Dragon Tears and Raven Curses - Chapter Ten

Shin stared at the sea. The water was an angry gray of that just before a storm, but the skies were clear and the wind did not stir or ruffle the top of the water. He surveyed it from the top of a boulder that was buried halfway into the surf. Around him lined other rocks, their surfaces smooth and slick. He jumped from the tall boulder onto a shorter boulder as the seawater lapped gently at its top edges. He knelt down upon one knee and dipped a hand into the water.
He felt a surge of anger flow from it. The anger shot through his arm and aimed at his heart. He jerked his hand out of it and stared over the surface to the far horizon. He stood up and sighed sadly.
"What angers you?" the gentle Trooper asked. A mild wind blew and stirred his auburn hair.
The water at his feet began to swirl in a large circle, the edges twisting while the very middle of it stayed smooth. The twisting edge gushed forward into the smooth middle suddenly, making Shin jump back and fall down in surprise. The shot upward to tower above him, and began to mold into the upper part of a woman's torso. The head emerged, with foam-like strands of hair spouting from the top of the head and eyes as white as pearls gazing at Shin. His jaw dropped open at seeing the creature.
"Child of the sea, trooper of the water," 'she' spoke, her voice as deep as a rushing wave yet as soothing as cool water on a hot day, "be not afraid. I am angry for a debt has not been paid and the time to do so is running out." She reached out, her arm stretching until the index finger touched his forehead. An electrical shock, smooth as flowing water, swiftly swept through his mind. "Go now, I wish not to harm you when my anger grows to such portions as that I lash out to those innocents who venture here. I wish to save my wrath for she who owes me. Go now."
Numbly, Shin watched as the figure's arm retracted back and she sunk majestically into the sea. The gray of the water grew slightly more bluish. He looked downward at his reflection in the water for a moment, and then skipped from rock to rock back to the beach. With one last look over his shoulder at the sea, he hurried away.


"The doctors said the blade was heavily laced with a very lethal poison meant to cause paralysis," Yayoi told Ryo as he sat in the waiting room. "The police are looking for who did it."
Ryo sat in a chair in the hospital waiting room holding his head. He rubbed his temples and looked up. "How is he?"
"Not so good. He hasn't managed to come out the coma the poison put him into. There's enough in his system to knock a horse off its shoes. It's amazing he's still breathing as it is."
Ryo knew it was only through the strength of Seiji's armor that his friend was still breathing. "Can I see him?"
Yayoi stared at him for a moment with pursed lips and then shrugged. "Oh why not? Sure. If the doctors ask, say you're a cousin since only family are allowed in at the moment."
"Thanks."
"Welcome."


"Where am I?" Seiji glanced at his surroundings and then down at himself. He wore his body armor as he stood in a dark gray world. There was no sky and there was no ground beneath him. It was as if he was suspended in fog.
"You are in the borderline," a soft voice replied. Seiji whirled around to see a small woman of interminable age with long dark hair and exotic features. Her eyes-solid as green marbles-regarded him closely. She too was suspended in the air beside him, dressed in a black jumper with a white scarf wrapped around her throat. Her toes pointed downwards while as his feet were flat as if on solid ground.
"Where is the borderline, and who are you?"
"Who I am is of no importance to you at the moment. Many would say you are sleeping and tucked deep within the recesses of your mind, but that is not so. This is the borderline of the world where the restless exist, and the world where the dead moves on."
"What's the difference?"
"You visited the restless world not too long ago. It exists only for the purpose of those spirits who live within it. Ghosts are merely spirits without a place to go or with too much left to do. The world of the dead is where those who have died flee to their Great Reward."
"What is the significance of my being here?"
"Your spirit desires to remain as you have much to do. But your body wants to die. In an odd compromise, you winded in both places. This is highly unusual; I have never seen the like before."
A voice spoke then, filling the entire void with the sound. "Hey Seiji? How are you doing?"
"That's Ryo." Seiji looked upward.
"The child of benevolence? Yes, indeed." Seiji glanced over at the woman.
"What do you know?"
"I know a great many things; for me to inform you of all of them would take many lifetimes. Is there a specific piece of information you wish to learn?" The answer could have been sarcastic, but the open look upon her face informed Seiji that she was serious.
"Say, I'm really sorry about this happening. I know there was nothing I could do about it from happening, but there are a few things I'd like to tell you. First of all, that ghost-you remember her? You talked to her not too long ago-said that her husband and daughter were out to kill you and I. I see they already got to you. Damn it! If only I had gotten to you sooner! Or maybe if I hadn't asked you for your help . . ."
"Oh great," Seiji grumbled to himself. "He's going off on another one of his guilt tangents."
The woman glanced over at him. "But is that not what makes Sanada Ryo special?" she asked him. "He feels for other people far more deeper than what most realize."
"True, but he needs to realize that he can't help everything, no matter how much he wants to or tries to."
"Look, I've got to find those two, and I will. I know you told me to let matters rest for a while but, heh, you know me. I found out more information about the Dragon Tears and from there, Byakuen took me up to see the Queen of Black Dragons herself. She's a really neat old gal, you'd like her."
Seiji gave the woman a surprised look as she quirked an eyebrow up. "Old?" she echoed, slightly offended and slightly puzzled.
"Any way, she give me a Tear so I can find the other one, and where it is, I should find the person who did this to you!"


Ryo folded his hands over Seiji's and bowed his head as he spoke his last words. His throat worked silently as he tried to think of other words to say. He absently listened to the life monitor's beeps. Something moved beneath his hands. He glanced up to see Seiji's hand quivering. He glanced quickly over to his friend, and then moved Seiji's head. "You awake?" he asked eagerly.
"Ryo . . ." Seiji's eyes opened and he tried to sit upward, but collapsed backward. He blindly grabbed Ryo's hand. "Beware those who are raven-shadowed. They bear the curse of a thousand deaths." Seiji's body slacked and the grip he had on Ryo's hand loosened. Ryo stared at his friend for a moment, and then stood up. He brushed the limp blonde strands of hair away from the eyes almost lovingly before planting a quick kiss on Seiji's forehead. The usual tenderness of Ryo's features hardened as he swept from the room and headed for the hospital exit.
"Ryo?" Yayoi looked up from paperwork as she saw the stoic young man stride past her. She saw a glimpse of his set face and shrank back. She knew that not even she wanted to go up against this person while he was in such a black, dangerous mood.


Ryo stepped out onto the street and watched the people passing by them. To each person he gave them hurt, accusing glances that said, Were you the one who hurt my friend? He stood on the street for a moment, stiff and rigid as people passed him. They began to make wider and wider berths around him the longer he stood there. Ryo finally took several steps forward and ran around to the parking lot where his jeep sat. He almost yanked the door off before he realized he had locked it as a precaution against thieves, something he never did in the country.
He jerked the keys out of his pocket and felt rage beginning to swell up in his body at the length of time it took him to do ridiculously unimportant things, such as unlocking the door. It pounded against his body, threatening to take his being over. It redirected itself to a desire to find who hurt Seiji and wrought such revenge upon that person. Almost frightened from the force of it, Ryo ruthlessly squashed the rage.
He jammed the keys into the lock and then yanked the door open. Climbing in, his grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles turned white. He stopped and stared at them. He bowed over the steering wheel and waited for the anger to quiet down. The rage built up and then banked itself into a small steady fire. Ryo started the jeep, then shifted the gears. He backed out onto the busy traffic. With tires squealing and people honking wildly at him, he stepped on the gas and burnt rubber to get away from the hospital.
Where do I go? he wondered as he swerved into the other lane without looking at his side mirrors.
A voice, no more than a breathless whisper, spoke deep in his heart. To the scene of the crime. Knowing without wondering that the scene of the crime was the spring where the woman's body had been found, he dipped a hand into his pocket. The Dragon Tear was warm against the palm of his hand. It sent sparks of calm and sorrow through his mind.


The jeep screeched to a halt after six hours of solid driving. Ryo climbed out of it and ran to the side of the cabin's clearing where the spring of water was. Ryo had felt slightly sick about dipping water from the main pool of water after he had learned what happened, and instead went to the upper reaches of the spring.
Now he stood before the body of water that had been a temporary grave for an innocent woman. "Come on," he whispered as he took the Dragon Tear from his pocket and fisted it. The sharp point at the end of the jewel bit into his palm without breaking the skin. A wind blew. It stirred Ryo's black hair and shook the leaves on the trees. One broke free and drifted down to touch the ruffled surface of the water.
Ryo stared down at his reflection for a moment before taking his shirt off and tossing it to the side. He slipped his sandals off, and then waded into the spring water. He turned around and stared back at the shore just as he reached the middle of the spring, the depth of it slightly over his waist. A rolling mist suddenly roared out of the surroundings forest and covered the area, obscuring shapes and sounds.
His body tensed as he watched the mist roll over him; the hair on the back of his neck stood on end at the clamminess. A thin voice began to chant.
Ages past withdraw the future.
We pay the price of youth and life,
With an eternity of remembered pain.
Never to sleep, never to rest,
We are shadows of the raven-carried,
Shades trapped to shallow motives.
A voice began to rise and fall in terror and screams, blocking out the repeating sound of the chant. Ryo froze as he watched a figure struggling through the mist. It twisted and took form of the woman who haunted Ryo's cabin, only she was solid and appeared very much alive. She wore a winding sheet around her naked body. It was stained a deep red in the places where her body had been slashed deeply with sharp objects. She stumbled around and peered behind herself. She gasped in deep breaths as she reached the shore of the spring. Her gray-streaked dark hair floated around her face, her eyes stark with terror.
A black shadow rose above the fog and shot through the air. It struck the woman directly in the chest. She screamed and stiffened. Silently, she toppled backward into the spring water. An arm exploded out of the water and wrapped itself around her waist before pulling her under into the blue depths.
A young voice screamed. "Mama! MAMA!" A raven screamed in the distance, and then the young voice rose shrilly to match it before fading away as an echo.
Everything went silent. The water's surface went as still as a pane of glass. Trees surrounding the spring were little more than black blots; the mist pricked his skin with a clammy cold. Not a sound was heard other than the cold sweat rolling off his body and hitting the water. No wind stirred; no bird called. His skin prickled in warning as a presence drifted over him. He turned to see Hisoka on the opposite side of the spring. The man's face was twisted in misery, a single tear falling down his face. He stared at Ryo for a moment. Resentment shone deep within the depths of his beautiful eyes.
"Why?" he demanded, nearly choking on the sorrow evident in his voice. Ryo felt his heart contracted itself at the pain. "Why?" Hisoka stumbled back a step, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. "The pain . . ." Hisoka doubled over with his hand clutching his chest. Ryo quickly stumbled through the waters to help him.
Hisoka kicked at Ryo as soon as he was within reach. "Away from me!" he yelled. The trooper jumped back and felt himself sink to his ankles in the mud at the near edges of the spring. Hisoka stared at him for a moment, still clutching at his chest. "Why do you keep opening the wounds?" he demanded sadly. Ryo stared at him with puzzlement. The mist began to move and drifted around them. It wrapped thin tendrils around everything within reach. Ryo felt it stir against his damp legs. "I told you stop looking; why do you insist upon opening old wounds and bleeding them anew? I'm already in pain from knowing what happened; why must you show me?"
Ryo's eyes opened wide. His hands clenched and the sharp prick of pain where the point of the Tear dug into his mind cleared the shock away from his mind. "You're the husband who was killed in World War Two."
Hisoka gave Ryo a look of heated anger that made him almost wilt in shame. "Yes. I am he. I told you to leave these matters alone, but you stubbornly persist upon snooping."
The banked fires of Ryo's own anger flared upward. "If you had bothered to explain everything to me, I wouldn't have done this!"
"How can I explain?" Hisoka straightened upward and towered over Ryo. Shame now mixed with the sorrow and anger. "How can I tell you what happened when I hurt too much from the memory of it! You should have left!"
"And you shouldn't have hurt your wife." The coldly spoken words were like a slap on the face for Hisoka. What color present in his pale face was drained away. Ryo strode forward to face the man before him. The mud squelched as he pulled his feet free. "Your wife cries to be free, and yet all you can do is stay here. She didn't want her daughter to have blood on her hands, but still she almost tried to kill my friend. All we wanted to do was help this woman who has been trapped here for decades, and you try to stop us without an explanation. I am Ryo of the Flames and in being thus, my jin is benevolence. How can I stand aside and see this injustice of what happened to her and the innocents of her family go unpaid?"
Ryo and Hisoka stared at each other for a moment. Finally, Hisoka spoke. "I'm warning you," he said softly, "I am warning you for the last time. If you do not stop looking; if you do not stop continuing to drag our pain out, the thing that happened to your friend will happen to you."
"I don't take kindly to threats," Ryo replied darkly. "I take less kindly to people who hurt my friends."
Hisoka gave him a cool glance. "And I always mean what I say," he replied just as a raven screamed and flew through the air. Ryo ducked and hit the muddy ground with a squish as it whistled through the air where his head had been. He glanced up in time to see Hisoka's form shift and blur and finally fade into a fleeting shadow. It flew behind the quickly-disappearing raven.
Ryo climbed out of the spring just as the mist rolled backwards and revealed the world as easily as it had rolled forward and covered everything. The sun broke through the thick veil and shone down upon him. Ryo tilted his head to the warmth and wished the sun to burn up the lump that sat heavily in the pit of his stomach.


Seiji drifted around the strange place he existed within, trying to make his way back into the real world where his family waited for him. Once he had managed to do it, and that once had been to try to warn Ryo. He felt as if he had broken free, but he was not sure how he did that. Beyond that, his time was spent in floating within this strange world and regarding the strange woman who kept him company at all times.
She never said anything. Rather, she floated about and watched both her surroundings and Seiji closely.
"How long do I have to wait here?" he asked finally. She drifted past him, deep in thought.
"It depends if your friend can break the bond that is holding you here."
Seiji glanced over at the woman from beneath his hair. "What bond?"
"The bond that holds you to the cutting edge of the knife. The only way to break it is to kill the person who bonded you to it; that is to say, the person who stabbed you."
Seiji felt his being drain with shock. Ryo . . . Kill? He remembered the look in the girl's eyes just after she stabbed him. Hurt had been evident within their depths; regret shone deeply and she hurt from her actions almost as much as Seiji did. "She's only a child," he said suddenly, remembering the starburst-like scar on her cheek that was an exact match to the child's who was standing outside his home.
"Appearances are deceptive. She owes a blood-debt, and thus must be paid." Seiji looked at the woman. She looked back him, her features grave.
"She's tied to the raven; that is the blood debt, isn't it?"
"That is a different debt, one that must be paid by the person who tied her to the raven. No, the debts she owes are to you and the Sea."
"Sea?"
"The time will come. Be patient."


Ryo sat beneath a tree in the corner of the cabin's clearing. Byakuen growled as he jogged from the interior of the cabin over to Ryo. He fell to his side with a huff and snuggled up close to him. Ryo sighed and tugged at the long fur.
"What am I to do?" he asked Byakuen softly. "I want to help others, and I need to help Seiji, but who is right in this entire matter? What right did I have to snoop? But by the same token, Seiji was innocent and should have been left out of the mess." He closed his eyes against guilt and the pain of knowing how he was the instrument that caused Seiji's pain. "If I hadn't gotten him involved then he wouldn't have been hurt." Byakuen growled and then sat up suddenly. He licked Ryo's face with his rough tongue. Ryo allowed his pet tiger to wash his face for several moments, but pushed the large cat away when the tongue made its way into his hair.
"We need to do something. Perhaps if I consulted St. Jude . . ." He was taken back with the glare Byakuen gave him. "What? According to Grandmother, St. Jude was the patron saint of the impossible, and if I ever had an impossible situation, then I was to ask for his help. I know this doesn't help matters any better than the time with St. Francis, but really, you aren't helping matters any." He sighed and rested his head on a fist propped up with an elbow. "Maybe if I had consulted him from the beginning of this mess . . ." Byakuen began to lick Ryo's arm. Ryo allowed him to do it. "Too bad you couldn't speak," he said. "I would like to have your advice on the matter."
Byakuen paused in his licking to give Ryo a regarding look, and then resumed.
Ryo stared at the door of the cabin for a moment, and then pulled the Dragon Tear from his pocket. He looked at it fully for the first time in the sunlight. It was black with dark green highlights shining in the recesses of the crystal. The highlights seemed to pulse with an ethereal energy. Ryo looked into the crystal and saw one of his eyes reflected. He touched the smooth surface and then tucked it back into his pocket. He stood up and tugged his shirt away from his sweaty chest. The material stuck. He sighed with annoyance and strode over to the cabin.
He entered the interior and glanced around it, feeling sad. "This used to house a loving family, but it was torn apart by death. Am I intruding? Do I have a right to be here?" He touched the walls. The dead wood beneath his sensitive fingertips was smooth and clean. "Do I belong?" He looked at his surroundings and felt something warm and soft brush against his hand. Without thinking, he ran his hands through the soft fur and found a pair of ears. He scratched behind them. Byakuen began to purr.
"What do I do now?" Ryo looked down at his tiger. "I wonder if Grandmother had any saints for this predicament." Byakuen growled beneath his breath and Ryo laughed in reply. "I was wondering if you would react like that. You're getting a little too predictable, Byakuen."
The large tiger sat down with a huff and licked his chomps. He sent Ryo a scathing look.
Ryo stepped across the room and collapsed face-down on the bed. After a moment, he rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. "What do I do now?" he wondered. The anger that he had used to fuel his body had dissipated at the disappearance of Hisoka. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the Tear. It flickered in the dim light, a black splash of color full of green highlights. "Tell me," he whispered to it as he ran a finger over the smooth surfaces, "tell me where I can find the daughter."
The Tear glimmered as Ryo's last word fell from his lips. Ryo sat upward in his bed and saw the color centered mainly on one side of it. He stood up and ran outside the cabin, following the direction where the light seemed to glimmer. He was behind the cabin in front of the forest where bushes grew along the edges when the light disappeared.
Ryo looked up and stared at the forest in front of him. The sun was going to set in a few moments, and he could hear something rustle through the bushes. He peered at the spot where they moved, and two dark eyes peered back at him. A head slowly popped up from the bushes, revealing the child with the starburst-like scar on her cheek. She sniffed and guiltily cast a look on the ground.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Ryo regarded her closely as he folded his hands before himself. She looked up, her eyes bright with brimming tears. "I didn't want to hurt your friend, but Papa made me do it because he said it had to be done, and now the Sea is angry at me." She burst into sobs.
Ryo bent down upon one knee and reached out to gently grab the child's shoulders. The tears began to fall down her face and left red streaks behind. The last fleeting light glinted upon the Dragon Tear in his loose hand. "It's okay," he whispered, "tell me how I can help my friend."
"The Sea." She looked up. "You must go to the Sea and ask the Maiden for the antidote. The weapon I used to stab your friend, the poison on the blade was blessed by her and only she can contribute the antidote."
"How do I see the Maiden? How do I ask for her help?"
"Only one who can speak to the Sea can talk to the Maiden. I'm sorry, but I can't help you there. The Maiden demands a price for what I did, and I can't pay it just yet." She sighed and then threw her arms around Ryo. "Thank you," she whispered as she hugged his neck tightly, "I didn't want to hurt Mama, but Papa said I had to do it if I wanted to save her. I saw her crying for what I did, but I'm not allowed to come across the property to the cabin where she stays, and she can't leave it."
"It's okay, I'll tell your Mama that you're sorry and you're trying to change the mess."
She sniffed and pulled back from him. "I'm a bad girl," she said in a low voice. "And you will hate me."
Ryo shook his head. "No, not at all. You were only told what to do, and you're too young and little to be able to put up a good fight against your father. I do not hate you for anything you have done."
"Promise?" A light of hope appeared in her eyes.
Ryo nodded his head. She smiled up at him, and then ruthlessly kicked him in the groin. As Ryo doubled over in surprise and pain, she snatched the Dragon Tear out of his hands and ran through the bushes. After a quick moment of assessment and waiting for the pain to disappear, Ryo jumped to his feet and ran after her. They crashed through the bushes. Flocks of birds launched into the air and squawked in protest at the intrusion.
The child ran through the forest until she tripped over an exposed root her feet did not jump over, and Ryo pounced upon her. His hand scrambled for the Tear clasped tightly within her own fist. She screamed once as his hand enclosed over her own and then sunk her teeth into the tender flesh above Ryo's wrist.
Ryo growled with annoyance and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her back away from her biting hold. She screamed against and dropped the Tear. Tears streamed down her face as she clutched her hair. Ryo grabbed the Tear and then swung around to pick the child up by her waist just as she tried to scuttle out of his reach. She went limp as a rag doll and began to wail. He sighed and slipped the Tear into his pocket.
After making sure the Tear was as far down into the pocket as was possible, Ryo set the girl down on her feet and knelt before her, being sure to angle the lower part of his body out of the length of her legs and keeping his knees closer together than usual.
"I am upset with you for what you did, but I do not hate you," he spoke softly. She stared at him as her wailing stopped, her dark eyes full of pain. Ryo pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry," he said. She sniffed deeply and then gasped. Ryo's hearing caught the hurried beat of feathers and he snatched the little girl up and spun to the side as something whistled by his head. He stumbled across a tree root and one hand shot against the tree trunk to help steady his balance. He hastily looked up, his black hair falling in his eyes.
Through the strands, he saw Hisoka glare at him, anger carved into the man's facial expression. The man stood slightly hunched, his hands clenched in tight fists and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "So, it is not enough that you reawaken old wounds, but must you rub salt in them as well?"
Ryo stared at Hisoka and felt the little girl's hands clutch at his shirt tightly. Hisoka noticed the movement, and the anger left his face so only disappointment and hurt remained in his expression. His shoulders drooped in defeat and Ryo, feeling bad for the hurt he caused in the father, almost gave the child back.
Almost.
His arm tightened protectively around the girl.
Hisoka stared at his daughter for a few moments, and then whirled around. His feather-lined cape flared dramatically outward to wrap around his legs.
"Fine, run to him then," he snarled beneath his breath as he held a hand out. A raven cawed from the tree branches and flew down to straddle his offered hand. He shot a quick glance over at Ryo and the child. "There is still the debt to be paid to the Maiden. Do you plan on him paying it for you?" He turned and walked into the forest and faded from view as if he were an illusion disappearing.
Ryo looked at the little girl, and she looked back at him. "So," he began nervously, realizing this was the first time he held a young child since Jun was eight, "what is your name?"


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