Dragon Tears and Raven Curses - Chapter Five

Seiji stared at the misty world around him. It was the same world as the real one, but everything was distorted and dim as if covered by a thick black veil. Colors were muted shades of gray. Around the property, in bright slashes of gold and cream that stood out in direct contrast to the rest of the drab gray world, were rings of color. The surroundings beyond seemed distorted and rippled unsteadily, as if what lay beyond the encircled property did not exist.
But it did. What was steady within the rings was the territory of the ghost. She could not go beyond the rings because she was tied to this area only. She was trapped by a purpose, and that purpose took shape in the rings of light
Only two other times he had done gone spirit-wandering, and each time felt easier going into the world in this form. He did not care of it; the only reason why he was doing this was because Yayoi was in such a nice mood, and he really did want Ryo to take her out.
Not that he didn't like the idea of Ryo winded up with Yayoi, he mused absently to himself as he wandered across the yard. Mist swirled upward and wrapped itself around his leg. They really weren't a very good couple. Given time, he knew Yayoi would grow tired of Ryo and Ryo easily took offense against sharp words, which his sister was famous for uttering. However, that didn't stop him from taking advantage of the situation. When Yayoi was happy, the whole world smiled upon you. When Yayoi was unhappy, life was sheer misery.
Distantly, he heard Ryo say something. It felt as if his friend had been eating syrup and had not taken the time to clear his throat as his voice was thick and smudgy. Seiji turned to stare at the house. Moving in slow motion, Byakuen emerged from the cabin, stopped for a long moment to growl at Seiji, and then he slipped into the woods.
Seiji frowned. This was just like all the other times he had been in this state; time had seemed to move at a standstill in the regular world compared to the spirit world. He glanced around his surroundings, knowing he had to find the ghost. But why was he growling at Seiji? What was he trying to tell him?
Well, Byakuen had always been upset whenever the ghost was reported near, so maybe he should check it out . . . Seiji looked around, trying to find the shadowy figure of a woman. A scream filled the air suddenly. It rose sharply and shrilly over the mist, full of desperation and fright. Seiji turned his head in time to see a fleeting white color flash by, followed by a river of red. He shielded his eyes as droplets spread themselves from the river and began to swirl around in flashes of pink and orange.
Another scream rang out through the world. It shattered the mist and causing it to curl within itself and cover the upper part of the world besides just hovering over the ground. The scream dipped and swayed, hovering beneath and over the lines of shrill. It dropped suddenly just as Seiji was forced to cover his ears. He slowly uncovered them, but heard nothing but the dead roar of a still wind that stirred the mist.
Seiji glanced over to see if Ryo and Byakuen had somehow heard what he had heard, but they were gone. Something black flashed and Seiji ducked to avoid having his eyes raked out by an angry raven. It cawed at him before disappearing into the mist. That was when a voice began to rise and fall, sobbing deeply. Seiji remembered an old Angelo-Saxon saying a pen pal from England told him: Beware of those who are raven-shadowed. They carry the curse of a thousand deaths upon their hands.
He had asked what it meant, and the friend, a girl who had seemed wise beyond her years, had explained that it originated from a time when battles often took place across the islands of Great Britain. The dead attracted crows and ravens to feast upon the flesh, and those that survived were shadowed by the thousands of birds that flocked over them. The dead could be pretentious and selfish, and so many times cursed those lucky enough to survive the battle.
Seiji kept a careful eye out for the raven as a terrible foreboding about the entire thing began to settle in his chest. Ravens were also symbols of treachery, trickery, and hidden secrets among cultures of the Western world. Maybe Ryo was right, in a special sense. Maybe this entire affair extended beyond the death of the woman.
He followed the crying, drawing a sense of calm towards himself as the sobs sent flashes of nervousness through him. As he walked, he noticed a form beginning to take shape in the mist. He stopped once and squinted carefully at it. The thick mist made it difficult for him to see. He walked closer to it, the muffled sobbing becoming louder.
He noticed the pool of water first, and then the woman who stood beside the pond. Her hair was a rich brown color streaked with gray. She hovered at the edge. Near by, floating in the water, was an indistinguishable lump. Seiji paused silently beside the woman. He reached a ghostly hand out and touched her clothed shoulder. She jumped at the contact almost as much as he did from the icy wave that rocked through his soul.
She gazed at him with reddened eyes, and then they narrowed quickly in hatred. "What do you want?" she demanded coldly as she stepped from the water's edge circled around the pool away from Seiji. Her eyes were wary and distrustful. Perhaps it would have been better if Ryo had asked Shin for his help. "You are one of those who came and left, but not until after you left a mark on my property!"
"Why are you still here?" Seiji asked, feeling he should go the direct route. She turned her head from him. A ghostly tear fell down her face. "I don't know," she said. "I am waiting for my husband to come back, I think. And my daughter is gone, but she said she would come back to me."
"Your husband is dead," Seiji replied, remembering how Ryo had told him the carpenter had been killed in World War Two. The woman rounded upon him fiercely.
"He is not!" she screamed. "He is coming back to me!"
"How do you know?" Seiji shot back. The sound of his voice, calm and level, eased the ghost. The rage in her face was replaced with sorrow. Seiji continued as he tucked one hand into a trouser pocket. "How do you know? He died in the war. Where has he left you? He left you here. You died here. Where is your daughter? Why haven't you tried seeking her? Your husband is dead; why haven't you gone to him? What has this waiting around here done for you?"
"No!" She curled her fists and hugged her shoulders. "He promised me he could come back! I said I would wait for him! And he will come back; he has to! My daughter said she was going to him; that she would bring him back. My baby promised me! She took my ring and swore she would bring it back, and I know the ring would keep her safe! The connection of the ring tells me she is alive, and she will come back to me!" She clung to her hopes as if they were the only things she could depend upon.
Seiji gave her a sidelong glance. "Ring?" he asked. "What ring? What connection? Your husband died in the war; he was killed as many other soldiers were. Your daughter could very well be dead too, no one knows what happened to her."
"No! No! No! They are alive, they will come back to me-"
"Come back to what? You are dead."
She stopped at his voice, and then sunk slowly to the ground. "I know," she whispered. "But the ring, it can bring me back." She looked up, her eyes shining with pride. "They will come back to me! The ring will show them the way! I did my best to keep this place ready for my family, and they won't disappoint me!"
"Why do you depend so much upon this ring?"
"Because it is a very special ring," she replied with a haughty voice. Seiji sighed and released a puff of air in annoyance. How did one talk to stubborn ghosts? He needed to control his temper; that was what he needed to do. This place set him on edge, giving him a shorter fuse than usual. He did not trust the utter silence or the fact that the raven reminded him of the one he had seen before at home.
"How is it special?" he asked.
She glanced sideways at him. "You aren't dead," she accused suspiciously.
"I needed to talk to you," Seiji replied. He returned her gaze, doing so steadily. "I might be able to help you," he began slowly. Her interest perked in the obviousness of the curiosity shining in her eyes. "I might be able to find this daughter of yours for you. Tell me about her, and about this ring."
"It's a very special ring," she said suddenly.
"Yes, I know."
"It's a very old ring too." She chewed nervously on her lip. "It dates very far back into my family. It was made by a dragon, and it has a Dragon Tear in it."
"Dragon tear?"
"Whenever a dragon cried, it was only in pain. That pain is from their very heart, and it is because something happened beyond their normal powers. The power leaks through their eyes in a moisture form, and then crystallizes into a jewel. They are very powerful. This tear was cried by the Queen of Black Dragons herself!"
"Is that so?" That would explain why she places so much belief in such a simple object. But what kind of power is in the jewel? And what kind of dragon was the Black Dragon? "What does it tell you?"
"It tells me that my daughter is still alive." A look of uncertainty crossed her face. "At least, I think she is the one who has the ring . . ."
"Does it tell you where you can find her?"
She shook her head, and dipped a hand into the pool of water. "No," she said sadly. "It doesn't. Only the Queen could be able to tell you that, because she knows where all the jewels she ever cried are because they contain a tiny smidgen of her power." She brought her hand up. The water poured through her fingers.
"And where can I find this queen?" Seiji wondered.
She shrugged. "She sleeps in the darkest caves in the mountains here." She made a vague gesture with a hand. "Are you sure you can help me find my daughter? It's been an awful long time since I've seen her. I imagine she would be a bit older now than what she had been years ago, but she will always be my little baby."
"Of course." Seiji inclined his head toward her.
She frowned suddenly and stood up and flung her ragged clothes around her body. "Wait a minute, how do I know you aren't out to get the Dragon Tear yourself?" she demanded coldly. Seiji raised his eyebrows.
"Pardon," he began, "but I have no care for something like that."
"You are one of those people who want to take my home and property away from me! And how did you manage to get here? You aren't dead! Get out! Get away from me! Leave me alone!" The woman burst into tears and ran away from him. Seiji was left behind with question marks drifting in his mind. Such an outburst and abrupt change of personality! Just his luck to be have to appease a bipolar ghost. What did he do to bring that on? He narrowed his eyes and wiped his forehead. His eyes dropped down at the lump in the water. It flipped over, face up.
He recoiled in horror as he saw it was a slashed and nude female body. It bore an exact resemblance to the woman he had spoken to just moments ago.


"Now what?" Ryo stared at the bushes Byakuen was growling at. The tiger had stopped leading Ryo through the forest. Ryo leaned forward for a better look and something sprang out of the bushes. It raked at Ryo's face and cawed loudly. Ryo stumbled back, feeling his flesh tear beneath the talons. He slapped the black blur away from his face and it solidly hit a tree trunk. Byakuen jumped between him and the creature with a low snarl. Ryo wiped a stream of blood from his eyes, clearing his vision in time to see that the creature that had attacked him was a raven. It sprung into the air.
"Wait!" he called out as Byakuen ran after the raven. He stumbled after them through the woods, dodging swinging limbs and grasping branches that tore at his clothes. "Byakuen!" he yelled, his voice muffled by the thick leaves. He stopped suddenly as his world plunged into silence. Not a breeze blew; not a leaf rustled. Where had his charging tiger gone? Ryo began to glance around for the path of destruction that Byakuen created as he rushed though. There was nothing except what lay behind him. A chill filled him.
He wiped the blood from his face. It was beginning to clot.
Ryo bumped into something very solid. He jumped back and whirled around, his body falling into a protective stance. A person wearing black clothes and a black cloak pinned by a silver tear-shaped buckle stood before him. Feathers ran long the line of his shoulders and hips as long black hair fell over his shoulders like a stream of black liquid. The man took a step forward and Ryo tensed.
"Is something the matter?" the man wondered, his voice ringing beautifully through the silence.
"Who are you?" Ryo demanded.
The main raised his eyebrows at the harsh tone. "Is that how you greet your visitors?" he asked. Ryo did not move from his stance. Something about this man irked him . . . The man casually turned his face from Ryo as he brushed unseen lint from his feathered shoulders. He turned and looked back at Ryo. "Let us start this all over again," he began, "seeing as how we started off wrong. My name is Hisoka." He bent his head in acknowledgement of who Ryo was. "And yours is?"
"Why do you want to know?" Ryo demanded.
"Simply because we shall be seeing one another very often in the near future."
"How is that?"
"You are looking for something." Ryo narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.
Not that I know of, he thought to himself. "Meaning?"
"Meaning I want what you are looking for."
Ryo decided it was best to play along. He forced his muscles into relaxing as he slowly straightened his body out. He glanced to the side, hoping for any sign of Byakuen. "Depends," he began. "I look for many things in life. What would you be looking for?"
Hisoka regarded him for a moment and then thoughtfully folded his hands before him. "Good point," he agreed. "What am I looking for, indeed?" He smiled, his eyes holding a glint of maliciousness. He pointed a long finger at Ryo. "Tell me what you seek, and maybe I'll tell you what I want."
Ryo stuffed his hands into the pockets of his slacks and tightened them into fists. So, you want to play games, eh? Two can do that! "Oh, I don't know. My life is fairly simple. I look for friendship in people. I look for happiness in what I do. Succession in some goal. Maybe I even look for love. What area do you want me to elaborate in?"
Hisoka smiled, but Ryo noticed the tightening of skin around his mouth. "You try my patience."
"How?"
"You waste my time."
"Hey! Woe! Wait just a minute here!" Ryo spread his hands wide in defense. "I'm not the one who wants to know about my personal life."
"True. True."
"So what about you? Who are you and why do you want what I look for?"
Hisoka shook his head. His black hair shimmered as it gracefully fluttered around his face. "Be it none of what you know," he said almost gently. "Suffice to say, you should stop looking for what you desperately seek. I don't want to have to take care of you."
"Is that so? Well, I can take care of myself!" What exactly am I desperately seeking that I'm supposed to stop at?
"Hmmm." Hisoka turned slowly and his eyes swept up and down Ryo's figure before finally looking away. "We are all weak in many areas." He whirled suddenly with his palm open towards Ryo. Light flared in it and struck him full in the face. Ryo stumbled backwards, blinded. Mocking laughter filled his mind and he dimly heard the dull flapping of wings.
Ryo froze and fluttered his eyelashes in an attempt to regain his vision. He fell to one knee, steadying himself with a fist even as one was raised upward for a quick strike. He listened closely for Hisoka's approach. Something stepped on dry leaves. He turned his head towards the sound. A soft muzzle nuzzled against his cheek, and then a rough tongue swept across his face. If Byakuen could act so tender at such a moment, then the moment was safe.
"Umph! Hey! Byakuen! Where were you when I needed you?" Ryo entangled his hands into the fur. "Do you know what just happened?" he wondered. Byakuen growled in reply, then licked Ryo's face again. Color slowly flooded back to Ryo's vision, filled with neon spots. Ryo blinked, and looked quickly around.
"Weird," he said. "That guy just pops out of nowhere after you run off after that raven. He's got feathers on his shoulders and black hair. Feathers? What does he think he is? A bird? . . ." Ryo stopped in mid-track just as he was about to move through the forest for the clearing around the cabin. "Byakuen," he began slowly; the tiger looked up at him, "I think I hit the nail right on the head. Come on!" He dashed recklessly through the forest to the cabin, yanked the door opened, and ran directly into Seiji who was trying to exit the cabin at the same time.
They crashed heavily into each other and fell to the floor.
"Seiji! There's a raven that turns into a man out there!" Ryo exclaimed as he pointed to the forest. Seiji gave him a dead-pan look. "No really, I mean it! Byakuen was there, right?' Ryo turned to look at his tiger. Seiji reached over from where he was sitting and patted Ryo gently on the shoulder.
"Tell you what," he began, "why don't you explain this to me while I prepare us some tea?"


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