Chapter Fifty-Eight: Leap of Faith
In a shower of shattered glass, Sesshoumaru leapt back, his feet skipping down of the face of the tower. The shards outpaced him, tinkling as they plummeted towards the ground, a dizzying distance below. Around him, the tattered tails of his tunic flapped in the wind, along with his billowing mane of hair. Ash mottled him in black and rivulets of sweat streaked his skin. His mouth parted and he began to pant, catching his breath.
But for the weariness adorning his body, his eyes burned bright behind his battle-worn mask.
He glared into the smoke pouring from the fissure in the tower above him. Jagged glass carved the edges of the crater like a cruel smile, and in the blackness, he could see the twisted support beams, their ends glowing molten gold. Then a pair of iridescent eyes pierced the darkness and a silhouette appeared.
Smoke curling away from her body, Oya emerged. Her once-white, now shredded blazer hung off her body, revealing her green blouse and patches of skin reticulated by shimmering pearlescence. Matching him, she glistened with sweat and her chest heaved as she gulped down air.
Casually, he cracked his neck. Even aided by his weapons, their difference in power felt like a gulf. She was a celestial beast after all. And yet, experience mattered. You don't become a seasoned warrior by only crushing weak opponents, and he'd at least fought a few real battles in his life. Wear her down and buy time. It was all he needed to do. He had nothing else to prove.
With her thumb, she swiped away the blood trickling from her mouth, and a spark of power sealed the wound. Then she looked over her shoulder and glanced up at the top of the tower.
"No more snowdrifts?" he sneered coolly, eyeing the melted water that defied gravity by puddling on the building. "What became of your illusions, hanyou? Too expensive to express when true battle arises? Or more honestly, are they simply pointless when you must face reality itself as a lord of an empty castle?"
"Your taunts are poorly veiled," she growled back, rolling her shoulders. "What do you know of reality and its empty castles? How many centuries have you gone without a home and a family?"
His eyes narrowed and he watched her as she started to shed her blazer. Pinned only by a couple buttons, her tattered blouse fluttered open, exposing the spider on her chest, and he felt his own scar itch.
Her lip curled with contempt. "No one who's ever suffered from exile would speak so flippantly about that pain."
Her blazer fell free, fluttering towards him, obscuring his view. Crouching slightly, he readied for her attack, his senses afire and his claws green with acid.
Gunfire popped at the crest of the tower.
And when the blazer passed by him, she was gone. He spotted her as she sprinted away towards the penthouse suite, and her scorn about empty castles tightened in his chest.
He leapt forward for the chase, but his boot slipped and for a moment, gravity retook him. Summoning his youki, he regained his footing, and then looked down at his gauntlets. The magnesium white with which they burned had dimmed to a tarnished gray. The battle had been costly, and he hadn't much youki left.
His eyes returned to her and he gritted his teeth. None of it mattered without his family and his city. He'd save them. No matter what it took.
Power surged around him, tugging at his clothes, and he flew after her, his boots shattering glass as he ran.
OOOOOOOOOO
Springing through the gaping window at the penthouse floor, Oya burst into the room, her bare feet slipping on pooled blood. Her eyes turned wild at the gore but were instantly soothed when she spotted Ishida sitting on the bed and Yukina kneeling on the floor.
"What happened?" she asked, her voice edged by both fear and rage. "Are you all right?"
"We're unharmed," Ishida assured, then nodded towards Yukina as she bound a ripped pillowcase around what remained of Kurosawa's arm. "And the disloyal dog has been defanged and sentenced to live with his shame."
"Hyousuke…" Kurosawa murmured weakly. "Hyousuke, get up."
Baring her teeth, she regarded him with disgust and balled up her fists. "It's not enough. Only his death will bring me satisfaction."
"Oya-sama," Ishida shouted, rising from the bed, his body leaning heavily on the footboard. "He's done. It's all done."
"It's not enough," she repeated, and her nails dug into her palm, sending blood trickling. "He betrayed me. He took everything I had and destroyed it."
"You never had it," Mama said.
Oya spun towards her, her expression slack with surprise. She had forgotten about her. Seated on her knees with Tora's head on her lap, Mama gazed up at her, exuding kindness. Then Oya's attention panned the room, discovering more invaders she hadn't seen.
"You never had it," Mama repeated.
"Mama, don't…" Kagome pled with one hand gripping her bow and the other dead at her side.
"It's all right, Kagome-chan," she soothed. "It's time for the truth. For reality to be shared."
Oya scoffed. "The truth?"
Mama looked to her. "Yes, the truth."
"And what is that?"
"That you never had what you've lost because none of it was real. This family you created from your pain and loss never existed." She sighed, her heart a well of empathy. "But that doesn't mean that you don't have family. That you don't have people who care about you."
"Oya-sama," Ishida said, reaching out. "It's done."
She looked at him and his outstretched hand, then her tone took on a strange finality. "No, I'm done. With this world and its disappointments. It's never enough. It never will be."
The ceiling began to rattle, and on the roof beyond it, a helicopter's rotors wound up in a growing whir.
And she was gone, through the window in a gust of wind.
"Oya-sama!"
A streak of silver and red, Sesshoumaru breached the window, his claws ready for the violence that had already passed. He hesitated as he took in the scene, his nostrils flaring.
"Sesshoumaru!" Kagome shouted, "She's on the roof! There's a helicopter and she's going to get away!"
"I saw," he replied coolly, "But you and Tora are wounded, and so we must go. Rescuing your mother is what we set out to do and with the yakuza clan having destroyed itself, their threat is no longer immediate."
"Please," Yukina implored, her eyes glossy with tears. "I've seen the stories online. You're a hero, aren't you? If so, then please save her. She and Ishida are all the family I have."
He looked down at the girl, her lap drenched in blood and her hands tending to the wound of her enemy.
With a loud, ungainly thump, Ishida collapsed onto his knees facing Sesshoumaru. Then, with a painful hiss, he leaned forward in a deep bow. "As her loyal lieutenant, it was my duty to protect her. I beg you, please succeed where I failed. Bring her back to us. We'll live in peace, this I swear to you. Just bring her back."
"She's a victim, too," Mama added, "She lost everything centuries ago. Just like you did. But for her, the only family she had left regarded her with contempt. They were family by blood but not by heart."
"Like Amaya," Tora whispered.
A lonely girl perched on a hotel balcony, committed to a final leap, filled Sesshoumaru's thoughts, and he nodded, understanding. "I will save her. You have my word as the guardian of this city."
He turned to spring out the window, then paused. "And your escape?"
"We'll figure it out," Kagome assured. "Just go."
"There's a secret elevator and tunnel to safety," Ishida said as he clambered back onto his feet. "No others are aware of it. On my honor, I will personally ensure that your family escapes unharmed."
Sesshoumaru eyed the man, assessing his resolve, and he nodded again.
Then, on clouds of youki, he leapt through the window.
OOOOOOOOOO
Biting her lip, Jin peered out the window of the police helicopter at the golden city surrounding them. Great monoliths of concrete and steel, skyscrapers leaned in as they climbed, their sharp corners and piercing antennae reaching out. Narrowly, they skirted them, keeping to the canyons in between.
The helicopter lurched, bouncing her in her seat, and she covered her mouth in a gasp. A wave of nausea followed, dappling her with perspiration.
"Are you all right, Fumiko?" Nakagawa asked, suppressing a grin behind his headset microphone. "A little bumpy for you?"
"Shut up, Nakagawa," she grumbled under her breath, afraid to speak any louder.
"It's just mild turbulence, inspector," the pilot said, his smooth voice staticky over the speakers in their headsets. "It's normal this time of day. Nothing to worry about."
She grunted in reply and swallowed on the hard lump in her throat.
The co-pilot turned in his seat to spy back at them, his mirror-like, aviator sunglasses reflecting the source of concern that edged his voice. "Inspector, I've been meaning to ask… Why are you in handcuffs?"
Nakagawa chuckled nervously. "It's nothing to worry about. I just lost a bet."
His frown deepened. "Sir, no disrespect, but given what's happening in the city, is this really the time to make good on a bet?"
"Uh…" he sputtered.
"Captain," Jin interrupted, fighting back her queasiness until it was only a gurgle in her throat. "How long until we reach the tower?"
He glanced at the array of video screens on his dashboard. "We'll have visual contact after we bank around this building ahead, ma'am."
The helicopter leaned to the left, making the turn. And when it finished, the black tower loomed ahead.
"Holy shit…" Nakagawa gasped, his eyes wide.
Deep and jagged, massive fissures crisscrossed the face of the building. Tiny pinpricks along the gashes, fires burned and from them, plumes of smoke billowed up into the sky, casting it in an ominous haze.
"Is that someone running up the side of the building?" the co-pilot asked, his voice wavering as though he were afraid of his own words, or more, his sanity.
Her earlier fear evaporating, Jin squinted at the fleck of silver, and recognized the demon sprinting up over windows as if obeying gravity was but a whim. Ahead of him, another figure ran, dark-skinned and agile. She leapt up over the crest of the roof, twisting in the air, and blew a vortex of iridescent flame at her pursuer. He dove to the side, narrowly avoiding it.
"Gods locked in battle," Nakagawa whispered with naked awe, then he looked at Jin. "Do you get it now? Why it's not us versus them? Why we need to pick a side?"
She clenched her jaw.
"There's another helicopter," the pilot announced as they closed in, and he knocked on his window with his knuckle, "On the roof. It's ready for take-off."
Its rotor blades whipping, Jin spotted the green helicopter on the helipad. The woman fled across the roof and ripped the door from the aircraft, sending it skipping over the edge. She reached in and with casual effort, she tossed the pilot out to take his seat. Then the rotors surged, and the helicopter pitched forward and took off.
A step too far behind, the demon raced across the roof only to reach its edge and no further. She was gone. A shrinking dot in the distance. It was then that he turned towards them and took a few steps back.
"$% &," the co-pilot muttered, "Is he going to do what I think he's going to do?"
"Damn it," the pilot cursed, and the helicopter banked away from the roof.
But not fast enough.
With a running start, the demon leapt, flying across the empty sky, death sprawling below him. He hit the helicopter with a heavy thud, sending it careening wildly, and metal screeched as he dug one set of claws into its thin skin. A stream of curses bled from pilots as they fought to regain control and keep from going into a deadly spin. Together, with full rudder, they steadied the helicopter.
And then came the polite knock at Jin's window.
His clothes and hair whipping under the beating rotor overhead, the demon loomed outside her window. Soot smeared his body and black singed the tattered hems of his tunic. And across his broad, bare shoulders, she could see abrasions and bruising mottling his skin. Even having been there when he had burst through a window to catch a falling girl, he hadn't felt as real as he did right now. As raw and tangible. It was as if for the past year, he had been something theoretical for her to consider. A concept on which to champion her ethics and not a man.
He raised his hand and pointed towards the fleeing helicopter.
"He wants us to go after the other helicopter," Nakagawa said.
"Tokyo-Center," the pilot said over the radio, "This is Tokyo-One-Alpha over the eastside of the Marunouchi District. We are declaring an emergency. We're under attack. There's a… demon attempting to hijack the aircraft."
"Tokyo-One-Alpha," the radio crackled back, "This is Tokyo-Center. We're directing all other aircraft away from your area. You are cleared for an emergency landing at the district helipad."
"Roger that, Tokyo-Center."
The helicopter started to veer, its heading bearing back towards police headquarters.
"Wait, captain!" Nakagawa shouted, and he struggled against the restraints binding his hands. "We can't go back yet! We need to catch that helicopter!"
"Look, I'm pilot-in-command!" he snapped at him, "And there's a demon hanging off the side of my aircraft. I'm flying us back home."
"I'm an inspector, so you'll follow my orders!"
"You're an inspector in handcuffs!" he shouted back. "I'm not doing anything you say!"
Again, the demon gave the window a gentle tap, and the red-faced yelling surrounding Jin faded into the background. She looked up at his snarling, canine mask, its sharp fangs and furrowed brow an intimidating visage. Yet, along the edges, she could see the wear. Chipped paint and deep gouges. And in the hollows of the eyes, she saw him. His irises blazed, burning away any lingering doubt she might have about his inhumanity, but gilded in them, she also spied a promise. The intensity of it made her breath seize in her chest.
He waited, his eyes unwavering as the wind tugged wildly at him.
People hesitated. They served themselves. But a hero was different. He would finish this. He just needed her help.
"We are over our weight capacity and off-balanced," the captain argued, spit speckling his microphone, "I don't know why you would even think we'd catch up. We're going home."
Nakagawa opened his mouth, a stream of frustrated vitriol ready.
"Let's try," Jin interrupted.
"You, too?" the co-pilot groaned.
"I'm giving you an order to try," she explained, her voice smooth and determined. "If we start to lose altitude or you're certain we're in danger, then we're done. We'll go home. But until then, let's try."
Silence crackled over the speakers.
"He's a hero and he needs us."
The rhythmic rotors hummed overhead.
The pilot sighed. "The instant we're in danger, we're done."
"Understood."
"But I'm telling you," he said, the engine surging as he added full power, "We're never going to catch that other helicopter."
"It doesn't matter," she replied, spying up at the demon. "We just have to try."