This takes place in the two weeks period between the last chapter (Chapter 16) and the next (Chapter 17)
Interlude II-b
The chosen area was well away from the usual traffic of people, yet a few stragglers still litter about. A young couple whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears, an older gentleman proudly walking his dog, a bare-footed mailman who appeared to be running away from a gang of feral hamsters…
She patiently waited while one by one they all inevitably drifted away from the place, the effects of the ward gentling nudging them to be somewhere else. When the area was finally free of people, she descended on the center of the little park.
Wearing her uniform in an open area in broad daylight was a bit disconcerting. She was a creature of the night and dark corners, of deep shadows and blind spots, yet she was learning to find enjoyment on these little tasks that took her beyond her usual expertise's, especially considering whom they are usually for.
She quietly walked across the place until she felt it all around her, the sudden warmth on the palm of her hands, the tingling on her neck, the brush against her deeper senses.
An Oumagatoki. Or Twilight Gate, as she was taught; a name honoring the first encounter of her brethren… her old brethren with the creature-phenomenon eras ago. It was said that their first warriors were taken to a land of eternal twilight where they assisted in a war between a fair orange-haired princess and a mad child-like priest, for their help they'd received gift untold, and many clans still chart the more bestial manifestations of their unique abilities to these gifts.
Certain that she was in the right place, she knelt to the ground and gently set the precious package beside her, then, she peeled off her gauntlets and neatly placed them on the opposite side.
Knowing what was expected this time around, she had time to prepare, as fine wounds along her arm indicated. She pressed her right thumb on the wound further from her left hand, just enough to stimulate the blood and have it fill up the mythical shape carved on her skin. Once the first glyph was filled, a fine line of blood impossibly traveled upwards, to the following glyph, and so it continued until it reached her wrist.
She had heard this method be called barbaric before, but it was how she was taught, and what she personally prefers; it was quick to set it up and activate and it left absolutely no vestiges behind or while going in, so it was perfect for getting in and out swiftly and undetected. Besides, the wounds were so finely cut they would heal by the end of the day anyway and no kunoichi worth her salt would let something like that impair her movements, so the complaint was mostly from people who were squeamish at the sight of blood.
Once all the glyphs were filled on both of her arms, she locked her hands together and moved them in a quick series of hand seals, while also pulling in invisible particles of the Twilight Gate inside herself in each breath and exhaling them in a muttered mantra. Within two seconds, the world shifted.
All background noise of an urban dwelling in constant movement suddenly stopped, a thin sheet of mist was now surrounding the park, and even the sunlight changed into something the most perceptive eyes could tell was artificial.
She allowed herself a soft smile for her success. Soon, her gauntlets were back in their proper place, and the vital package secured under her arm. Sensing no immediate danger, she leaned forwards a bit and in a single, blindly fast movement, launched herself into the air.
The view of this place never failed to take her breath away, a perfect representation of the Nerima Ward spread as far as the eye could see, sometimes a painting-like display of oppressive darkness and cold gloominess, with large clouds of mist swallowing everything like great, looming beasts, other times, like today, the mist was kept near the ground and the sun was allowed to shine, spearing the world with casting prismatic rays of light that crested over the layer of empty buildings jutting out from the white, misty sea below. Had she had a more poetic soul, she could contemplate the sight and draw entire compositions from its beauty. Still, admiring the view wasn't why she was here; her task was much more important.
So, with the lightest tap of her heels, she bounced from rooftop to rooftop faster than the eye could follow looking for her charge. It did not take long at all.
He was sitting at the edge of a low rooftop of a familiar building, holding something in his hands while his legs slowly kicked at the misty lake covering the streets below. From a single glance, she could tell he was relaxed, happy, his heavy jacket and baseball bat lying haphazardly at his side as a low hum escaped his lips. His good mood was clear for all to see.
A sure indication he was fresh from his lessons with one Lucretia Zola.
She had several reservations about this arrangement. She had consulted with a few of her remaining contacts and a few of her new ones about that woman. In Europe, she was known for being a powerful and well-established magic user, but that was expected, no one willingly took the title of 'witch' without being capable of pulling their own weight. What worried her wasn't what Lucretia Zola was known for, it was what she was rapidly becoming famous for. Rumors about her exploits travel far and wide; the acquisition of lost artifacts, the unraveling of forbidden spells, the dealings with Divine Ancestors…
A witch involved with Deities and Devil Kings. She doesn't know how things were done in foreign lands, but in Japan, there was a reason groups that dealt too deeply with that were kept isolated for the most part. Trouble, they always bring a tremendous amount of trouble.
Plus, he always looks so joyful and fulfilled after time spent with that woman. It's suspicious, she says, suspicious!
But, alas, she's nothing but her lord's loyal kunoichi, she could do nothing else other than promptly inform him of her discoveries. His continuous association with the suspicious witch was his decision, she had no choice but to respect it and make contingencies.
Pushing these thoughts from her mind before they soured her mood further, she appeared beside him, kneeling on the proper respectful stance.
"Waga Aruji-sama." She quietly announced her presence. Perfectly hiding the tingling feeling these words never failed to cause. Too many memories of giggling fantasies shared by apprentices kunoichi in the dead of the night.
"Rin!" The warmth in his voice could melt her away and his smile did somethings to her insides. "Check this out."
He moved his hand to show her what he was holding. Rin cocked her head to the side as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing; rather than something solid, his hands were clucking a collection of… fiery earth? No, not that, looking closely, it appeared to be a collection of little floating bubbles, some deep orange and clearly on fire, like the flickering fire of a lit candle separated from its wax body, others solid brown and molded together, like pieces of mud or clay.
"The particular style of magic Lucretia is teaching me involves calling forth spirits to help with spell casting. But the thing is, they aren't really spirits. They are more like tiny bits of your own mana that you eject outside your body during the spell chanting, these bits then absorb natural elements from the world and are drawn back within yourself, so by the time you finish the chant you have these charged bits of mana that enhance just about everything in the resulting spell formation, so even a basic fire spell can pack a lot of punch if you use the 'spirits' correctly. That got me thinking, if I'm ejecting mana during the chant to power it up for a second or two, what if I eject mana independently of the chant, power it up first, then carry it along to use it later." He theatrically opened his hands, letting the… little elemental spirits fly off. They didn't float very far, seemly satisfied to just hang in the air or start orbiting around them like a bunch of odd little fireflies. "Ta ram! It was way harder than I'd anticipated, but Lucretia did say I had a weird talent for moving mana outside my body." He leaned back, placing his hand on the ground for support, his head tilted to look up at the circling spirits. "I'm thinking of calling them sprites." He said contently.
Rin's eyes calmly regarded a tiny little fire spirit- sprite that was drifted close to her face. It was bright, but not bright enough that it hurt looking at it, its orange base was perfectly spherical, and its flames really did remind her of a candle. A pair of cartoony yellow eyes suddenly appeared at its center and blinked at her.
"That… very impressive," Rin said, fighting the urge to slip one into her pouches and taking it home with her.
She found that she completely meant every word.
Initially, she'd never imagined her Aruji-sama as someone with an affinity for the arcane. The way his body was built, the way he dressed and acted, his choice of weapon, his fighting style, everything about him indicated someone who fought on the frontline, who engaged his enemies directly. True, he had told her of his interest in the subject, but she'd reckoned it was only academic curiosity or looking for ways to defend against it. Now…
She only needed to turn her head and look at the area of the city that was ravaged by long trails of flames and large pillars of stone to know that her Aruji-sama's power and talent towards the mystical arts were indisputable.
But more than that.
The way he spoke about it, the way each lesson could have him talking for hours and about his experiences and theories, the way he relished putting what he learned to practice, finding its limits and rules, and learning to twist them… the smile upon his face. It was obvious this was more than an affinity, her Aruji-sama found wonderment in magic, and he loved learning about it.
That's right! Her Aruji-sama loves magic, that's the reason he looked so happy after each lesson with that woman, it wasn't related to the witch at all!
Rin gave herself a quiet nod of confirmation. Her feeling didn't appear on her face of course, it would be improper.
"Did you bring something for me?" Her master asked, pulling her from her important ponderings.
"Hai." She answered dutifully, setting the package down close to him.
"You… made me lunch?"
The kunoichi nodded, a tiny, satisfied smile creeping to her lips.
Rin knew how to cook, she had even been called a good cook once, but for some reason she couldn't fathom, her cooking had always been… inconsistent. Sometimes she would end up with perfectly adequate meals, other times, barely edible messes that tasted just as horrendously as it looked. She didn't know the reason why, and it was something that used to frustrate her immensely. It also forced her to abstain from cooking most of the time; better to have somebody else do it than throw a dice and risk wasting ingredients.
As strange as it may be, it was Ayasaki Hayate, Azure Viper himself, whom she had to thank for solving her cooking conundrum. Ever since she began heeding his advice of 'cooking only while wearing her uniform' her attempts have been consistently successful.
She could cook for her Aruji-sama now.
"Indeed, this one is aware Aruji-sama has a unique ability that let you carry all the supplies you need, yet this one couldn't help but notice most these supplies were from convenience stores. As your kunoichi, this one has the duty to attend to your health, including providing nutritious meals should your servant lack the capability to do so."
"Rin, Rin, I get it." Her lord stopped her with a raised hand before she could get to the other half of her prepared speech. "Thank you for this, seriously. I can't remember the last time I had a home-cooked meal." Her heart ached with her failure, but she would strive to make it right. A knowing grin suddenly spread on her Aruji-sama's handsome face. "In fact… why don't you feed it to me."
Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes! "This one lives to serve."
What followed was bliss, pure, undiluted bliss.
Her kneeling close to her Aruji-sama, feeding the alluring sight of her prodigious curves to his eyes, and a proper meal of her own making to his mouth while the air around them was softly lit by the closest equivalent to fireflies— A picturesque image of feminine devotion, most fitting of the perfect, wifely-role-filling instrument that she was, providing her lord and master everything he could possibly need and leaving none of his urges unattended. She wished she could paint this moment on a canvas and send it to her younger self, to show the girl that everything will be worth it.
Rin already knew that no matter what happened she would cherish this memory for the days to come.
But like the blooming of Sakura trees, bliss never lasts very long. Soon, way too soon, she was pushing the empty bentō aside and moving to kneel in front of her lord and master.
"Aruji-sama…" She began, softly.
"I know." He rubbed his chin with his finger, an almost embarrassed grin rising to his lips. "I've been rather busy lately, right? Pulled in every direction, going to a lot of places, never really alone… We haven't had time to talk."
She politely bowed her head before his intuition, "As expected of Aruji-sama."
He let a light snort, another sound she discovered she like to hear from him. "I felt like you say that for everything I do." She would stop saying it when he stops deserving it. "Rin…" His voice lost the casual tone, she instantly straightened herself. "… Tell me what happened during the days you spent away from me, I don't need to know every minor detail, but I want you to tell me everything."
Rin nodded in acknowledgment and started her report.
She talked about her Taimanin mission, the one that had pulled her away from him in the first place. He had a reaction when she gave the names and detailed profiles of her partners and had looked a bit green when she got to the exact description of the role assigned to her and the actions she would have to take.
She was glad she ultimately failed in her intel-gathering role. She knew her master enough now to know he wouldn't have pushed her away if she had succeeded it, but it would be extremely distasteful to report. She's happy she didn't put him through it.
… Of course, she was quick to add she wasn't lacking in that department and only failed because the mandate of her mission commander did not outweigh the will of her Aruji-sama, and that she would happily use her extensive bedroom skills on any mission her Aruji-sama sent her, as long as they were under his direct orders and will— He had waved her down to get her to move her from the subject at that point, but the look of deep possessiveness on his face told she wouldn't have to consider that possibility for a long while… and sent some really nice feelings down her spine.
Finally, she got to the point her Aruji-sama was clearly more interested in.
"After this one was intercepted Ayasaki Hayate and his subordinate at the behest of Arujin-sama, she accompanied them to their local base of operation, a location that is surely abandoned by now. There this one was put in contact with Aruji-sama's lord father through a phone call."
Her master loudly and rather violently choked on his own breath at the revelation. She dutifully waited till his coughing fit subsided.
"You talked with my father!?"
Rin nodded.
"Ah, err." Her Aruji-sama looked lost. "How was it? He… he didn't say anything weird right?" He trailed off, clearly having difficulties deciding on what to ask.
"No. It was… " How could she put into words?
It was a dark, nondescript room, with no easy escape routes in sight. One of the most dangerous human beings to ever live leaned in a corner with his eyes closed and deadly hands slid inside his pockets, worryingly away from view.
Yet she barely paid attention to any of that.
"I see."
The voice was deep, almost heavy to listen to, and yet… soothing, with a relatable underlayer tiredness clinging to it, like someone who spent all night working and was powering through the morning with coffee and determination. When it talked to her it… talked to her, she could feel she had the complete, undivided attention of the one behind the line, but it wasn't oppressive or imposing, it was… considering? Acknowledging?
She never felt more acknowledged in her life.
"So, he's… fitting in well… Thriving… that's good news, excellent news." She could hear the long, relieved breath he tried to keep from the line and could almost imagine him sinking into his chair. She found herself smiling for him, this man she had never seen, and only talked for a couple of minutes. She wondered to herself how many people she was taken to this quickly and found herself counting only one.
"You have my deepest gratitude, Uehara Rin-san... Please, continue to look after my son."
"… This one can see who Aruji-sama takes after."
"The heck does this even mean?" Aruji-sama groaned, rubbing his large hand over his elegantly gelled hair.
"He was nice." She tried again.
"Oh, I know he's nice. It's his appearance that worries me."
Well, she wouldn't know about that, but if her Aruji-sama was any indication, he must be a very attractive gentleman indeed.
"Just forget about it. Carry on."
She nodded. "After confirming Aruji-sama's current status, lord father offered me a leadership position in ACROSS—"
"What now?" Aruji-sama interrupted her. "Oh! Right, the name of my family's paramilitary organization."
A surprisingly common thing among the richest families and clans, though she supposed ACROSS stood out for having a man like Ayasaki Hayate leading their ranks.
"This one refused the offer."
She's been expecting her master to interrupt her again at this part, but he didn't. His look asked for an explanation though, so she promptly provided. "The members of ACROSS are loyal first and foremost to the Ōe family, Aruji-sama. This one is loyal only to you."
S-She made him blush! Yes! A rare and precious sight, she would treasure it forever!
On the outside, she sat a little straighter.
"After that, Lord Father laughed and officially recognized this one's kunoichi vow to you, accepting her as a kunoichi of the Ōe family. Then he asked this one to take a mission, which she chose to consider it a test to see if she was worthy of directly serving the clan's heir." Rin took a deep breath. "This mission was 'Successfully fake the death of the Sparkly Taimanin Uehara Rin to the eyes of the Taimanin corps', and, if possible, 'Find any proof of demonic infiltration or involvement within the Taimanin corps'."
Rin lowered her gaze to her lap, for the first time today an emotion she didn't wish for broke through her tranquil mask.
"This one succeeded on both her objectives."
Silence stretched between them, before her Aruji-sama, like he usually did, broke all the rules and protocols and moved from his lordly position to sit down beside his lowly servant. His large, masculine fingers interlaced with her delicate ones. Impossibly, that only kept her from pushing herself away and reestablishing proper decorum, as expected from her Aruji-sama.
"No wonder you were late." He tried for a humorless joke and somehow that ended up yanking a giggle out of her.
Uehara Rin realized then that she might be a bit in love.
"A-Anyway." Would her racing heart be able to calm down while they were locking hands? His thumb began to trail circles over her skin. O-oh dear! "A-After the mission was over, there isn't much to tell. This one was led to one of ACROSS's main bases, a mobile building that had probably already left Tokyo. She had limited access because she wasn't a member, but this one managed to gather intel about one of the base's more precious treasures— mostly because it was used to facilitate her training. Aruji-sama, the ACROSS base, Cerberus 01, is in the possession of a Sanctum, an extremely rare magical artifact capable of taking people to a dimension where time passes faster. Ayasaki Hayate used this artifact to, like she had alluded, train this one to reach his standards for a protector of the main family. This one trained with him for two months within the sanctum, and two days in real-time."
She suspected that man had more in his mind when he pulled her to this endeavor; she had been... distraught over the secrets she uncovered and the lies she'd been fed, the period of stretched time gave her… well, time to deal with the revelation and accept her new reality. Plus, the opportunity to cross arms against the legendary Azure Viper himself was both a humbling and a vindicating experience. True, the gap between them was as vast as she had expected, but it wasn't nearly as much as she had feared; and it had become even shorter after the training she undertook. Well worth aging two months in two days for it.
"After that, he informed me of your call and this one came as soon as she was able."
Her Aruji-sama was gawking a bit at this last stream of information. He closed his open mouth with a quiet 'clamp' and muttered a quiet, "I-I see."
Cute.
Once again, there was silence between her and her Aruji-sama as he processed her report, but this time it wasn't uncomfortable. Their hand stayed warmly interlaced, their fingers softly caressing each other's. She even scandalously leaned her head on her master's shoulder without any prompting from him. The dirty, little kunoichi that she was. She would tie herself up and present herself for punishment later.
Finally, her Aruji-sama let out a long whistle.
"Well, that was a whole lot more than what I was expecting." He turned to look at her, and her body lit up under his attention. "What do you think it will happen now that ACROSS knows about the Taimanin corps situation?"
Ah. As expected of Aruji-sama. Attentive as always.
"They have several options." She began. "They could take advantage of the demonic influence and position themselves in a way that they would benefit from taimanin failing their mission. They could reach out to lost, disgruntled taimanin and try to win their loyalty." Like you did to me, she mused quietly to herself, without even realizing it. "They could sit on it and use the information later to gain some advantage. They could spread it to seed chaos within the taimanin's ranks… There are a lot of possibilities, but it is undeniable that ACROSS now holds a lot of cards."
Her lord nodded. Then his face briefly twisted into a scowl before relaxing to a neutral expression, the grip on her hand tightened a bit.
"Rin, do you think… Is there a possibility that ACROSS and the Ōe family might be connected to NOMAD?"
She contributed to the tightness of their connected grip herself. She did not like hearing her master speaking their name, did not like it at all. In a perfect world, he would live a life free of having to worry about people- creatures like them, but they do not live in a perfect world, and if his first contact with those things had spooked him as much as he told her… She could see where the question came from.
"… This one's initial impressions and following interactions with the members of the organization would lead her to believe that no. They are not connected." She bit her lips. "But… she wasn't privy to all their secrets. They might be putting up an elaborate act, so this one cannot in her right mind say the possibility does not exist." The taimanin corps itself is involved, after all.
Her lord looked on ahead, considering her words.
She gazed at him, her selfish desire bubbling to the fore front of her mind, agitated by the subject. She opened her mouth and made to speak but instantly closed it.
There are some acceptable breaches of conduct a kunoichi can commit. But there were some things that stretch too far, pushed too much. She was Ōe Hiroshi's personal kunoichi now; she must remember her station when serving such illustrious master, so she dutifully kept her silence.
"Speak. You have something to say, don't you?" Her Aruji-sama suddenly asked.
And just like that, she had no other choice.
"Aruji-sama, this one… I…" Her words failed to materialize, they clustered in her throat, clogged her channel to the point that even air had difficulties escaping. She tried to discreetly swallow the lump and press on, but it simply wouldn't go down.
"You want to save the Taimanin, don't you?" Her master somehow reached inside herself and plucked the words out of her heart.
"… Hai." She wanted to slap herself, is this how she plans to show her conviction? "No. This one cannot save them all, that much she knows. To embark in an endeavor such as this would be foolish, suicidal." The cold truth is that she had a new priority, she cannot dedicate her life to something else for it did not belong to her anymore. "But… but this one wish, if possible, to help who she can, the few she can reach. If she could warn them, somehow, if she could look into clues they are kept from looking into…" She shook her head. "This is this one's selfish desire, and she fails as a kunoichi for even daring to vocalize it. The immense security risk this would create alone would deter most from even considering it."
"… It's too dangerous." She agreed vehemently. "I'll not have you disappearing on me." She hid a shiver from the way he said it. Her lord was wise beyond his years and she's lucky to serve under him, she will beg for punishment later. "So, here is how we are going to do this; every time you hear about a taimanin getting in trouble, or find a clue or a lead that could help them or rescue them, you come to me first, we'll formulate a plan from and act from there." He met her eyes while she was barely able to hide her emotions. "I order you to do this, Rin, you are to consider this an official mission."
Ah.
Of course, did she think he would act in any other way? She should be horrified with herself for incentivizing her master to seek dangerous situations… yet she felt floaty, at peace.
"Hai, Aruji-sama." She said, and then unpromptedly leaned into him again.
What is another sin for someone who was already a sinner?
For a while they just stayed there, in the middle of the circling cluster of sprites, enjoying each other's warmth, letting the tension of the conversation bleed away.
A noise rumbled in the distance, the same kind that had occasionally echoed as they talked. A piece of building that had been partially dislodged from its whole by one of her Aruji-sama's previous attacks was crumbling under its own weight and threatening to fall.
This time, rather than ignoring it, he turned to look at it. Then he stood up.
Rin remained kneeling in place but prepared herself for whatever her lord would need of her. She silently watched as he raised his hand, his thumb and index finger forming the shape of a gun while he pointed at the crumbling debris in the distance.
All of the sudden, the fire sprites around her shot out towards his arm. All fading a couple of centimeters before contact with his skin, presumably melting back into magical energy and entering his body.
"Practe bigi nar…" She heard him muttering under his breath, flourishing an incantation in a foreign language. If she was asked for an educated guess, Rin would have said Latin, or Greek.
An exclaimed word marked the end of the chant, and it bought forth a bright blossoming of flames around her Aruji-sama's hand. A trio of flaming projectiles shot out just as fast as his usual ones, cutting a shining yellow trail in the air as they flew. Circling around each other, their trajectory abruptly shifted to follow the debris as it broke from its whole and started to fall, hitting the target at its center. Rather than exploding it, like Rin had imagined, the projectiles seem to cover the target in flames instead, and then a thread of pure fire shot out from it to the place where the debris has fallen from, pulling it back to it.
Rin blinked at the sight of the piece of building almost completely wrapped in thick ropes of fire and seemly tied back to the spot it had crumbled from.
A… fire binding spell of some kind?
"That took five seconds to cast." Her lord said, keeping his eyes on the result of his spell.
Rin nodded, followed his logic. "Unfit to be used in direct combat."
That's to be expected; there is a reason the stereotype of magic users making for poor frontline fighters existed after all.
"This is actually something I wanted to ask your help with." He gave her a lopsided, boyish grin that shot fire spells at interesting parts of her body.
Control herself until they were on his lordly bed, she would, like a proper kunoichi.
"Aruji-sama… This one must apologize but she's not as well versed in the arcane arts."
"It's not that." He shook his head, "It's just… this whole spell casting thing is very new for me, but I feel like I can find a way to integrate it to my normal fighting style." This made Rin want to smile, her lord had said 'I think' with the conviction of someone who'd said 'I know', he does that a few times, one of his many charms. "But I'm going to need a lot of practice to get there though. Plus I don't want to neglect my other options, it's not like I'm going to go full wizard just because I'm learning magic." He let out a breath. "Basically, what I'm trying to get at is; Rin, would you be willing to train me again? Continue where we left off?"
She almost let out a fit of giggles but kept it walled off inside. Only her beloved Aruji-sama would so expertly pull them back to a comfortable subject after such as draining conversation. She allowed herself a smile and placed a hand over her heart.
"It would be this one's pleasure. Waga Aruji-sama."
A/N: I broke the interlude into parts because I think they fit better as a single chapter format, I'll be posting these parts once a day starting with this one. If you're interested in reading all the parts already check out this story on Questionable Questing forum