Standard disclaimer applies.

Grow On You

Chapter 13

~ Tatsumi's Pandora Box~

Of all the villages scattered about the city of St. Ishiyama, the most well-known had to be the village of Ishi. The village was notorious for being the hideout of bandits and various miscreants, but in reality it was just a normal village. Farmers went about their land, plowing or sowing. Cow herders tended to their flock. Tradesmen of all skills plied their skills in the marketplace. To someone who had never heard of Ishi's reputation, they will never imagine it could be anything more than a simply idyllic collection of cottages. And in fact if it wasn't for Tatsumi and Hidetora, that was indeed Ishi.

It was in this village over fifteen years ago that the boy with the unruly hair and sharp eyes appeared. A farmer named Calo found him sleeping in the manger in his cowshed and decided to keep him. The boy said his name was Tatsumi from the Oga family, and thanks to his fierce nature and natural fighting prowess he soon became known as Oga the Ogre. He refused to reveal his background and over time, nobody cared.

From the onset Tatsumi was a trouble magnet. Although he was passive by nature, he would retaliate when pushed – and he was pushed. A lot. Despite all that Tatsumi never turned to a life of crime, content with living off the land with his adopted parents.

That changed, however, when the St. Ishiyama lord who owned the land Calo worked on came to collect his rent. The bad harvest meant that Calo could not pay it, and in anger the lord burned both husband and wife in the field they worked on. Tatsumi, who had gone to the river to fish returned to find his parents nothing but ashes. Enraged, he sought out the lord, dragged him to Ishi and killed him by suffocating the man in manure in the cowshed he was first found in. The brutality of his retaliation struck fear into the hearts of villagers who until then only viewed him as a docile, amiable lad with monsterous strength. Thus began his life as a wanted man, but Tatsumi never ran. He remained in Ishi, daring any fool from St. Ishiyama to capture him. News of his notoriety spread and other criminals came to seek refuge in Ishi. Tatsumi tolerated it so long as they remained docile and did not harm the villagers - though the same did not apply to him.

That was partly the reason why the villagers of Ishi left him alone. The other reason was that ever since that incident, no lord dared to claim the lands around the village, allowing the villagers to farm in peace. In some ways, he had become both the village terror and protector. Not that he cared; Tatsumi continued his life relatively undisturbed, eventually meeting Takayuki and Hidetora and forming the bandit trio.

He could never guess that that life would soon come to an end too.

In the early hours of morning Alaindelon, in the guise of a pink-haired peasant woman in a face veil sauntered past the St. Ishiyama guards on the footpath with Lamia following close behind. "We look like sisters," Lamia muttered. "Why did you have to choose that form, Alaindelon?"

"My apologies Miss Lamia, I was in a rush," Alaindelon said with an apologetic smile – or at least she thought it was a smile. Alaindelon maybe a shapeshifter but his transformations tend to leave a certain trademark; he would still have markings around his mouth like a moustache - hence the veil. "I do not usually morph into the opposite sex, and you were a convenient model."

"And yet you turn into animals and let Hilda swing you around as a sword." Lamia glanced over her shoulder. The watch was out of sight now, but still too near to her liking. The morning fog gave them some cover but it would only help so much. "Do you think we can do this?"

"We must," The shapeshifter continued walking unperturbed, her rough shoes crunching on the pebbled footpath. "Finding the Channeler for Prince Belze is of utmost importance. Miss Hilda is willing to put her life on the line. Dr. Folcass literally killed himself to come to our aid. Those thieves, despite their reluctance have shown great courage and camaraderie. How could I be any less?"

"Ah yeah," Lamia smiled at the thought of the men. "Y'know I've known them for years but this is the first time I've seen Oga volunteering for anything. He usually needs a huge push to even do the house chores." She winced at the memory of coming to the house to find it more like a pigsty.

"Perhaps he is growing up," Alaindelon said absently as they reached a small clearing. Stopping in the center, Alaindelon reverted back to his normal form and put his hands on his hips. "Ho-hum. This looks like a good place. What do you think, Miss Lamia?"

"Good enough," She set her bag on the ground and took out a tracer staff. She began drawing a spellcircle on the grass; strange runes and symbols designed to amplify the spell Alaindelon would cast. In truth it had been quite a while since she used the knowledge she acquired in Makai all those years ago. The dark arts practiced by Makai mages was relatively unknown by magicians elsewhere. For someone who wanted to lie low, it wasn't practical to display her knowledge in the dark arts. "Alright, I'm done."

Alaindelon stood in the middle of the portal and activated the runes, watching them glow darkly. She could feel him flexing his soul wavelength, testing the stability of the circle. She sat at the circumference, acting as a regulator.

"Connecting the portals."

In the hideout, an identical spellcircle had been drawn in the middle of the main room. Upon seeing the circle glow Dr. Folcass motioned for them to step into it. "Whatever you do, try not to throw up," He warned. "Alaindelon's technique literally ushes hish own body ash a portal to transhport ush. If you throw up, he'sh not going to be very happy."

Takayuki winced. He didn't – couldn't – imagine how someone could use their own bodies… but then again he did not know anything about magic other than how much it cost to hire a mage.

Surprisingly it was Hidetora who stepped forward first. "Anything but flying stuff," He said matter-of-factly. "As long as my feet are on the ground, I'd –whoa!" In a flash he was swallowed by darkness and Tatsumi gulped as the large figure of Toujou Hidetora vanished. "Dude I'm not even sure if that's safe." He eyed the spellcircle apprehensively. Surely he could find another way to leave the village unseen?

"Silence, coward," Hilda stepped into the circle, cradling the prince. "Sit here and die like a dog if you want." Her cold, matter-of-fact challenge did not slip by Tatsumi.

"What did you say?" He approached her to glare nose-to-nose with the blonde nursemaid. Their glaring match was so intense that sparks literally jumped between them. "That mouth of yours – "

Too late, he realized he had been tricked when he saw her smirk. "My mouth, what, fool?"

"Aw f – "

FLASH!

Lamia concentrated on stabilizing the circle's power output, but that didn't mean she couldn't raise an eyebrow when she saw Hilda and Tatsumi materialize with their faces pushed up against each other's. "Really," Lamia said wryly. "Can't you do it elsewhere?"

Both spluttered something unholy and spun heel, stalking off to different directions.

Aoi and Takayuki were the last to materialize, following which Alaindelon ended the transfer and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Well, that was successful."

Lamia grinned as she stood up and with a swipe of her staff she destroyed the spellcircle. Staring disinterestedly at the tracer staff, she destroyed that as well.

"Where are we?" Aoi looked around. Takayuki consulted his map and compass, correlating the directions. "We should head that way," He pointed to the mountains. "If we're lucky, we'll make it by midday."

"There is no such thing as luck," Hilda said crisply. "It is simply a question of how fast we can travel."

"Why the mountains?" Asked Aoi. "Why can't we follow the plains?"

"We need to keep low," Hidetora explained. "Even if we're pursued in the mountains, it will be pretty hard for them to catch us since we know the terrain better."

"Yup," Takayuki hoisted the rucksack on his back and put his hands on his hips. "Before I made the cavern under the house, we used to go to hide in the mountains if things got too hot."

"Hold on," Aoi stopped, feeling her nape prickle. Her finely tuned senses could detect a shift in the soul signatures around her, and this one was not merely a shift; "Something's coming!"

Hilda narrowed her eyes as she felt it too. Five… no… six? Strong soul signatures. She cast a glance at the group and mentally winced. The odds were not very favourable.

Alaindelon started to morph, but she stopped him. "You are not needed for now, Alaindelon. Stay with the Touhoushinki princess."

"M-Miss Hilda – " He stammered, surprised; "You need a weapon!"

"Are you disobeying me?" Her chilly glare was on at full force. Seeing as she wasn't in the mood for arguments he clamped his mouth shut and instead morphed into bird, flying off. Tatsumi stared at her. "That was a bit harsh."

"He has just performed a large transfer," She did not bother to look at him as she started to do what he did yesterday – place the prince on her back. "Using him as a weapon right now will put his life on the line, and I cannot risk that."

"Aah? And you're going to fight with your fists, is that it?"

"How uncouth," She flexed her hands and with a flick of her wrist materialized her Black Sword. Tatsumi watched the black energy solidify into a shiny blade, its hilt curled much like a parasol handle. "Now look sharp, Oga Tatsumi. Our pursuers are not as stupid as Hecatos and Graphel."

Tatsumi rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Nothing's gone well ever since you fell from the sky, Hilda."

"Likewise," She returned, slicing the air. "But they certainly aren't dull."

"... Likewise," He felt himself grin as he turned to face their pursuers.