Chapter 52

Akashi frowned. She sat on a stool next to Tenryuu's bed. The fog had mostly burned off and the sun was trying to peek between clouds. Tatsuta had helped lead Akashi, Mutsu, and Nagato out through the woods for nearly an hour before Akashi found her, still lying on the ground with her sword next to her. She'd brought Tenryuu back to her room and laid her on the couch and looked her over. She seemed mostly fine, except for the third-degree burn on the palm of her right hand. Akashi had treated it well enough and wrapped it up. But there was a black strip burned into her hand from her glove, which had to be cut off.

Tenryuu stirred awake and looked over at Akashi. "W-where's Tatsuta? Is my sister alright?"

"Yeah, she's in the other room with Nagato and Mutsu," Akashi whispered. I'll get her for you." She stood and headed back into the kitchen, and called Tatsuta out. When Tenryuu saw her, her heart broke. Tatsuta's eyes were red and her face tear-streaked. She looked exhausted, even though it couldn't be later than 1100.

"Hey Tat," Tenryuu whispered. "You look awful."

Tatsuta rolled her eyes. "I looked awful? Have you seen yourself lately?" Her voice cracked, and sat beside her sister on the bed. Tenryuu struggled into a sitting position with Tatsuta's help. Tenryuu put her good arm around her sister and held her close. Tatsuta nestled close to Tenryuu. "You scared me there. I'm glad you're ok."

"So am I Tat. So am I,"

Tatsuta looked over at Tenryuu's sword. "Akashi looked at your sword too. She said it's still sound and should serve you well for a while still. The only weird thing is that that the black band on the blade has become part of it. And it's always cold. Your grip is fine, oddly enough though. That only leaves the elephant in the room-what exactly happened out there?"

Tenryuu shivered. She wrapped her arms back around herself. "I-I...I don't know what that was. And it terrified me." She paused as Nagato and Mutsu entered the room and knelt next to the bed.

Mutsu looked at her with a small smile. "It's ok Tenryuu. You're safe here. It's just that we need to know, like Tatsuta said. If it's something that needs more investigating."

Tenryuu shivered, but nodded. "Here goes then. So I hadn't been able to sleep last night. Kept waking up for some reason all the time. Eventually I got annoyed enough to get up and go for a walk. Usually helps me clear my head. So I'd gone out and walked down towards the woods. Then I noticed how dense the fog was, almost like it had been generated by something. So I drew my sword and swung it to see what effect it would have. Seemed to cut through the fog easy enough. So I sheathed it again. Walked around for about an hour or so I think. Wasn't really about to tell where I was cause of the fog. It was kinda surreal. So I', walking back and I came to a crossroads."

She paused as Nagato shivered at that. "Oh-right. Sorry Nagato." Nagato waved it away. "Anyway, there was one path that was much clearer, so I took that one. Eventually I'd walked a ways down the path, when a black shape off to the right caught my moment I looked at it, l got this weird feeling. It was like I was suddenly afraid of the dark."

Everyone in the room blinked and looked at her in shock. "You. Felt afraid of the dark?" Mamiya asked worriedly. Tenryuu nodded. Mamiya stood and hurried into the kitchen. She returned a moment later with one of her smoothies. Tenryuu's eyes perked up. She looked at it hungrily. "Here. Drink this." Tenryuu needed no encouragement.

Wiping her lips, she went on. "So I drew my sword again, and pointed it at the mass. When I charged it, I'm not sure what I was hoping to accomplish, but I went in anyway. When I swung, I hit something solid, which surprised me, but I recovered and went in again. When I stabbed a second time, I hit the solid whatever, and bounced the blade again. Almost stabbed myself in the foot." Tenryuu looked down in shame at her mistake. Tatsuta patted her shoulder while still fighting a smirk.

Tenryuu shook her head. "Anyway, I backed off and tried to regain my bearings. The cloud thankfully began to dissipate but the main thing that got me was my sword. I realised that my sword had not only turned completely black, but then the black seemed to liquify and collect in that black band. Seeing that the cloud was dissipating, I sheathed my sword and turned to head home, satisfied. No sooner had I turned to head home, i got that burning pain in my hand. I tried to pull my hand away, but I couldn't. It was like my hand was melted to the sword grip. The last thing I remember was looking up and seeing what appeared to be a bit of fire where the cloud had been. I then blacked out."

When Tenryuu finished, Mutsu beckoned for Nagato and Tatsuta to follow her into the kitchen to discuss what should be done. "Well, what are your thoughts?" Mutsu locked eyes with both girls.

Nagato sighed. "Well this needs to stay under wraps for now I think. We don't know enough to really figure out what we're dealing with or how to counter it."

"Agreed," Tatsuta went on. "What Tenryuu told us sounds too strange to figure out right away so it's better if we can keep this hidden for now, especially with e Germans heading home in the next few days. Last thing we need is for them to return and report that there's weird things happening here.

"Well that settled that," Mutsu said simply. "We'll keep this quiet for the time being, until we know more." She sighed. Now then, what about Tenryuu? She's gonna need some TLC…"

"On in," Tatsuta said quickly.