Chapter 20 - The Face of the Dead
"So how far are we in kitsune territory now?"
The kitsune, Kaden, glanced back towards Shura, a slight, easy-going smile on his face. Even though Shura had only traveled with him and Robin for a few days now, he could tell that smile was a lie. A mask. The grin grew wider.
"I've been away for a long time," Kaden explained, "but this used to be the center of it. From what I've heard over the years, they move around a lot now and true kitsune territory has been harder to pin down for years."
There was definitely a story behind Kaden's words, but Shura didn't feel like trying to pry it out of him. The kitsune had already been hesitant to come, and even after their time traveling together, he had been tight-lipped on why he'd been on edge this whole trip. It seemed to only get worse the deeper they went into the hill-filled lowlands.
Grunting in annoyance, Shura growled, "Just answer the question."
"If your nose wasn't dull like every human's is, you'd have recognized the scent way back." His hands laced carelessly behind his head as he continued at the front of the little group. "We're in deep."
Trailing slightly beside Shura, Robin glanced around. "So, they're probably watching us?"
"I've already caught the scent of some a few times. Probably at least two trailing after us, but they aren't close at the moment."
Eyes shifting to the mountainous forest all around, Shura's hand wound its way to his hidden belt of throwing knives, tracing over the hilt of a hunter's knife. "Why didn't you let us know earlier?"
Turning to face them and continuing to walk backwards despite the uneven terrain, Kaden shrugged. "Because unless we try to hunt them or disturb their current abode, they won't attack. Being blatant like this, as if we're just humans passing through, will avoid confrontation. At least from cursory examination. Obviously, my disguise wouldn't hold up under close scrutiny."
"So that's why you've been wearing that bandana and that cloak." Robin concluded.
Rolling his eyes, Kaden turned back to walking forward again. "No, I put them on because I was chilly."
Yeah, Kaden was definitely on edge and coping with snark. Shura had seen the type.
"Well, it's better than coating ourselves in muck for camouflage and to mask our scents."
Shura raised an eyebrow at Robin. "You think that would actually work?"
Robin tapped a finger idly on his chin. "Possibly, but we probably wouldn't be on the main path if we were doing it. It wouldn't be the first time I've done something like that."
"That might work for wolfskins with all the trash they hang around in," Kaden remarked, "but kitsune have better standards than that. Besides, even if it did work, it'd be pointless with where we're going."
And he refuses to elaborate on exactly where that is.
"Alright, I'll trust your judgment." Robin glanced at the sun, which was on the verge of sinking below the treeline. "Even so, it's getting late. Unless we're close, we should probably find some place to stop for the night."
"No."
Ahead, Kaden had stopped short, fists clenched at his side.
Beside Shura, Robin blinked, eyebrows furrowing. "Are you sure? Shura and I don't have the kind of night vision you do."
"I know." Eventually, Kaden's tail twitched under his cloak and his hands unclenched. "Sorry." His voice was calmer now, and that fake smile was back. "We're just…close. We can stop afterward."
"...if you say so," Robin muttered.
Traveling with these two had made it pretty clear to Shura that there were some unaired grievances between the two. It wasn't really his place to intervene, but it did make for more stiff silences than was comfortable while they traveled.
They continued in silence on the sloping lowland path as the sun began dipping below the horizon, casting a reddish-orange haze that filtered through the trees. Before long, Kaden led them off of the main path – winding their way through underbrush and trees beginning to flower and sprout their leaves – and up a steep incline that eventually stopped at a sheer cliffside.
While tough to initially spot, there was a path around the edge that Kaden began following, leading around the cliff, eventually bringing them to a thick smattering of vines. With a grunt, the kitsune parted them – snapping the older, thicker vines – allowing them access to a hole in the cliff, large enough that they could walk easily through.
"Is this some sort of cave?" Robin asked, warily eying the rocky maw. Considering he'd been down in Kotaro's cave system turned prison recently, perhaps his caution was justified.
Averting his eyes, Kaden started through the hole in the cliffside. "You'll see."
While fairly dark, the hole was bright enough for them to navigate, winding like a slithering snake through the cliff. A few dozen paces later, it emerged into the light of near twilight. The cliffside extended in around a space open to the sky, forming a natural circular barrier that extended high above them.
But it was as his eyes descended on the sight of what lay nestled in the clearing that made Shura grimace. He closed eyes at the scene.
"Kaden…" he heard Robin begin solemnly.
"Don't," Kaden responded curtly. "Just…stay here."
"You really think it's a good idea to split up?"
"I shouldn't be long."
Shura opened his eyes again in time to see the kitsune heading towards the heart of the burned out ruins of what must have been the old kitsune hamlet.
It was an old burn, over a decade old, not something recent. It was a testament to his life's misfortune that Shura had seen enough burned out villages to know the difference. Glancing around he could see that the burn was old enough that plant life had already started to flourish around the ruins.
Looking above to the cliff that surrounded the alcove, he spotted charred bark surrounding the top. Sakura trees. Even though it was the time of year for it, no sakura petals littered the ground. Made sense, since all of the trees were dead.
That…really was a shame.
Leaning back against the rock of the cliffside, Shura let out a disdained sigh. Closing his eyes again, he let the familiar feelings of rage and indignation wash over him. He was well past the days where he'd get riled up by something like this. Now it just made him ache inside.
After a while, he opened his eyes, glancing over towards Robin, who had his arms crossed as he surveyed the ruins. Even though the kid was relatively young, he didn't seem shocked by the ruins. 'Course, most people didn't casually use other people's lives as fuel for healing others.
Grunting, Shura moved over towards him. "You've seen stuff like this before, haven't you."
Robin didn't look at his approach. "Too much to keep track of."
Figures.
"And yet it never gets any easier seeing it, does it?"
Robin remained silent, eyes distant, as if seeing some memory that Shura couldn't.
Shura cricked his neck in a vain attempt at getting rid of an ache there. "I heard rumors a long while back that the kitsune hamlet had been burned up, that they turned to being nomadic like Nohr's wolfskin tribes. At the time I didn't think anything more of it than it would be easier to get things through their old territory. But seeing this almost makes me regret being so callous about it, you know?"
Robin grimaced, eyes coming out of their haze. "It's easy to be apathetic when it's out of sight, out of mind. When it doesn't affect you, or you can't do anything about it, why bother caring?"
Shura's mouth twitched into a frown. There was a weight behind Robin's words that spoke of personal experience, and they resonated with Shura. After all, the first few years after Kohga's destruction for him wasn't a time in his life he liked remembering.
"Sorry. That was a thoughtless thing to say."
"Maybe," Shura admitted. "Just so long as you don't let an attitude like that fester, you'll be fine. You don't want to sound like a jaded old man while you're in your prime."
"Speaking from experience?"
Shura scoffed. "Maybe I am. Everyone's got their own set of problems, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying to reach out, or stop ourselves from feeling just because it hurts. I've got it on good authority that'll get you nowhere fast."
"...Yeah."
Crossing his arms, Robin said nothing more. Yet even without saying anything, Shura could see the pain in his eyes. The regret. It wasn't his place to force someone to talk about something painful like that, but…
"I won't force you, but if you ever want to talk about it, I'll lend an ear."
"Thanks."
Kaden kept his head down as he hurriedly picked his way through the ruins of what was once his home. The air was still warm, though that was fading fast. He shivered, though it had little to do with the descending cold, passing by the charred remains of the homes of people he used to know.
Trying not to think about what he was stepping through, he eventually made it to a small clearing in the ruins. Though the area had long since been overtaken by plants, if he closed his eyes, he could still picture the bustle of the area, the friendly faces, his…
His…
Swallowing the memory, he stepped into the remains of the building in front of him, sandals struggling to find purchase on the charcoal and ash still layered under the overgrowth. If he was lucky, it would still be here.
If not…
No, one thing at a time.
He traced a familiar path through the ruin. Even though the building was long gone, he could still remember its shape and instinctively walked a path towards what was once his room. He crouched down, breathing in its scent. Even though nothing of the scent remained, his mind filled in the gaps.
Those might have been happy days, but he'd found plenty of joy out in the wider world too.
It had been more than a decade at this point. Pushing his sleeves up, his fingers dove past the plants, past the dirt, the ash, the soot, digging a hole into the mixed soil. Time passed and the brightest stars began breaking through the haze of the setting sun, and still he hit nothing, even though the hole had grown past his wrists.
Strange, he hadn't buried it that deep, had he? The hole made its way up to his forearm. He growled in frustration. Where was it? He knew he'd stored an untuned beaststone here before...
"You won't find what you're looking for."
Kaden's heart leapt in his throat, and he spun to his feet, ready for conflict. He froze at the sight of two kitsune – a male and female in human form. He mentally cursed the stupid bandana messing with his hearing. He should have taken it off when he went off on his own. If not for that, he'd have heard them, and if he hadn't been elbow deep in soil, he might have smelled their approach.
Yet, as he warily eyed them, he noticed that neither were poised to attack. The male – a nine tails by the markings inked around his eyes – glared at him, and the female stood back a little, averting her amber eyes, ears drooping sadly near to her blonde hair. He didn't immediately recognize either of them, but it had been quite a while since he'd seen any other kitsune at all.
After a moment, Kaden's eyes narrowed. "I guess you both really have nothing better to do if you're coming here just to tell me that."
"And I see your time among humans hasn't dulled your tongue," the nine tails spat. "I would have figured you'd have been skinned alive by this point."
Grinning despite his pounding heart, Kaden made a vain attempt to brush off the grime off his arms – making the act seem casual – his right hand settling on a dagger hidden by his cloak. "Some of them aren't so bad, and they make some of the best food. Ever heard of dango before? The stuff's addicting."
The nine-tail's fists clenched, teeth bared. Kaden let an almost feral grin slip onto his face, almost welcoming the chance at a fight, even if it was two against one. However, before either could escalate it further, the female stepped forward, throwing her arm out in front of her companion.
"Ryota, we didn't come to fight."
The male – Ryota – growled. "He would deserve every wound I could inflict on him, Selkie."
Selkie's expression hardened, though strangely, there was an almost playful challenge in her eyes. "I know you remember what the chief's orders were."
"I remember that the chief said nothing about the condition we brought him back in," he countered.
"Hold on," Kaden's eyes narrowed, "what are you two talking about?"
"Silence, you wretched kit!"
"Enough!" Selkie yowled. Ryota bared his teeth in clear frustration, but stepped back. Seemingly satisfied, Selkie finally looked into his eyes, imploringly. "Kaden, please come back. The chief specifically asked for you."
He…had? That caught him off guard, but after a moment Kaden's expression hardened.
"I'm kind of in the middle of something. And if the chief really wanted me back, he wouldn't have exiled me in the first place. He's over a decade too late for me to care."
The nine tails scoffed. "I told you that he wouldn't see reason. You saw how he brought two other humans here, even though it is expressly forbidden."
"And as usual, you're too scared of humans hunting you to even think that some of them could be good people," Kaden countered. He wondered if these two had only approached him after he'd separated from the group because of that.
"And you're standing on the exact reason why we no longer trust humans in the first place." Ryota countered, stepping up again.
Selkie stepped between the two and forcefully pushed them away. "Both of you, stop it! Kaden, please. The chief. He's…dying."
…What?
"So whatever you think of him, set it aside and play nice, at least for a little bit."
"You are no longer welcome among us."
Could he really?
Crossing his arms, Ryota grudgingly added, "Though I feel you don't deserve it, perhaps the chief will give you another beaststone as pity."
Selkie pouted at Ryota's comment, but nodded. "Even if Ryota's being a big meanie about it, I think he's right. That is why you came back here, right?"
Kaden averted his eyes, gritting his teeth. That was probably answer enough for them.
Selkie came closer, and Kaden's tail twitched beneath his cloak as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Please."
His tail swished back and forth as he mulled it over, and he glanced at Selkie's pleading amber eyes, Ryota's stern glare. "Fine. I'll do it."
Selkie stepped back, relief clear on her face, and she clapped her hands, hopping up and down. "Thank you, thank you! I owe you one."
He just hoped they didn't expect him to apologize.
"You know," Shura mused quietly, after some time had passed in silence, "I don't think I've seen kitsune mingling with humans in years now. What brought you and Kaden together?"
"Chance," Robin answered easily. "He helped me beat up and scare off a couple of drunkards that were hounding me while I was in Izumo's capital. Then he bought me a drink at a teahouse while I was searching for Anna."
"You met in Yorikobi?" Robin nodded, and Shura let out a low whistle. "And here I heard they'd gone completely reclusive and yet you met him in a city. Izumo's capital, no less."
"Is it really that rare?"
"Nowadays? Extremely."
Robin shrugged. "He did say he was a wanderer."
"If you say so. Even before this," he gestured vaguely to the burned hamlet, "most kitsune were already pretty reclusive. People with too much money and not enough sense would poach them for their furs. It's as illegal back then as it is now, but it didn't stop the black market. But, as for Kaden, I guess there's outcasts everywhere."
"Outcasts? You think Kaden is one?"
"Could be. It'd explain why he's been so on edge the whole time we've been coming here."
Robin's hand met his chin. "I would match up with what little I know."
The conversation died. Minutes more passed and the brightest stars started gleaming through the dying orange as twilight turned to dusk. Shura began tapping his foot, impatience growing.
"I don't like this," Shura voiced. "Feels like he's taking too long."
Robin nodded in agreement. "Something about it does feel…off. Kaden mentioned that there were kitsune following us as well."
"As much as I want to respect Kaden's privacy, we should see if there's something going on."
Robin set off, Shura following close behind. The two made their way through the ruins, heading in the general direction they remembered Kaden going. It helped that his tracks were still fresh, and Shura had a knack for tracking, even though the fading light – and his older eyes – made it more difficult than he felt it should be.
He and Robin stopped as he heard voices. Peering through some tall brush to a larger area clear of ruins, his bad feeling was confirmed as he saw Kaden talking to two other kitsune. He didn't look particularly happy to see them either.
Glancing at Robin, he signaled to himself and mimed going around them. Robin nodded, seeming to understand. Crouching low and moving with a silence that belied his training as a ninja from a lifetime ago, Shura moved to an area closer to the group, picking out only snatches of the conversation.
"I can smell your foul stench from over here, humans, and you aren't even downwind of me."
Cursing, Shura quickly drew and nocked a barbed arrow, while Robin unsheathed a steel short sword. Both of them came out of hiding, steel and arrow pointing towards the two kitsune.
"Wait no, don't attack!" Kaden yelled.
"No, please," the male kitsune with markings around his eyes goaded, mouth pulled back in a snarl as he approached them, arms spread wide in a challenge, "do go on. Give me a reason to cull more of your wretched kind."
"Stop it," the female kitsune begged, "all of you! Don't spill any more blood here."
"Only if you give your word that both of you won't attack us," Shura demanded. "Try anything and your companion will eat dirt."
The female kitsune inclined her head. "I give you my word."
Giving Shura a cold glare even while facing down a barbed arrow, the male kitsune at last – though grudgingly – inclined his head as well, giving the same oath.
Glancing at Robin, who gave a subtle nod of his head, Shura let the string of his bow go slack, though he kept the arrow nocked in place. "Glad we can talk like reasonable beings."
"Are these friends of yours?" Robin called, stepping forward closer to Shura, but still staying back far enough to not aggravate the uneasy truce between the two parties.
"It's complicated," Kaden answered. "But I've already decided that I'm going with them. It…wouldn't be a good idea to come with us."
"Kaden's right," the female kitsune agreed. "While I'm sure both of you aren't horrible murderers plotting to skin us alive, given what's happened in the past, the other kitsune would have less reason to believe you."
"I get what you're saying," Shura agreed.
Obviously, there was far more to it than she was saying on the surface. Having survived the fiery massacre of Kohga, he knew too well the kind of unhealthy rage harbored by some of the survivors. The kitsune were likely no different. Add in whatever drama Kaden brought to the table…
"So please," Kaden pleaded, "don't follow us. This is…personal. Go ahead and go back to Suterusu. I'll catch up with you once I'm done. I promise. I…owe you that much."
"Are you sure?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, it would be best if you didn't get involved." Kaden glanced at the other two kitsune. "Let's go."
The male kitsune eyed them as the group made their way towards the opposite end of the ruined hamlet that they had entered in, falling out of sight quickly behind ruins and the cover of the ever encroaching darkness of night.
Once they were out of sight and then some, Shura kneaded his forehead, letting out a sigh. Curse his luck.
He glanced over to Robin. "So what now?"
"What else? We follow them."
Shura cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"I didn't break Kaden out of an unbreakable prison just to leave him at the drop of the hat."
"That might sound admirable, but are you sure you want to get in the way of this? Kaden made it clear that this was a personal matter, and if the other kitsune were any indication, I doubt we'll be welcome additions."
"I have no doubt that we won't be, but Kaden is a friend. And…" Robin hesitated. "This might sound strange, but did that female kitsune feel…off to you?"
"Off?" Shura racked his brain, trying to think of what Robin was talking about. "In what way?"
"I'm not sure how to describe it, exactly."
"I mean, she looked kind of uncomfortable at the whole situation, but I'm guessing she hasn't dealt with humans a lot. Definitely less than Kaden, but I don't think I felt what you're talking about. Is it some sort of magic thing?"
"I suppose it could have been," Robin conceded, though he still sounded uncertain. "I don't know everything about magic, but this felt different. There was just a sort of unexplainable…wrongness emanating from her."
"Wrongness? What kind of a word is that?"
"I don't know. Maybe if I was closer, or if I talked with her I could give you a better description, but…" he trailed off. "No, that's not important. I say we follow them, but hang back out of sight, maybe roll around in some muck to throw off our 'horrible stench.' If it looks like Kaden's in trouble, we'll help out."
"Are you really that eager to roll around in muck?"
"It's my natural element."
Shura rolled his eyes at the deadpan quip. "We'll probably still be caught."
"Possibly," Robin admitted.
"And how much of a detour do you think it'll be?" After all, even with Kotaro dead, and no matter how much Shura trusted his crew to do the job right, his mind was still back with them in Suterusu.
"I know you're worried about your crew, but Kaden was saying we're at what used to be the center of kitsune territory. They're probably not too far away. Besides, we already got here faster than we thought we would, and you said the other lords of Mokushu wouldn't arrive for a while yet."
He had said that, hadn't he? Shura supposed he could appreciate Robin's dedication to looking out for a friend. "Fine. My tracking skills could use a refresher anyways."
"Thank you."
Shura simply nodded, and started heading the way the other kitsune had gone. Hopefully his crew weren't hitting too many snags.
An anxious energy buzzed through the plaza in Suterusu's center. Towering intimidatingly close by, an ornate palace built with wood and material that she could tell cost at least a few small villages worth in gold shaded much of the area. There was no doubt in Anna's mind that it was for Mokushu's daimyo. A palace by any other name.
Many of the people milled about in groups and huddles, while others stood grimly steadfast. It was difficult for Anna to fully get a grasp for the feel of the crowd, but maybe that was in part because she wasn't behind the counter trying to sell anything to them.
The atmosphere of Suterusu didn't help.
A nervous pit had welled up in her gut the closer she and Soleil had gotten to the plaza. Whether it was her idea or not to come, Anna was here now. And even if hardly anyone knew it, she was the one who had killed the daimyo. It made even friendly or neutral gazes of strangers feel fake, that at any moment the truth would be exposed.
"It's okay to be a little nervous, Anna."
And then there was Soleil.
The smiling pink-haired girl had bustled through the crowds, greeting and mingling with people she did and didn't know with the grace of a casanova, a smile never completely leaving her face. Under the current of joviality that followed the mercenary sat the unplaceable feeling of wrongness that it seemed only Anna could feel as she trailed after her.
Trying her best to ignore the feeling for now, Anna fidgeted with the folds of her dark maroon cloak. "I face crowds like this all the time when I'm in cities selling merchandise."
"Well, selling stuff is way different than this." Soleil gestured to the milling crowds from on top of the barrel where she sat next to Anna. She leaned in closer to whisper, "And what we're doing here is a different kind of high risk than sales. I was always pretty nervous at first too."
"I guess. My mind's just having trouble focusing."
"I mean, you did just wake up from whatever it was that left out cold. But hey, it's a good thing that I'm here to help you out!" Soleil beamed. "Besides, this'll be easy. We just gotta listen to the announcement, judge the general reaction of the crowd and help the crew react accordingly."
Soleil's left arm reached over and landed on Anna's right shoulder.
The wrongness she'd been ignoring rushed, intensified and-
-wrongwrongwrongshouldnotbethereyoushouldnotbehere-
Thump.
-her shoulder seemed to jerk on its own, wrenching Soleil's hand off as she scrambled away, eyes wide, her breathing suddenly heavy. She had nearly fallen off the barrel.
Soleil's ever present smile had slipped into open mouthed surprise. "Whoa, are you alright? Did I jostle your injury or something?"
"No, no. It's…sorry." Anna finished lamely, trying to still her rushing heart, regaining purchase on the barrel. "I'm just tense. You're…fine."
What…was that?
And what would happen if she maintained contact for longer?
She didn't know if she wanted to find out.
Soleil's smile slowly returned. "My bad. I guess I'll try to be more respectful of your boundaries. But seriously, you gotta relax, Anna," she chided, tone turning joking, though Anna noticed she didn't put her hand on her shoulder again. "I know the atmosphere's pretty tense right now, but there's no reason for us to be afraid. C'mon, smile!"
Had Soleil not felt that?
After a moment Anna muttered, "Easy for you to say."
Soleil's smile turned sheepish. "I guess that's fair. I'm more used to stuff like this than you are. Just remember, as far as anyone knows, I'm just another mercenary, you're just another Anna sister – a pretty cute one in my opinion – and Kotaro's big bad boogie-man of a killer is someone we don't even know. Nothing to worry about."
She had a point, but it did little to really reassure her. She could be putting her sister's reputations more at risk.
Even so, Anna let out a quiet, "Thanks," partly out of habit than anything else.
"No problem!" Soleil's ever present grin widened into a toothy smile. "Sometimes you just gotta smile until you really feel it inside. And when other people start smiling too because of you and how you act, it starts becoming more real, you know?"
That was ridiculous.
But she had a point. It reminded her a little of something one of her sisters had told about confidence in the face of uncertainty. The association made her feel a little better and a smile, creeped onto her face, even though it wasn't entirely real.
Soleil laughed. "There you go!"
Her laugh was infectious, and a small one burbled out of Anna.
"And now that smile's a real one." Soleil set her hands proudly on her hips. "It's working, see?"
It reassured Anna, helped her forget about how brazen it felt to be out in the open considering what she'd done.
But her mind kept getting drawn back to that acute sensation of wrongness when Soleil had touched her shoulder. The feeling was still there now – if dulled– and it had been the entire time she was close to her. She'd just nearly acclimated to it, like getting used to swimming in cold water. Her smile slipped.
"So, what do you think this announcement will be?" Anna asked, changing the subject again. "Announcing Kotaro's death?"
Soleil shook her head. "Nah, it wouldn't make sense for them to announce that yet, not until a new daimyo is chosen. If they did it now, it would embolden the part of the populace that's unhappy with the current way of things. Might actually start a revolution."
"Isn't that kind of what you want?"
"You'd think so, but you're missing the part where we want it to be as bloodless as possible. If we exposed Kotaro's death right now, we might be able to rally some of the populace. With some luck we might even be able to take over Suterusu. But…it wouldn't last."
"What makes you say that?"
"Kotaro had his hand in everything, and no matter how much of a sleazeball he actually was, not everything he did was bad. He was also really good at getting people to trust him." She pouted. "So as soon as the lords find out about anything revolutionary, they'd choke the resources out of Suterusu."
"So it's about logistics," Anna concluded.
That kind of thing, Anna understood well. Regardless of how well she felt she could apply the trade she was born into, she understood how important the flow of resources was for the infrastructure of a nation.
"Logistics," Soleil agreed sullenly. "You can kiss your cause goodbye if your people start starving. The bad guy doesn't look too bad when your stomach's empty. So that's why we generally work in secret. At least, for now."
Anna nodded. She supposed it made some sort of sense, though it was obvious that she wasn't seeing the full picture.
Yawning, Soleil stretched her arms above her head. "They sure are taking their sweet time. I feel like everyone's been here for nearly almost an hour. Wonder who's gonna be the spokesperson."
A bell started ringing, and before its peel had finished, the bluster of the crowd died down. Anna stood up straighter, trying to get a better view of the central building.
Two ninja who had been guarding the double doors that marked the entrance to the palace stepped aside as the doors swung open. A pause followed, and Anna heard decisive footsteps growing ever closer. She strained her eyes to try and see who was stepping out.
Her eyes widened, and beside her, Soleil – who had been slouching until then – sat up so fast that she nearly fell off the barrel.
"What the…"
Out stepped an impossibility. The face of a dead man. A vertical scar lined his face that looked like-
Her hand moved all on its own, too fast to register. Pain. A bloody knife.
Thump.
The knife was in his head. Had she done that?
-someone had stabbed a knife through his head.
Kotaro.
A/N: "He's only mostly dead."
