her fingers traced over scales, like an alligator skin purse. "So dragons are real?"
"If you mean the fire breathing types, yes. There's not many left though. They're damn cheeky and stubborn. They're still mentally locked into the days when people would attack them with swords and shields. They don't fare so well against guns. Being big and scaly only makes you a bigger target to shoot."
It felt weird, hearing him speak to her so much, and it felt a little unfair that it was happening in this kind of condition. But she wasn't complaining. "So, there's different types, like the Western versions and the Eastern versions?"
Kobe snorted. "Western and Eastern. If you talk to any of them, they'd say the other kind isn't even a dragon. But geology and philosophy mean nothing to them. Power is all that matters to beings like that."
"What about you then? What matters to you?"
Kisaki was answered with silence.
"Did I say something wrong?" Kisaki asked.
Silence reigned.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."
Still silence.
The silent treatment is quite effective when the recipient is blindfolded and in a strange environment. It spoke to something primal in her. A baser human fear of the dark, and more to the point, of aloneness. Where ever she was, she suddenly felt colder.
"Okay, Mr. Kobe," Kisaki said trying to muster some steel. "I'd really like to know where I am right now, please."
Another long silence. Kisaki wasn't sure he was going to answer until he said, "So formal. You Japanese really know how to grovel, don't you?"
Kisaki bit back a remark about Americans and their completely lack of such qualities. But thought better of it. Truth was, Kisaki didn't know if he was even from America or not. Other than being of apparent African descent and a werewolf, Kisaki knew nothing about him. "We wouldn't call it groveling, but paying respect to our elders and superiors. Especially when we've disrespected them."
He snorted. "It's a weak mindset. Being born first or having status shouldn't give you the right to be respected. Respect is earned not inherited."
Kisaki frowned. "You think that a child should demand an adult to demonstrate why they're worthy of respect?"
"Don't bring in something so feeble. I'm not talking about adults and children. I'm talking about among your peers and bosses. I see it all the time. How you, in so many words, body language, and demeanor, prostrate yourselves. You devote a whole section of your language to not 'offending' people. You can't even walk away from an elder without asking for permission first."
"That's hardly unique to the Japanese. Don't Americans say 'Excuse me' or 'pardon me' before they leave conversations? Is it okay to just leave without saying anything? Isn't it considered rude?"
"That's hardly the same. And also not the point."
"How so? And what is your point?"
Kisaki detected a faint hint of smile in Kobe's voice. At the same time she realized she stop speaking formally. "The point is, you have lots of ways to ask for something without asking for it at all. To suggest where you want to eat, rather than just say you want some McDonalds. English is just English. Being formal is all about inflection, unless you want use a bunch of big fluffy words that no one uses anymore. And when it comes to a superiors, words aren't the issue. Your whole mind, body, and soul is committed to it. It's just a formality everywhere else. Your whole culture is different from anyone else. It's old fashioned in a world that's constantly moving forward. A reminder of a time where caste systems were the norm, hundreds of years ago." He sighed. "That must be why she loved going to the East so much, and Japan especially. Reminded her of home."
Kisaki's eyebrows rose. "Who?"
He spat something in English Kisaki didn't understand, then was silent again.
Kisaki frowned. "Okay then. I have another question."
Kobe grunted.
"Who else is in here?"
"No one," Kobe said at once.
"I heard two voices when I woke up. You called him 'imp' and told him to leave. Is he still here? I didn't hear a door close."
"No one is here and no one was here."
"Why do I think you're lying?"
"You're paranoid."
"I don't think so," Kisaki said, sitting up at once. She didn't feel the urge to vomit or any discomfort at all. "And I don't think this blindfold is on my head so I don't set anything on fire either."
Kisaki reached up to pull the headband off. The moment her fingers gripped it, the headband tightened, constricted her head like a serpent. Kisaki cried out and tried to pry the thing off. The band sensed her efforts and redoubled the pressure, drawing a cry of pain from her as it pressed against her eyes. And suddenly she felt nauseous.
A large hand clamped over her forearm, pulling her hand away from the living headband. "Stupid girl," Kobe said in English. "I told you not to sit up or move."
"You didn't say not to move only-" Kisaki's voice broke off as her stomach heaved and she wretched.
Kobe pressed a metal cylinder into her hands and directed her head into it. The remnants of the last thing she ate and bile burned as it came back up. After two minutes of dry heaving and feeling a great deal weaker, Kisaki stopped feeling absolutely miserable. "What have you done to me?" Kisaki grated, her stomach still convulsing.
"I did nothing," Kobe said, his voice tight, as if he were rapidly moving about in the room. "You're the one that opened your second sight while running and bumped elbows with a sleeping Elder One on the nexus plane. Right now, that headband is the only thing draining off the curse it put on you. But it'll leave you feeling woozy and your saliva becomes acidic. Hence the acid vomit."
"Curse? I thought it was just a precaution."
"Son of a bitch," he swore in English. "I don't know remember the right Jap word is, but yes, it's a curse. It makes you set things on fire by looking at it and vomit acid. A practical joke for the next best thing to a god," Kobe said over the sound of running water. "And quite honestly, if you don't see where we are, then it lessens the chances of me having to kill you."
Kisaki's breath caught in her still burning throat. "Kill me? You'd do that?"
"If you were turning into something that was, for no better term, pure evil would you rather be allowed to run rampant?"
"I'd have to be pure evil to know where we are?" Kisaki asked, incredulous. "We're just in your apartment down the hallway from me, aren't we?"
"I'll tell you nothing else except that we aren't. I'm going to take every measure I can until I found out what you are. Which should know by now but don't. Which is…odd."
"How so?"
He let out a long breath, like whatever he was doing he finished. "I don't detect any particular change in scent from you. Even back on the roof. You were drawing on your true nature, of that much I know, but I didn't smell anything different to match what I was seeing. I know of a few types of being that have no scent to detect, but then I wouldn't have smelled anything from you. So the only other explanation is that you're hiding it from me."
The remnants of nausea and the slight headache that developed left her head swimming to make sense of what he just said. "I'm hiding my scent? How?"
He snorted. "Obviously not intentionally. Either you're something new, unlikely but not impossible, or you're the most talented actress I've ever run across and are playing me for a sucker." Kobe's voice turned dark. "The latter better not be the case."
Kisaki swallowed through a burning throat. She couldn't help it. She couldn't help the cold shudder that rippled down her back either. "What happens now?"
"Now? Nothing. You're going to sit there until the dragon's hide has finished draining the curse off of your eyes."
Kisaki shook her head. "I can't believe something would just curse me for waking it up."
"Consider this your first introduction to the world humans try to ignore. Big things enjoy stepping on little things. You disrespected it looking at it. Maybe you should've tried groveling."
Kisaki started to roll her eyes, but she didn't want to upset the blindfold. "Why didn't it curse you?"
"The second thing that you'll need to learn about this world is that if you don't act afraid of something, it won't treat you like prey. You run from a dog, it'll chase you. You stand your ground, it'll hesitate to attack. Maybe even spare you on your gall alone. That's how you show respect in my world. Don't prostrate. Hold your head up high. Present yourself as an equal and you get treated like one. Plus, I wasn't looking at it with second sight.
"The Elder One came to take a look at you, and you cowered. So, it cursed you. You should consider yourself lucky, in fact. If it wanted to kill you, you'd be dead." Kobe's voice pitched lower, as if he were talking to himself more than to Kisaki. "I still don't know what it was doing here though."
"There were more," Kisaki blurted out.
"What?" Kobe said, his voice rising.
"There was more than one of those…things. I…I saw them."
"You saw multiple Elder Ones?" he said with deliberate emphasis
"I think so. They looked like the other one. The one that…cursed me was the closest. But there were four, I think. Maybe more. They felt so…wrong, I tried to look away. And then it got so close..." Kisaki started to press a hand to her forehead at the memory, then reconsidered. She didn't want to upset the blindfold again. "There's something unusual about seeing several of those things?"
"I should say so. Elder Ones don't like one another. And never get too close unless they're getting hostile. If you saw multiple ones at once, it either means you're second sight is far more powerful than mine and could spot them from multiple continents apart. Or the Elders are about to start a conflict, possibly in Japan this time. Maybe both are true."
A slight bit of elation rose at the idea of something about her possibly being more powerful than Kobe. "What happens when they fight?"
"Depends on who is involved. Some fight personally. Lots of collateral damage. Citywide catastrophes. The Great Chicago Fire. Pompeii. Things like that. Very rare. Others enter in the spirits of men and women. Fight through them. More typical. Half the Crusades was two Elder Ones fighting over the nexus point in Jerusalem. It was pointless in the end though. Neither of them won.
And other times they have far lesser beings that swear to them and fight for them in hopes of gaining power. That's the most common one. Every weak being wants to be strong."
The blindfold must have been still making Kisaki dizzy. All the things he was just throwing at her, the things she was supposed to absorb as facts that should've sounded absurd to her, that her country could become a warzone for…abominations. The memories of those things came back to her. Vivid and every bit as real as it had been. Every bit as wrong. It all spun about her mind, threatening to crush her underneath it. It was too much.
Kisaki's heart began to speed up and her breath came in short. She needed to get out of here. Get home. Get somewhere safe. Familiar. Out of the dark. Safety. She needed to be safe. She wanted to be home. Safe from the things that could hurt her. She needed to be safe. Her heart started to hammer in her ears. So loud. She could hear nothing else.
Something pressed against Kisaki. She lashed out against it. Something grabbed her arm. She wretched away from it thrust both hands forward, letting out a cry. It flung the thing attacking her away. She could still hear only her heartbeat, but felt the impact of something large hitting the ground.
Kisaki wrapped her hands around the darkness around her head and pulled. The darkness resisted her. She could feel the suction on her eyes. She gritted her teeth and pulled even harder, willing more strength into her hands. The darkness shrieked in her fingers as she it ripped off.
Hot white agony centering on Kisaki's eyes. It bored through her eyes and even into her brain. She couldn't tell if she was still standing or if she had been standing to begin with. If she was screaming she didn't know that either. There was only the agony. It washed over her, convulsing her entire body in the fiery torment.
Then like a switch had been flipped, the pain was gone. Completely. And she could see again.
Alright. Now…where was she? In some kind of room. Well furnished. On the top of some building. What just happened? Kisaki had been doing something, but what?
Kisaki looked at through the window. She was jumping to another building, wasn't she? That's right. There. Through that large window. Across the way. The rooftop of another building. Jump there. She didn't remember why, but it was the only thing she could think of.
Kisaki ran at the window, the indistinct surroundings around her blurring past her. She vaguely thought she should brace herself to crash through the glass, but decided not to. She didn't want to lose any speed. And with a hiss of effort, jumped straight through. And was airborne.
There was no way for her to be sure, but Kisaki was pretty sure she was breaking some kind of record. Look at her. Soaring above the skyline. Arms out to the sides like wings. Her back perfectly straight. Her hair whipping behind her. And it was so calm and quiet. The distant braying of car horns and low buzz of activity as her ears picked up each and every single sound. So much sound. Sound from miles around, all smoothly blended and not difficult to understand. It was so simple but so complex, Kisaki laughed. A joyous feeling taking hold of her as she laughed gleefully. She even turned a little spin in mid-air, marveling in herself. In this experience. The other roof was actually a little above where she leapt. Her leap had been high arcing and she was going to come down on it. It was closing in fast.
This was so much fun.
Why stop there?
She landed feet first, absorbed the impact, a mild vibration up her legs, stone buckling underneath her, and tucked into a quick roll. She came back to her feet took another bounding step and was airborne again.
Glorious. Just glorious.
She came to the next roof top and did the same thing.
Kisaki lost track of how many times she leapt before she stopped just to see how far she'd travelled. Then laughed when she realized she didn't know where she started. She never looked back. She was fixated on moving forward. She was lost in the freedom. No one on the ground saw her. No one. She was sure because she was moving too fast for them to. If they looked up, they'd only see a flickering shadow that they'd quickly write off as their eyes playing tricks. She could do whatever she wanted. Nothing mattered to her. Not even that large shadow she briefly saw beneath her. She could drop on one of them from above, just land on them. And break their spine, nearly sever them in half, kill them instantly. But there'd be no fun in that. Besides. Kisaki wasn't a killer.
At least not so far.
But she was feeling very hungry.
She landed on the next roof top and decided to catch her breath. She laughed again because she realized for the first time she was actually sweating, she'd actually spent some energy. Never before had this happened while playing volleyball. And no wonder.
"Enjoying yourself?" said an irritated, deep voice from next to her.
Memories returned to Kisaki in a flash at the sound of his voice. She grinned at him. "Hi, Kobe." She looked him up and down, at his slightly mussed clothing. "Sorry about trashing your apartment. And hitting you."
"Just a window, floor tiles, a garbage can, a section of dry wall, and my favorite couch. Replaceable," he grunted, but his jaw was set in such a hard line it was obvious the property damage annoyed him more than he wished to let on.
So adorable.
Kisaki's grin grew wider. "Can't say the same for your dignity."
"It'll take more than a push to hurt that," he grumbled. Then the corner of his mouth turned up. "Besides. I beat you here." He gestured to Kisaki's feet.
It was her shoes. She'd ran so fast from Kobe's place that she ran out of them entirely.
"I considered putting them on your feet between jumps, but that would've taken you out of your little euphoria. I remember my first time. If my...if someone had done that to me, would've brought me down to earth too quickly. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy the freedom."
Kisaki kept smiling, turning back to the city below. "I will."
Kobe rumbled. "I know that look in your eyes. The look of hunger. Dealing with it is part of the process. And I'm sure you'll be tempted by yourself and by your own emotions. But let me make something clear…"
Kobe's hand clamped over her arm. Almost all of it. She'd forgotten how large his hands were. And he forced her to face him. He'd taken off the sunglasses he was wearing even though it was nighttime. His eyes were a slightly brighter shade of brown than usual. No. More than slightly.
They were glowing. His voice came out in an inhuman growl. "If I find a dead human body with your scent on it in this city, in my city, I will come for you. You will think of that Elder One as a fond memory. Are we clear?"
"Yes sir," Kisaki said quickly, eyes wide. Kobe grunted as he released her arm. She dropped down further than she was expecting and as a result, fell on her butt. At some point after he grabbed her arm, he had lifted her up off the ground. She never felt a thing.
"So, familiarize yourself with your abilities, experiment. See what you can do and what you can't. These are things you have to take care of on your own." Kobe stepped up on to the edge of the building, replacing his sunglasses. "We'll be in touch," he said in English. And he dropped off the edge. Kisaki jumped up and looked over the side after him.
He was gone. Nowhere in sight.
Kisaki smiled. "Yes, we will," she whispered after him.
I watched the young Japanese girl bound over the skyline. A deep frown on my face. She was both magic fast and muscle fast. And in her human form at that. What kind of power does her true form have?
Could she be the one?
"So, what's your take? Think she's your mystery perp?" came the imp's voice from behind me. I turned. It now had orange hair, a black robe looking thing, and a large stupid looking sword wrapped in bandages on its back.
I wouldn't bother asking how he found me or to explain the clothes. The imp always showed up whenever and it didn't care if anyone could see it, though no one ever did. Or maybe, the imp only showed up because no one else was around. Except just now. The girl heard him. And I did wonder why. But enough of that.
"It's hard to say. The timing doesn't quite fit, but she doesn't have any other scents on her. She's a definite candidate. But I don't think she's acting. And she's not a construct. Bumping elbows with that Elder One would've scrambled it. Not to mention a construct wouldn't have second sight." I was probably going to regret this question but… "Don't you have an opinion?"
"I think her bra size is about a DD. I bet she'd look real good wearing-"
"About what she is," I amended, stiffly
It scratched its head with a foot. Not its own. I wasn't going to ask where it found it. "Could be a bakenekko or a vampire, maybe. But I don't know if she fits the patterns. But, anyway, I'm an imp, taicho," it said. "Not some info repository spirit in a skull named Bob."
I decided to ignore the last bit as non sequitur. If I devoted too much time thinking about the odd things the imp said, I'd lose my mind.
"She isn't a vampire," I told the imp. "She would've fed on someone by now. She might be a bakenekko or just in league with them? They do like to play games. So it could be a roundabout ploy to get back at me. But what would they get out of this? She trashed my apartment, but nothing I can't have repaired before the week is up. Nothing more than a momentary nuisance."
The imp yawned. "Well, taicho, until you figure her out, she's still a suspect right?"
I continued to stare after the girl. "Yes."
"Well, good luck with that," the imp said. "And check this out!" The imp whipped the oversized blade off his back, the bandages it was wrapped in uncoiling by themselves, a visible to the naked eye whitish blue aura began licking up from his feet. The imp snarled, "Bankai," and then the aura turned into a black aura outlined in crimson. It swelled over him like fire. When the aura dissipated, it changed his cloths into a black duster looking outfit with a red interior and frayed edges. The big sword turned into a long, black blade I believe was called a daito with a cross guard shaped like a swastika. Some of the aura was seeping from the blade itself.
I stared numbly at the scene. "Are you finished?" I asked the imp.
The imp moaned, its arms doubling in length and sagging to the ground. "Aww. I bet there's millions of people that would have been stoked to see that in real life." The imp straightened up, its arms retracting to a normal length. "But that's why I like about you, taicho. You're not like everyone else. You willing put yourself in harm's way just to feed your curiosity. I mean, hanging around a dangerous babe that can get Elder One's attention just by looking at 'em. Just anyone couldn't do that. But you aren't even slightly afraid. That's why I think you'll figure this all out before the girl kills you. See ya 'round!"
The imp vanished in a blur of movement to fast for even me to track, a wisp of smoke trailing in its wake. And I was left wondering just how much of the things the imp says is really non sequitur.
Rei Kisaki let out a satisfied sigh, bouncing the apple in her hands as she walked among the festival goers.
Glorious. Just glorious.
The things she could do now hardly surprised her anymore. But still, the simple fact that she could do things she couldn't have imagined possible before, continued to excite her. Not a single one of these people around her was aware of it. So wrapped up in their bliss born of ignorance. None of them knew how the forces of the universe were so mutable and could be reached. It just required a mind to be open. To be able to see the forces at work. Kisaki knew that it was only a matter of seeing it, seeing the flow of energy. But humans were content to use technology to gain the things they wanted. She supposed the technology had its benefits. But there was much they were missing out on as a result.
Small matter. It just meant that Kisaki now stood in good fortune to benefit from both worlds. Kisaki only regretted that this amazing transformation had not happened earlier in her life. She didn't need to worry about foolish little things anymore. College? It was but a pointless chore. It was to the point where she hardly knew why she bothered. Kisaki supposed it was some kind of nostalgia. The remnants of the old life she lived still lingering about, until it becomes diseased and discarded like an abscessed appendix.
Still, Kisaki supposed it made sense to continue to maintain appearances. If she suddenly disappeared from school, she had little doubt her professors would come looking for her. The professors. She should've known that they were just like the other students, talking behind her back. It was another added bonus of her enhanced hearing. By concentrating, she could hear a mouse sneeze from a city block away, even through brick and concrete. That made it very easy to listen to one teacher murmur about Kisaki as she walked about the campus. But the city was very, very noisy and while she'd hear that mouse sneeze, she'd also hear someone loudly masticating their soba, using the restroom, yammering incessantly about whatever, car engines turning over, someone breaking wind, water streaming through plumbing, the high frequency buzz of electronic devices, or any number of irritating little sounds that added up.
Kisaki learned quickly the next most important thing about making your sense of sound expand was making it contract to just a certain area. Indeed, her hearing was the first of her skills she feels that she mastered. The next was her magic.
Magic was real.
How funny that such a thing was so simply stated but had implications that were far from simple. What was truly amazing was that how TV shows could have it so patently wrong. Magic didn't require fancy magic words or elaborate hand gestures. One merely had to think about what they wanted, put forth an effort of concentration on what they wanted to happen, gather the energy around them, and let that energy act out.
Essentially, the only thing stopping, say, that old lady wearing the dusty overcoat from flying into the air was lack of concentration and belief in it. Granted, this meant magic was by no means easy. It required tapping into energies that, even with her enlightened mind were grand in scope and power. It was still a work in progress, but she was gaining ground on it little by little. She supposed that had to do with her having to teach her this herself by herself. And while she had no frame of reference, she doubted she was doing too bad at this.
If Kisaki was careless, she could lose her mind to the sheer beauty of it all, like she nearly had one night when she first started experimenting. And she quickly found that magic came in many different shapes and varieties. There was magic on things that were physical. And more…subtle magic.
After all, look at the fruits of her labors, Kisaki thought.
Kisaki chuckled at that. It was such a silly little play on words, but it only worked in English. And that made it all the more funny to her. She hardly cared about the sidelong looks she was getting from passersby. Oh well. Let them look. She knew she must look stunning to them. For once, Kisaki let herself revel in the attention.
"Well, aren't you a happy little apple thief," murmured Kobe's voice from behind her.
Kisaki grinned. And spun to face him. Only to find him not standing there. Just some bespectacled kid with his nose in his smart phone. Kisaki frowned.
"On top of the Starbucks to the left," his voice said.
Kisaki's eyes scanned above the coffee store. A brief flash of movement caught her attention. "I see you, Mr. Kobe. Nice hat," she told him, throwing her voice up to him as she did once before.
"Your English is almost passable," he drawled. Then added, "For a drunk with a broken jaw. Get up here."
Chuckling, Kisaki crossed the street and circled around to the side of the Starbucks. When she was certain no one could see, she jumped to the top. Kobe was sitting on what looked like an air conditioning unit, staring out at the ward of Shinjuku. He had a beige flat cap on, along with a simple grey shirt and slacks to match the flat cap. It was a much less intimidating appearance for him. If Kisaki had a camera on her, she bet if she snapped a picture of him, he could be one of those cover models for GQ.
"I didn't steal this apple, by the way," Kisaki said smugly. "The nice vendor gave it to me. Free of charge."
"Jedi mind tricking someone into giving you something without paying for it is still stealing."
Another grin came to Kisaki's face. "Really? You watched Star Wars? You don't seem the otaku type."
"Once. When it came out," he said quietly. Something distant came over his expression.
Hmm. "I didn't realize old sci-fi films were a sensitive subject, Mr. Kobe," Kisaki murmured.
Kisaki could see his jaw stiffen as his gaze flicked to her briefly. Then he grabbed the reigns of his emotions and was back looking detached and bored. "Psychomancy is not to be played around with," he rumbled.
"Psycho-what?"
"Psychomancy. Magic used on minds. That trick you pulled. It's a dangerous branch of the craft to start messing around with for a green rookie like yourself."
"It doesn't seem so dangerous to me. It's harmless. Just a subtle suggestion." Kisaki replied, folding her arms in juvenile defiance, even flicking her hair aside just for fun. "Besides, I hardly had to do anything magical. With these," Kisaki squeezed her folded arms, pushing her breasts up. "I could've probably gotten them anyway. Men are so swayed by these. Why, with this pair of jugs and a little more experience, I could have this city wrapped around my finger."
Kobe turned and looked at her in silence. It was like before, in the hallway-which felt like ages ago. An empty gaze, but only at face value. However, this time she could read nothing about him. Nonplussed, Kisaki tried her best to return the look. It was futile of course. He'd probably been using that look on people for an indeterminable number of years. No way could Kisaki measure up to that. Not yet.
Then he snorted again. "You're so green, you'd bleed chlorophyll instead of blood."
Kisaki shook her head. "I don't see how this could be dangerous. Not like I'm attacking them. It seems perfectly harmless." She couldn't let the chance to needle him for once pass, so she added, "Maybe you're just not good enough at it to see what I mean. You don't seem the type to be good at this sort of thing."
If he was bothered by her words, he gave no sign of it. Kisaki felt a little dejected. "Alright. The same way. Try to get me to give this apple back," he said, holding up an apple. In fact, it looked quite a bit like the one she had been-
Kisaki gaped at her empty hand. She never saw him move.
Impressive.
Was this another test then? The last time she gave into a test from him, she saw that nightmarish…thing and wound up cursed. What would happen this time? Could she afford to so bold to jump right in?"
"What's the problem? I thought it was harmless." He waited a moment, then added, lowering the apple. "If you're scared, I understand. You Japs are just too soft."
Something primal in Kisaki flared up that blew away her doubt. Letting out a sharp hiss, Kisaki squared around to the large man and looked directly into his eyes, which he had removed at some point since Kisaki got there. She ignored that-and the brilliant shade of brown his eyes had. She focused on her anger at Kobe's racist slur, channeling her will into the task. She extended her awareness through the eye contact. The sensation was akin to reaching out with a third invisible arm, reaching into their head, and grasping something behind the other person's eyes. She committed the task she desired to her mind, formed an image of him handing back the apple.
And then all her vision collapsed in on his eyes. A sense of glee grew within Kisaki. It was working. It was-
Kisaki bowed at the waist to the cheering crowd, hands clasped around the microphone meekly down by her thighs, a large smile on her face.
"Thank you," she told them. "Thank you for listening."
Even as a dozen questions began screaming into her head, she waved and started thanking them. Some instinct in her told her not to look surprised or confused. She still had to maintain a performance until the end. It was very familiar to Kisaki
What the hell? What performance? What had she just done? What just happened?
Kisaki took the moment to wave to her…fans she supposed, closest to the stage to find out why she suddenly felt a draft. She was wearing a frilly miniskirt with thigh high socks. Why was she wearing zettai ryouiki? What the hell happened to the clothes she had been wearing?
She hopped off the tiny stage, through the small scale mob of fans asking if she was an idol, when is her album coming out, and what her name was. Kisaki somehow managed to answer all of the questions while answering none of them at all. Giving them fake information, that could pass for a clever PR campaign, like she's just a simple girl from Oyama. It was almost comical, how well she handled it. She could read it in their faces that they were eating this up. More than a handful begged to take her picture. She let them. She lost count of how many flashes of light went off in her face. She lost track of time. Eventually, Kisaki managed to slip away from the crowd and she made her way back to the Starbucks roof.
There, as if he had never moved, Kobe sat. He was staring out to where the tiny stage was set up in a courtyard.
Kisaki waited for him to speak. She wanted to fold her arms and glare at him, but she was feeling too embarrassed for such a display.
He let the silence linger for a while before he said, "The eyes are like windows, or a gateway. You can open them to out. But someone else can look in. It's the same way with magic. You cast magic from your eyes, you make it all the more simple for someone to cast that magic right back at you. And in fact, it's much easier to do so when someone is inexperienced at it."
Kisaki smiled slightly, ashamed at her own foolishness. She'd only learned that trick in a week. Of course she couldn't compare to someone like Kobe. She should've known better than to try her hand at using that spell on him. However… "Why?" Kisaki asked softly.
"Why what?"
"I was so dumb. You could've turned my spell back on me in any way or fashion. Why make me dress up in this fetishy get up and sing on an outdoor karaoke stage?"
He glanced at her, eyebrow raised. "That turned out differently than I expected. But would you have rather I do something humiliating like streak naked in the busy street or scream and shout like a madwoman instead?"
Kisaki found herself grinning. "Not exactly. But still. That was…" Kisaki shook her head. "I can't explain it. I still feel funny about it. It seems like I should feel shaken and a little…violated I guess. But I don't."
Kobe looked back at the stage. "Call it an emotional Doppler Effect."
Kisaki frowned. "A what?"
"Maybe that's not the right term." He waved his hand dismissively. "I never could remember all that. Let's just say that when a basic psychomancy like that takes hold, you act to another's will. But that only controls you on your most basic levels. The rest of your mind, your subconscious, remains unaffected. It's like an induced dream. You still react to emotions, still display emotions, but you aren't really registering them the right way, through the right mental channels. So when the spell breaks, you get the after affects of feelings coming in on you as they would normally, but you don't remember why. So what you're feeling right now…"
A month ago, that kind of talk would have been nonsense to her, but Kisaki understood it. And understood what this mean. "This sense of enjoyment. I was enjoying performing up there." Kisaki smiled warmly.
Kobe yawned. "Looks like it."
Kisaki walked over to him and looked back towards the stage. "It made me feel," she said, "like a kid again."
Kobe said nothing.
"I think every little girl wants to be an idol. I guess I was no different. It was a long time" Her smile began to fade. "But. That wasn't what I was meant to do. Not according to my father. I wasn't going to be like those women, relying on their looks and a good voice. They didn't lead respectable lives, in his eyes. And their careers often ended tragically short. Or short tragically. That it was a trend that was dying by the late 1980s, early 90s anyway. And there was no sense to it, he said
"My father was always so intelligent. I thought he could say or do no wrong. So I believed his words. Gave up on those contests when I was 8 and never looked back. Never picked up a microphone again. Must have been nice for me to perform again."
He said nothing. He just looked at her obliquely. Seconds ticked by and the silence became very awkward.
Kisaki wasn't sure what made her say that. Kobe certainly didn't seem like the type to want to listen to her life's story. Or anyone's story. He was helping her, but he hardly seemed interested in anything she said or did that wasn't related to whatever Kisaki had become. She cleared her throat, just about to say something, change the subject maybe.
Snarling sharply, Kobe tore his eyes from her, a look of disgust on his face. "All that tailing you around, wasting my time. I should've seen it from the beginning. A fucking cat's paw," he growled in English. "Want to be an idol? Fine. Knock yourself out. Until you get ripped apart by someone out of your league, that is." He slipped on his sunglasses. "And figure out the truth about that girl with the glasses already. It's depressing. " He stood up off the air conditioning unit and walked to the edge off the roof. His footsteps were heavy, actually leaving small cracks in the stone. And it looked like his shoulders were slightly bigger.
What in the world could he be talking about? It sounded like he meant Chizuka, but how? "Wait," Kisaki found herself saying. "Why does it sound like you're leaving…for good?"
"Because I am," he said without stopping.
Kisaki got in front of him, using some of the delicate control she's gained over her speed, her foot leaving a small mound of crunched concrete where she skidded to a fast stop. She saw the somewhat detached, casual observance that told her he noticed her newfound control too. But she fought down the inner swell of pride. "But we don't know what I am yet." She raised an eyebrow. "Or do you know already?"
He said nothing as he stepping around her, hardly breaking stride.
"But I thought that was our deal," Kisaki said, stepping back around to the front of him. "You'd help me figure out what I am, in exchange for-"
He stopped, only to bark out a laugh. "For what? You not telling people who are afraid of me, something you can't prove, about things they wouldn't believe? You really think I stuck around for that? You're not as important as you think you are."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You mean I have to spell it out? You think I let you wander around experimenting with your nature unsupervised? I've been keeping tabs on you."
Kisaki blinked. "You were following me?"
"I've seen you go about your little school. Seen how you've spied on your teachers. How you act like everyone is jealous of you, but in that false meek, I'm such a victim sort of way. How you hold your head up high like you're making a profound statement of your individuality." He shook his head. "So childish. If you're going to rebel, rebel. If you're going to blend in with the rest, blend in. Don't be a passive aggressive weak minded fool."
The gravity of what he said pressed down on Kisaki. Had she really been doing all that? Dear God.
"And I'm done being toyed with. Least of all by you."
"But I'm not toying with you. I'd never do that. How could I do that? I couldn't fake this."
He considered it briefly. "Probably so. Still. This is over. Do not anticipate seeing me again, child."
Kisaki could see in the coldness in his voice that nothing could dissuade him. The part of her life involving Kobe truly was over.
No, hissed a voice in Kisaki's head. Not like this.
Time slowed to a crawl. But it was different from before. This wasn't her second sight. She'd been trying to reopen that in small bursts, but with no success. It was more concentrated. In this measure of perception, Kisaki could see how restrained Kobe's movements were and how tied into emotion his control was.
One step moved in front of the other. Corded muscles in his thighs, calves, and buttocks, sinuously contracting, pulling.
Why? Why was he about to walk out on her? Kisaki wondered.
Another step.
Why did that thought incense her so? Did she need him to stay? Hadn't she progressed enough on her own? Wouldn't she be better off alone? Did she really want him to stay to teach her?
Kisaki thought of the events of the past months. The train incident. That feeling of vulnerability, how she nearly died, and how she was saved. By him.
She thought of how she was accosted by those two thugs outside of her apartment. And how she was prevented from having to fight them in public, outting herself as something different, saved. By him.
Step.
A memory she didn't realize she held flashed in her mind in that drawn out, time slowed moment. When she was cursed by the Elder One, she lost control of herself. And would have tumbled into the building at bone shattering speed, resulting in a possibly fatal injury. If she hadn't been saved. By him.
She remembered her sketchbook and how the thought of his smell drove her to draw his face perfectly. Even though at that point she hadn't actually seen his face.
His face.
He planted a foot on the roof parapet.
Humans often say that some things aren't just happenstance, that things happens for a reason. That events aren't always as separate and distinct as they appear. Who is to say that need only apply to pure humans? What if such a thing like destiny stretched even to someone that used to be purely human? What if even the very act of becoming more than human was meant to be? Thinking about it rationally, Kisaki would certainly live far longer than any mere human. She also knew that Kobe was far older than he appeared. What good would it be to be with someone only for them to age, wither, and die while you stay immaculate?
Kisaki would live long enough now, couldn't she?
Someone with such physical power to crack cement with unchecked steps would surely break any woman he tried to hold in the heat of passion.
Glancing at the roof behind her, Kisaki could crack the ground with her own steps, couldn't she? She wouldn't break. She could take whatever he had. Maybe even return in kind.
She'd like that. She'd never been held before. She could change that, couldn't she?
Kisaki found a strange energy bubbling inside of her. It was latching hold of those thoughts and intensifying itself. It was all the pleasures of life burning from within. Lust and ecstasy flared through her, all centering on one thought, on the one thing she was staring at.
"But I do anticipate our meeting again," Kisaki said in a low murmur. And then, she was in Kobe's ear, mere centimeters away. She let her breathe tickle the nape of his neck. "You can't just walk out of my life, Mr. Kobe."
Kobe spun around, his hand tipped with razor claws, as she slashed his arm behind him. The move would've surely swatted her halfway across the city, if not decapitate her outright.
But that wasn't his intent. Not really. His fine tuened reflexes were such that it was how he reacted to a sudden invasion of his personal space. It was a ferocious, awe inspiring display of power.
It was a good thing Kisaki had retreated several blocks away, and perched on a billboard advertisement for some hair care product, wasn't it?
Kisaki watched the suddenly predatory look on his face for the first time as he frantically searched around for her, his eyes not wanting to believe that he could have been outmaneuvered so. And while Kisaki felt a little bad for wounding his pride, she couldn't help herself.
She made an effort of will and whispered across the distance, in English, "See you soon, love."
