SEN
Covered in mud, looking ready to pass out at any moment, Kohaku looked like hell. Chihiro would've been freaking out. But Sen wasn't. It was all so very far away; so much further than it'd been at Aburaya. She wasn't even startled as he grabbed the edge of her armor with his good hand.
"I… I cannot stand with you!"
Even as Kohaku bent his head in shame and choked the words in shredded misery Sen felt nothing, not with the void yawning between her and the rest of the world. Not understanding what it was and what it meant she'd forced herself to the other side of this brink thinking it would make her stronger. But now it seemed she couldn't get back. Distantly she was horrified and disgusted with herself. She fought to summon some kind of tenderness to offer him. But the sentiment remained out of reach. Back on this side of the worlds there was nothing but cold fire in her heart. All she could do was pronounce her request in an unwavering voice teeming with perseverance yet devoid of emotion.
"Trust me as I trusted you at the Oni Rocks."
He cringed from her Lin shouted in the distance. She didn't have time to notice.
"Sen! Something's coming!"
Forgetting everything Sen's head jerked around as if pulled by bells. Her keen eyes grazed past the doorway and across the fields to the distant wall of trees. An undulating cloud of birds burst from the forest fleeing into the sky. Heavy silence throbbed through the dark trunks as the world seemed to grow darker. Thunder rolled distantly as a blade of white slipped like a ghost between the pine trees. The world turned brown and died as the hunched suffering thing slowly picked its way forward. All the way across the void Sen felt the white cold punch. It hit her right in the gut. But for once she wasn't sickened with panic. Distantly she heard the gasps of the Kami. And there was no time. No time for him. No time for herself. This was more than both of them. And she had to finish what she started.
Yanking on her mask she lurched to her feet tearing from Kohaku's grasp. As she threw the umbrella out in front of herself she blew a huge breath through her pursed lips. A massive gust of wind swelled at her back filling the fabric of the parasol as the hand of gravity dissolved inside her stomach. Her arm snapped taut as the umbrella hauled her across the terrain at a devouring speed. Her toes barely skimmed the ground. It was a seriously eerie sensation that would've made her panic and falter under any other circumstance. But the unbending perseverance possessing her sharpened her to an edge of precision. The tight knot of humans and kami drew back as the wind petered out tossing her back into gravity's grip. Lifting her umbrella high for balance Sen skipped the last few steps as she lurched into their midst.
"Whoa!"
Kenka gasped behind the silver mask of his helmet as he skittered away from her. Sen started up at him for a moment mildly noting his transformation.
"Where's Kou?"
Before she could answer Hiko and Ginka squealed in terror. Up on the bank they scrambled to hide behind Natsumi.
"Oh, dear!" The old yuna choked hoarsely in her wood smoke voice, "Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"
Natsumi had both of the kits now, clutching the spider silk bundles closely. Her perfectly round eyes remained riveted in the distance.
"T-t-t-t-trees are d-d-dying!" Yoshi cried mournfully as he clung to Usagi.
Little Green Frog was shaking visible in the bow of the rabbit's other arm. Usagi looked ready to run off dragging them behind her. The whites of her eyes were gleaming brightly in the thin cold light filtering through the low brooding clouds. Following her gaze Sen watched Meg and Jae clambering sideways peering into the distance as Suzume barred their way. The fox held Lin by the wrist of her only arm. She had pulled his arm straight and taut. Lin towed him further still dragging him off the packed dirt floor onto the sloping ice crusted grass as she struggled to see.
"What is it!?" Aniyaku croaked tremulously, "Is it a Forgotten?"
"No!" Suzume growled in warning, "It is a tatarigami!"
Lin hissed between her clenched teeth rounding on him furiously.
"Don't call her that!"
The fox shrank from his wife throwing up his hands in contrition. Keiichi gasped as understanding dawned on him.
"Kiri…!"
The young priest stood beside Goshiro wringing the haft of an arm length stick. He was just as white as the hissing whispery paper fletching its crown. Sen recognized it as the same type of wand Kazuo Hitomi had wielded against Aki back at the Inari shrine in Ueno. Keiichi jumped as his grandfather placed a restraining hand on the younger priest's shoulder. Without realizing it he had taken a step towards the back fields. Kai whispered the next as he clung to the old priest's sleeve.
"Why's she making all t'trees an' t'grass die?"
Goshiro's pale eyes gleamed like blades as he stared at remains of his granddaughter. His wizened face was more than weary but he didn't seem surprised. Distantly Sen knew he had seen this before and it made her wonder when and where.
"Ikiri is sick, dear boy. We are going to try and help her."
Grinding her teeth Sen realized she was wasting time. At least she could still feel impatient. For a brief moment she wished Cinna was still with them. Where the cat had gone Sen didn't know. She didn't want to ask this of the humans. But she didn't have a choice.
"Here."
Folding her umbrella and stashing it in her endless pocket, she yanked two fans from the sash at her waist and shoved them into Kenka's hands. Next she grabbed Jae and hauled him around to force the last red fan into his gloved fingers. Behind his wolf mask Jae blinked in rapid surprise as Sen turned to face Megumi. Holding out Shurui's black fans Sen startled the armored female.
"Give him your other fan and take these. They're stronger than yours."
Megumi accepted the black fans with cautious reluctance. Then she passed her folded red fan to Jae. Sen could feel the terror vibrating through their bodies. The bells hanging from the hafts of Shurui's fans hummed in muffled sympathy. But for once Sen was beyond to the infection of fear.
"Child!" Suzume barked explosively, "What are you planning!?"
The humans shrank fearfully as the fox seized her whipping her around tightening his fingers on her shoulders to the point of pain. The God held her firmly if afraid she might fly off. Everyone was looking at her now: God and human. Sen explained without a moment's pause making the fox blink rapidly as his mouth fell open.
"Six fans and three humans: three to avert whatever Urami returns to me times three."
Suzume gave her a fierce shake bearing sharp teeth as he snarled at her.
"You cannot subdue Urami with violence!"
Sen was immune to his terrifying vehemence and the spitting foxfires kindling overhead.
"That's why we're gonna use bells, Suzume."
His reservations intensified as his pinched face twisted with outraged terror. Whispering beneath his breath again he shook her but gently this time. Above them the angry foxfires raced and pulsed crackling and snapping as they lit up the gloom.
"Child! I will not sit by and play music as you face that aberration alone!"
Reaching up with her hands she caught the angry God's face turning it and holding him firmly as he'd held her earlier. Staring him down she cowed the fox with her unwavering gaze as he closed his snow white hands around her wrists possessively.
"Since when have I ever been alone in any of this?"
Slowly the God turned his face sideways as if trying to escape the intensity of her eyes. All the while he watched her from their corners with suspicious dismay. But then he abruptly let go of her shoulders taking one uncertain backward step after the other. Sen glanced sharply at Lin. Her friend stopped in her tracks to hover anxiously. Turning away from them both Suzume strode blindly under Onsen's arch. Then he snapped to a halt on the other side standing bolt upright. White fire crackled and snapped atop the frame where the tile hung like a guiding light. More white fluttered and furled as the God's garments transformed.
The glossy heavy silk of his robes and pleated trousers were more than familiar. Whirling back to face her Suzume gaped incredulously at the golden flute in his hands. It had broken into two pieces at Aburaya during a scuffle with Kohaku. Thanks to Onsen's magic it was made whole. Here a fire lit in his eyes as he lifted his face to stare at her in awe. Sen saw it and knew it for was it was: hope. Absolutely elated Suzume galvanized as a blue blaze sparked at the hem of his clothes. Foxfires spiraled up across his clothes painting them in fantastic patterns of brilliant fire. Climbing off his shoulders, they haloed around his head. His pale hair singed a glossy black as the God barked orders at the other kami. His powerful voice echoed off the hill as he pointed at the frame with his gleaming flute.
"All of you get through there! Pick an instrument and prepare yourselves!"
For a moment the Aburaya Gods stared. Then in a great wave they poured down the slope through the arch only to flood back to her. Little Green Frog and Aniyaku lugged a big and medium taiko with determination. These they rolled up the slope to where Natsumi still perched keeping anxious watch. Usagi darted ahead of them carrying a biwa and a shamisen. At her back Yoshi balanced a koto on his back. Hiko and Hinko produced their gleaming percussive bells.
"Miss Sen!"
Hiko began tremulously clasping her cymbal tightly.
"Miss Sen!"
Ginka finished just as frightened as she fiddled with the striker of hers. They inquired the next of her in perfect unison.
"What should we play?!"
Sen lightly ghosted her hands over their heads before scooting them toward the hill. As she turned she addressed the assembled kami with a sureness she hoped was catching.
"Play something a God couldn't resist. Wait until the absolute last minute when the music will do the most good. It won't expect it. When you do start, no matter what, don't stop playing."
Here Sen rounded on Keiichi making the priest jolt. He was sweating heavily in spite of the cold and his glasses were slightly askew as they slid down his nose. The paper on his wand whispered loudly. On the hill Gods hissed and retreated from the sound. Even Sen was forced to shrink a step as her stomach gave an eerie lurch. Jae, Megumi, and Kenka, however, looked on unaffected. So did Goshiro and Kai.
"It's getting closer!" Natsumi cried in dismay, "It's at the back rice fields!"
Hurriedly Sen addressed the young priest.
"Can you get through to Ikiri?"
Turning absolutely white the young priest glanced sideways at his grandfather making the back lacquered tail on his had bob and wave. Goshiro nodded with slow resigned solemnity.
"He will try, Fujo Sen. Go with her, Keiichi. We will wait here until we are needed."
Here he placed his gnarled hands on Kai's shoulders. Earlier the kid had been excited by the armor Onsen summoned from thin air. But now Kai looked a little shell-shocked. He was white as the living ghost making its way down the back path. His gray eyes followed its progress without comment. Again a God had her by the arm! Thinking it was Suzume Sen rounded with a sharp command poised on her lips. Behind her mask it died on the breath that she suddenly sucked into her lungs. Lin stood over her glaring dourly wearing an expression of blank terror. The scar on her temple twisted into a bright red snarl as she spat the words miserably. Gods couldn't lie so Sen knew they were true.
"I can't go with you, not if the priest has that wand. We can't stand the sound."
Peeling her friend's only hand from her beaten armor Sen squeezed it tightly. She was surprised by the words that fell from her lips as if pronounced by someone else. Premonition was humming in her blood however distantly.
"Kohaku needs me but I'm too far away. Help him."
Lin's face tightened with confusion. So did her only hand.
"What are you talking about!? You're right here!"
With a sinking feeling muted and so very, very far Sen hushed back just as confused.
"No… I'm not..."
With that Sen wrenched free pointing at the kitchen humans as she strode down the back lawn.
"All of you come with me."
Jae, Megumi, and Kenka all scrambled after her. Keiichi followed in their wake making his wand rustle in the wind. Sen heard Lin gasp in dismay. Seconds later her friend called after her desperately. And now even Lin sounded so very far away.
"Sen! Sen! Come back, Sen!"
She didn't look back. Instead she passed the forlorn naked gardens following the gravel path through what had been the gate in the back wall as she turned her eyes across the back fields. The oppressive black sky was growing lower and lower smelling strongly of snow as her breath plumed white. The tall grass rolled away from where the main house had been in a field as big as a Costco parking lot. Primordial forest hemmed it in on all sides reminding that not long ago even this had been wild. In the far distance she could see the tatarigami. Bent as if burdened by a heavy weight it was slowly trudging down the long packed dirt path that divided the field into grass and old rice paddies. Bits of dried seaweed clung to its body, which also carried a dusting of fine sand. Sen could just barely make out the flickering black tongue of fire perched on its brow. As it passed the reeds choking the muddy water withered and shriveled. So did the wafting tall grass. Reaching out and touching one of the stone guardian statues lining the path the granite shuddered and writhed. It eroded into dust.
"Fuck! Fuck!"
Jae cursed shrilly beneath his breath at the sight.
"Are you fuckin' seein' this shit!?"
Abruptly the humans came up short making Sen skid to a halt in the icy tall grass. As she did she produced her suzu from her pocket. Sen glanced sideways as Meg stammered with uncharacteristically shrill apprehension.
"W-what is that thing!?"
Gasping from exertion involved in their short sprint, Keiichi bent clutching his wand. As he did he whispered a tremulous explanation.
"That's my sister!"
Here Kenka cut apprehensively.
"What're we doing, Chihiro!? That thing melts rocks!"
Sen startled at the name. She didn't like being called that name! It reminded her of everything she'd lost. Even across all the distance it made her angry.
"Chihiro's gone," she muttered grimly.
Behind his mask of leaves Kenka's silver eyes were stricken.
"W-what!?"
She spilled truth without realizing what she was doing. It was a Godish thing to do.
"I gave Chihiro to the Fire in my heart to burn a thousand Gaki. I'm all that's left. I'm Sen."
Here she pointed at the tatarigami purposefully.
"The priest's gonna try to reason with it. While he does I'll hold it back and you're gonna deflect whatever that thing throws at me."
Jae swore at her explosively.
"How t'fuck 'r'we s'posed t'do that!? I've only used these things a couple of times!"
Unperturbed by Jae and Kenka's inexperience Sen appealed to Megumi.
"I gave you the black fans for a reason. Take the lead until they figure it out. You gave me a serious run earlier today. You can do this!"
At once the woman behind the fierce peacock mask lifted her chin and nodded firmly. Sen nodded in return.
"Stay on the higher ground so you can see better. Keiichi, come with me."
Then she broke away from the knot of humans and hurried down the remainder of the hill. The gravel of the path crunched under her feet. Directly ahead of her, about the distance of a city block, was the tatarigami. Oblivious to them it reached out to destroy another smiling moss covered statue. Before it could Sen rent her suzu through the air. Bells rang clamorously calling the stone to life. It shuddered and rolled away from the things outreached fingers turning head over heels grating and grinding against the dirt path until it righted itself beside her. Sen placed her hand on top of the stone and felt the God within quaking in terror. As it did Sen lifted her suzu high and the humming bells lapsed into silence. Slowly, as if it had all the time in the word, the haggard naked thing lifted it jet black eyes to stare at her. Beneath its unblinking gaze Sen's insides crawled. The hushed hoarse husk of its voice was almost lost in a gust of frigid wind as it addressed her with familiarity.
"Sen."
Its gruesome sureness might've frightened Chihiro; but not Sen. Sen met its threat with the obdurate determination. The black flame perched on its brow guttered violently and its lidless eyes slide sideways to the younger priest. Keiichi stumbled down the rest of the hill to stand opposite the stone statue. Still gasping and sweating beneath the weight of his heavy silk robes; his pale stricken eyes fixed in horror on the terrible thing taking residence in his twin's emaciated naked body.
"Kiri!"
Sen paused distantly impressed as the kannushi marshalled through his obvious terror. At once he sank onto his heels and took a straight backed practiced posture holding his paper fletched wand high. Speaking in firm antiquated formal Japanese Keiichi addressed the God bowing deeply.
"O-tatarigami-sama! This one humbly beseeches that you lay down your spite! This one humbly beseeches that you retreat from the one called Ikiri! She is much loved and missed by this one! I beg you from the bottom of my heart! Please return my sister!"
It snorted dismissively as if terribly bored.
"Too little, too late."
As it took another step forward the young priest jerked upright gritting his teeth in terror. Faintly anger transfixed the demon's slack features. It was the first time Sen saw it emote anything other than exhaustion.
"I begrudge you, brother. And I refuse."
As it turned on Keiichi the young priest stood tall and slashed the stick back and forth with practiced movements. The paper streamers hushed and flustered as they whipped and cracked.Sen and the tatarigami shuddered and wavered. Unprepared for the effect the sound had on her Sen's knees turned to rubber dumping her into the dirt at the feet of the stone guardian. But even as the demon slumped it shifted and shrugged out from under the onusa's compelling hiss. Working its spindly arms over its head as if holding aloft a giant invisible mass Urami heaved up its body and cast the persuasion back at the younger priest.
Sen gasped cringing under her arms as the inveterate vim flooded over her in a tsunami of hissing, shushing, furious sound. It crashed down knocking her back into the carved boulder so violently the rear of her head cracked against the rock. Stunned and blinded by sparklers, all the air rushed out of her lungs in a rattling wheeze as the force crushed her face down into the gravel. At her back the stone God moaned in a low bass voice as it ground deep into the dirt vibrating her very bones. For a moment as she lay there pinned by blinding pain Sen wondered distantly if her head was about to pop. Then hideous hissing abated leaving her coughing and gasping to return air to her lungs.
Dizzy and disoriented Sen pitched upwards climbing the boulder and falling across it. She reached a weaving arm to intercede before what Urami returned could hurt Keiichi. As she clung to the rock Sen was left staring in astonishment. The wave of sound and fury passed Keiichi by harmlessly. He cringed behind his fluttering onusa in utter confusion. All around him the waving grass flattened as if crushed by an invisible steamroller. Sen blinked and blinked and blinked uncomprehending. But then a flash of intuition blinded her like a glimpse of Sengen's mirror. Keiichi was human. The onusa had no effect on him. Its voice reached only the Gods.
Before she could consider this further Sen whirled, cringing from the thing at her back. Bent and panting the tatarigami almost fell but it marshalled and staggered upright. Its bleak eyes grazed sideways to Jae, Megumi, and Kenka as they flooded down the hill. At her back the humans folded around Keiichi as the young priest stood stone still in shock. Sen staggered into the path of its gaze lifting her suzu high and ready in obvious warning. And its spectral eyes skated back to her bring with them all the cold of winter. Sen shuddered involuntarily as its hate reached her all the way across the void. It whispered faintly making Sen strain to hear.
"D'you know why I didn't kill him back at t'old village?"
Dread slowly frosted over her implacable calm as its words held her like manacles. It was talking about Kohaku.
"He's already me. He just hasn't realized it yet. I just needed t'remind him."
Eclipsed in a moment of distant horror, Sen stared blankly. Then the tatarigami sprang. It sprinted across the distance faster than she thought possible. Stumbling in shock she hacked back and forth with her suzu using it like a baseball bat like she had in Aburaya's basement. But the demon rolled aside, twisting, spinning, ducking, and diving as it ghosted through the reverberating overlapping waves of bellsong. The fire in Sen's heart guttered as it hurtled forward with reaching fingers so fast she was left hurriedly staggering backwards remembering how those hands had dissolved stone. A violent gust of wind blew out of fires burning inside her body. At her call the invisible hands dragged her sideways up the slick dead grass leaving behind a rut of burning embers. Sprawling awkwardly as ashes swirled around her the tatarigami collapsed on the stone guardian instead of her. Granite eroded beneath flickering black fire sputtering from the demon's palms. Again the statue moaned in deep reverberating wail she felt inside the marrow of her bones.
"No!" Sen shrieked.
But her voice was lost in the thunderous chime of bells that rang off the hillside. Sen jolted at the sound. Her eyes darted to the silent suzu still clutched in her hand. She jerked involuntarily as movement blurred at the peripheries of her vision. Glancing up Sen watched Kenka and Jae drag Keiichi away from the tatarigami. Even as they fled Megumi surged forward. As if immune to the hands of gravity she pirouetted down the path like a spinning top. She was a dervish of gleaming purple, teal, and gold; so light and weightless Sen couldn't believe Megumi was human. As if she'd been born with the fans in her hands Megumi sliced the hissing edges of the black lacquered paper with every turn. And with every cutting snick the dour iron bells tolled sonorously.
Bells punched Urami right in the chest peeling it off the dissolving statue.
Bells hurled it sideways onto the ground.
Bells dragged it back upright only to smash it down again and pin it in the gravel.
Reeling and bloodied the tatarigami threw up its hands and finally caught hold of the violence. Holding firmly the demon jack-knifed off the ground in an eerie undulating move using reverberation to right itself. Yanked back to its feet, it landed lightly lashing the unseen peeling waves of bellsong like whips. The ringing distorted echoing unnervingly the same ways the cables of the subway did as the cars came speeding by. As the ballerina faltered in surprise the demon rose onto its toes mirroring Megumi's whirling twirl. It churned its outstretched hands in waving interlocking twists snarling the sound tighter and tighter before letting the ricocheting resonance fly free.
The humming backlash returned with devastating consequences. It tore up the ground like a gyrating saw blade. Dirt clotted the air as muddy water spurted in foaming jets. But before it could cut down Megumi Jae and Kenka sailed past her sides. Twin blurs of green silver and red gold, they kicked up curtains of gravel. Together they moved as one in perfect unison bending backwards parallel to the ground. Skidding on knee guards under the wall of force Urami unleashed they righted. Jingling and jangling they heaved their hands high slashing with blurring crimson gold and silver. In the same moment Megumi leapt and sprang off their offered shoulders.
She soared like a bird spreading her shining plumage blotting out the gloomy sky. As she returned she sliced her fans low like flashing obsidian. The black bells tolled again as thunder cracked overhead with a tremendous boom. Three times three, the dancers furled the edges of their fans like cutting blades. The clamorous screech of their carillons sliced through the wall of the tatarigami's spite. Cut, ripped, and shredded into pieces, it divided around them harmlessly. More wind surged across the hill and the paddies making the world shiver and shudder. Breathing hard and trembling visibly, the tatarigami came to stillness as the gale jetted past. Urami's uncanny obsidian eyes went wide if only for a moment. Then they darted between the humans as if reckoning. It hissed beneath its breath reluctantly.
"You… I don't know you… But I'll begrudge you if I must…"
Pointing with blade of her fan Megumi lifted her chin challengingly. At her back Jae spat at the tatarigami viciously from behind his wolf's face.
"F-fuck you whatever t'fuck you are!"
Gleaming like seashells as they dragged away from Urami, Kenka's pale eyes darted up the slope at her. Sen had never seen Kenka dance. Back in Tokyo he'd been too sick to risk the effort. But not now; not since Suzume had fixed whatever was wrong with his heart. Graceful as the willows emblazoned across his body, he rose with soft subtle motions that made her want to watch more. But across the distance his pale eyes begged for instruction. Unfortunately she had none to give. This was not victory. It was stalemate. In the ringing silence that followed Sen forced herself upright clasping her suzu. Unnerved by the oppressive quiet distantly she wondered where the music was. In its absence they'd only been able to artlessly bludgeon tatarigami with bellsong, not ensare it with dance. Although what she intended to do once they had it dancing chilled her even across the distance.
Sen jerked as overhead thunder cracked as the black clouds sank lower and lower. Her quick breath became a billowing white plume in the frigid wind. It began to snow heavily, so heavily she could barely see anything. Then a flute screeched dissonantly but it wasn't the music she'd so desperately hoped for. The sound knocked her off balance sending her back to one knee. The shrill eerie melody swelled and rambled. It scattered here and there as if panicked making her sway off balance. Again it towed on her compellingly even as she resisted. Through the curtains of white Sen saw the tatrigami bend rasping and heaving hideously. At first she thought it was choking but then Sen realized Urami was laughing.
"Look, Sen! He finally realized he's lost!"
Triumphantly the demon pointed into the devouring white. All the while she laughed and laughed with crushing malevolence.
"And it's your fault! It's all your fault!"
LIN
Panic surged in her blood like cold ice. Lin scrambled with her only hand to catch hold of Sen. But the girl slipped through the fingers of her only hand leaving her reaching.
"Sen! Sen! Come back, Sen!"
But the girl didn't. She didn't look back as she sprinted down the hill. As Lin stared after her at a loss the urge to give chase vibrated in every fiber of her being. Before Lin could bolt Suzume caught her. Thrashing and kicking and clawing and biting, Lin fought in his grip like a wild animal. Immune to her viciousness the iron bars of the fox's arms locked around her middle lifting her off the ground as she dragged him forward. As fury boiled in her blood, Lin heaved her body sideways to unbalance him. They toppled over into the dirt and landed hard. But the fox didn't yip in surprise as she'd expected and her plan backfired. Before she could wriggle out from under him Suzume pinned her face down with the full weight of his body. Obviously having learned a thing or two from their grappling match in the hallway earlier, try as she might Lin couldn't buck him free. Her only arm was trapped beneath her chest and she couldn't get enough leverage to hurl him off. Snarling through the dusty tangled thicket of her hair, Lin wheezed in a shrill hoarse voice that didn't sound at all familiar.
"Let me go, you stupid fox! Let me go!"
Suzume's terse rebuke whispered against the back of her neck making her shudder.
"You cannot accompany her, Hayashimi!"
It was the truth, which only pissed her off even more! Enraged, Lin fought harder even though it was useless. Again, thundered boomed overhead making her jump and gasp. The terrifying clash and clang of bells rolled up the hill. They crashed over them like a physical blow that made the hairs on her body rise on a thrilling shudder of apprehension. At once scrambling in her husband's grip sick with worry Lin whipped her head around struggling to see the fight below as it remained just beyond the corners of her eyes. But the fox's arms had dropped to lock around her waist pulling her upright and holding her tightly as if afraid of what she might do. Then Little Green Frog called in a panic from the pulling her attention back to the crest of the hill with its collection of Gods and humans.
"Miss Lin! Master Suzume! Something's wrong with Master Haku!"
The kami had set up an orchestra atop the wall of dirt that had once held up the kitchen nook. They had abandoned their instruments and clambered together in a tight knot pointing to the west. At once Lin sought her kits. Usagi had one. Natsumi had the other. They were crying fitfully, frightening by the bells. All the same, a brief flutter of relief surged in her heart knowing they were in good hands. In the midst of the Gods Goshiro stood with Kai firmly fixed in the grip of his misshapen hands. The sharp blades of the old priest's eyes turned across the exposed garden that once inhabited the enclosure between the great hall and the bath wing. Humming with dread Lin followed the pointing fingers of her friends to the thick curtains of steam obscuring the empty basin of the rotenburo. Inside the mists she caught sight of Haku. He was seated in the mud bent over his knees bowing his head. The low black clouds seemed to sink lower still as if hell bent on crushing him.
"Suzume!" Lin choked the fox's name as she yanked him around to look.
Lin ground her teeth as a bitter gust of arctic wind scattered the billowing steam. Haku rocked back onto his heels with a gasp. A thrilling punch of frozen terror went skittering through Lin's body at the sound. Across the distance she clearly saw Haku's expression of stark horror as he stared at his right hand. It spasmed and jerked like it had a mind of its own. But as Haku lurched upright with an agonized shout it began snowing heavily. Aghast, she lost sight of him in the swirling curtains of biting icy white.
"Suzume!" Lin shouted this time as she gave her husband a shake.
Until that moment the fox stood gripping her tighter and tighter as if frozen. He startled then left her in a lurch bolting through the snow for the empty rotenburo. Lin stared after the blurring streak of red and gold then followed only to stumble as something whizzed by overhead. Magic slapped her in the face as she ran blindly right through Onsen's doorway. Skidding in the swiftly piling ice Lin blinked as she found her mask firmly fixed over her face. Mutely she took stock of the laced plates of armor encasing her body. Umi's knife had a new sheath through which the dagger threaded onto her belt. A long length of clinking iron chain looped twice across her chest, counter-balanced by a heavy hunk of iron that rested in the small of her back. The chain clipped to the ring at the base of the cruel curved sickle she gripped in her only hand. Grazing her eyes along the weapon's razor edge Lin chewed on the bile rising in her throat. She tried not to pull a sour face and begrudge the gift. It looked like a big bitey tooth. And so that became its name. Okihane: Big Tooth. Bitterly Lin wished it was Hanoane. But she'd given her teeth to Haku. Hopefully he wouldn't bite her with them.
With a startled gasp Lin back peddled sharply into the obscuring curls of snow as a flute screamed so close the air in her lungs reverberated. Foxfires erupted all around her haloing each individual flake of the falling snow with unnerving acuity as they filtered down from above in thick churning sheets. The disconcerting growl of guttering fire played counterpoint to swelling song as the God lights swirled and eddied, casting eerie twisting shafts of light through the hissing blizzard.
The ice was so thick Lin didn't see them until the last minute. She was forced to dive aside to avoid being trampled. Suzume swept by in a gleaming whirl of flaming red gold that momentarily dyed the snow bloody with reflected color. Then he faded into the white-washed world, blending into the storm as all the color bleached from his body. But the length of his gold flute flashed here and there like gold forks of lightning. And his incandescent eyes danced with flickering fire like the blue blazes that surged at his call. The foxfires sizzled as the melody Suzume summoned turned wild and circuitous. Lin saw why as she lunged away from the silent shadow pursuing her mate.
As if it didn't know the meaning of rest the shade surged through the snow whirling sinuously around Suzume only to leap into the air impossibly high as it flipped and returned with stunning speed. The flute screeched in discord warding off its swooping blow. The melody broke as metal crashed on metal. Obscured by the snowstorm sputtering blue fire erupted so close Lin cringed from the hissing embers rocketing by trailing blackened tails of steam. She skidded further still as something large dropped between her and the fox. An expansive gale shoved aside both snow and fizzling foxfire. As it did Lin was offered an unobstructed view of the menacing shadow. All sound fled the world leaving her ears ringing with shock. In that moment she realized the shadow was Haku.
Everything seemed to slow as Lin was left frozen at what she saw. Naked from the waist up Haku didn't seem to feel the cold at all. Lithe and weightlessly he drifted through the storm without making a sound. His indigo trousers were black with ice that fell away in shards leaving behind strange shattered patterns. A glistening sheen of frost filmed his exposed pallid skin making it sparkle like crystal. As if carved out of the wind and ice reeling around him, his bare feet didn't even seem to touch the ground. Lin blinked as she realized they didn't. Arching gracefully, calm and cool as he touched down onto the tips of his toes in the midst of a perfect circle of whirling snow, he hung there for a moment as if suspended by the shrilling wind. Stunned and awed, Lin's mouth fell open. He was so very beautiful! So delicate and graceful! At least he would've been if not for the red blood seeping from the raw edges of wound beneath his left shoulder. It congealed on the chiseled muscles of his chest in long lines of gleaming ruby. Lin cringed from the sight of the blood. But worse were the spidery lines of poisonous black that spread in the delicate network of veins in his right arm. These grew thicker and darker as they spread from the stain that consumed his right hand. In that hand he held Hanoane.
He was so close now that Lin could see that even his hair had frozen. The wind-swept crop of silver-shot blue-black blew out of his eyes standing up in jagged spikes so finally she could see his face. The blood pumping through her body turned to shards of ice as he slowly turned to look at her. More lines of black threaded their way up his neck and across his face. His eyes were jet black consumed by the spiteful curse chewing its way up his arm trying to eat the rest of him. How it got there Lin had no idea. But the bleak misery etched across the dragon's features was far too familiar. The stupid dragon wore that expression way too much for her to forget it. Stunned and confused deep in her bones she knew this wasn't a Forgotten. Lin had looked into the face of a Forgotten many times. But a true Forgotten didn't feel pain or misery, only the endless agony of wanting. That's why they screamed mine, mine, mine!
Tatarigami: that's what the spiders called the thing inside of Kiri.
Tatarigami: a God of resentment.
And now it was inside Kohaku too.
