Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Tactics. They are the property of Kinoshita Sakura and Higashiyama Kazuko.
A/N: I'm glad that you all are liking my story so far. It makes me happy to receive positive feedback, they really motivate me! Keep it up, hm?
Anagrams are words where its letters can be used to spell other words to make a different meaning. Like 'nap' can become the word 'pan', 'rescued' can become 'secured', 'seducer'. There are really tough ones out there, but I simply gave you two easy ones. XD
REVISED: June 24, 2010
Breathe
Chapter 4: Anagrams Anyone?
By: LadyYuina
Kantarou awoke with a start - someone had the indecency to place a cold object on his chest. Looking at his attacker with half-lidded eyes he saw that it was none other than Reiko. "What do you want this time?" Reiko frowned when she saw dark circles under the man's eyes. Kantarou let out a big yawn and fell back against his futon. "I'm still sleepy . . . Leave me alone."
Reiko sniggered as she took out some yen and shined it in the sunlight; the bright light reflected from it bounced off onto Kantarou's eyelids. Kantarou opened one red-colored orb to see money in front of his face. Both eyes opened instantaneously, he made a grab for the money but missed. Reiko burst out laughing when the spiritualist fell on his face. "You're too funny, Kantarou!" Reiko laughed some more when Kantarou blushed.
"Give me my share," Kantarou demanded. He put out a hand, waiting for the yen to flow. The silver-haired man groaned when Reiko nervously laughed. "Reiko, a laugh like that can't be anything good. What did you do this time?"
"What would you do if I said I spent all your money . . .?" Kantarou sat bolt upright as he stared at his editor in disbelief. "I thought you needed a companion so I got you one! Actually, it was Hasumi's idea . . . He said the whole youkai thing was getting to your head . . ."
"What do you mean companion?"
"Youko!" Youko walked in with a white puppy in her arms and Kantarou immediately froze. Out of all the things she could have bought his money with Hasumi had told her to get a dog! "Isn't she cute? We called her Ichi, for the literal meaning of first or one, and not to mention it means number one in our counting system."
The puppy barked and wagged her tail. Kantarou sweat dropped as he stood up to press himself against his bedroom wall. Youko and Reiko looked at him curiously. Red orbs widened when Ichi moved forward once she was out of the fox youkai's arms. Scared to death, Kantarou broke the mended wall, causing its width to be bigger than before. Youko's jaw gaped open. Kantarou slipped though and ran with the puppy following suit, thinking he was playing with her.
"Someone get that thing away from me!" Kantarou shouted over and over as he ran around the garden. Behind him, Ichi was wagging her tail all the while, obviously having a good romp. When Kantarou caught sight of Haruka he jumped into his arms, yelling, "fly, fly, Haruka, fly up!"
"Huh?"
"Just do it!" Kantarou sounded really desperate.
Haruka obeyed and flew upward.
"What are you so scared of? That puppy down there?" Haruka asked. Kantarou was trembling under his embrace. As the Tengu descended, Kantarou urged him not to put him on the ground. "It's just a puppy; it's not even frightening looking. You wimp."
Kantarou stopped trembling and stared at Haruka with angry eyes. He disliked it when people called him a wimp - he, in no way thought of himself as a wimp. "I am not a wimp! It's just . . . it's just . . ." Kantarou looked down at the puppy with determined will power. "Put me down."
I need to conquer my fear . . . I can't avoid dogs for the rest of my life just because of some bad run in with a mutt when I was a kid . . .
"You sure?" Kantarou nodded, though he was still jittery. "Okay, going down then."
Despite his mind telling him to stand his ground, he fled the scene when Ichi came close.
The only place he felt he would be safe was in his own room, so that was exactly where he was heading to as he ran.
"Reiko and Hasumi should die for this! Didn't they know I hate dogs!" Kantarou said through gritted teeth. "How am I supposed to pay that restaurant owner now!"
Youko peeked her head in. When she spotted Kantarou lying on his futon she slipped inside. Peering down at him Youko realized that Kantarou was too busy brooding to notice her. "Kan-chan?"
"Hm?" He turned to face her, not startled in the least.
"You have a client today."
Eyes lighting up, Kantarou beamed, "what does the client want me to do?" He stood up and straightened his hakama and gi. "How do I look?"
"Same as always . . ." Youko replied. She followed behind her Master as he walked out into the living quarters of their home.
Kantarou froze before his client when he spotted Ichi sitting beside her. Youko saw this so she sprung into action and she led the puppy outside. Kantarou sighed in relief, reminding himself to thank her later. His client waited for him to sit down and get comfortable before talking.
"Mr. Ichinomiya, I've heard from several people that you're a good spiritualist."
"Perhaps." Kantarou placed one hand over the other as his elbows rested on the table. Peering closely at the woman, he could tell that she was almost to the point of going insane, though he silently appraised her for hiding it so well. It wasn't easy to spot unless one focused on her really hard, like he was doing at the moment. "What can I do for you today? Anything in particular? Ms. . . ."
"Oh, excuse me. Where are my manners." She quickly bowed before saying, "I am Kita Kiyomi."
"All right, Ms. Kita."
"Well . . . I have this problem with words."
"Words?"
"They're anagrams . . . Every time I get it wrong something bad would happen. I've reached my limit and I now can't stand it anymore." Tears started to well up in the woman's eyes, and her walls of false calm was slowly crumbling with it. Kantarou's admiration for her dipped ever so slightly. "I just want you to get rid of whatever is causing this mayhem. I'll give you all the money I have."
The silver-haired man inspected the woman - she was dressed in plain simple robes, so that gave off the impression that she wasn't too wealthy. He knew the payment wasn't going to be too high, but yen was yen, and there was no point in turning it down (be it any amount).
"You say this spirit . . . Creature thing writes anagrams, yes?" The woman nodded. "Have you seen it or has the chaotic upbringings been indirect?"
"I have never seen the creature or whatever you call it! Please . . . All I want is for you to rid me of this nuisance! I'll . . . I'll really go mad if this continues on! It's torture!" Kantarou pitied her - admiration completely evaporated. Her facade was now shattered, causing her to have an outburst that could have been avoided, maintained . . .
"Will do. Just give me your address and some time. I'll be there shortly," Kantarou told her. The woman did as she was instructed and promptly left afterwards.
Reiko walked into the living room then, and sat down across from Kantarou. "I'll be leaving . . . I hope you've already started on your next article?" Kantarou shook his head. "What's stopping you from writing it? Surely, your brain can't be empty, can it?" Kantarou shook his head again. Reiko narrowed her eyes at him. "Hmph, you better take care of Ichi too. She's your responsibility."
"I never said I wanted her," Kantarou replied, overly pissed. "You can take her back, give her to Hasumi even."
"She's yours so I don't need to take her. You're the owner and I wasted your yen to buy her. Deal with it. I know how you hate having your yen wasted on something you don't want. Getting rid of Ichi would be a big chunk of your money's worth, hm?" Kantarou gulped - Reiko had a point in which he had nothing to combat it. "Until next time, Kantarou. Don't disappoint me, okay?"
Like a immature child, Kantarou stuck his tongue out at his editor when she had her back turned. Reiko was a pain in the butt, but she kept him in check, and in which he secretly appreciated. Yet, he would never tell her this fact. However, not forgetting about his client, he went into his room and into his closet to don his spiritualist attire.
"You think this case is going to be fun?" Kantarou asked Haruka. "It has to do with anagrams. I'm not very good at it, but I find them entertaining."
"What are anagrams?" Haruka asked. "I've never heard of such a term."
"Anagrams are words that have another or several other meanings if you can scramble them correctly. Some are very, very, tricky, and not to mention you need to know a lot of words. Don't worry though, because we won't be dealing with any of those. Let's just say we'll go straight for the youkai."
"Who's the client?"
"Kita Kiyomi; something wrong?" Kantarou looked at the taller being, not really being able to consider him a human of any sort. Haruka shrugged, while saying her name didn't matter to him. "Then why ask?"
"No peculiar reason, Kantarou. Forget about it." Haruka sweat dropped when his Master got up close to his face. "What?"
"You're being rather vague . . . Are you hiding something?"
"For the last time, this has no connection to anything. Stop pestering me, will you?" Kantarou raised an eyebrow at the Tengu as he backed down. Haruka didn't know why Kantarou was being so critical when his question was a simple and innocent one. Was he jealous? He found it hard to believe, but however, it was a possibility he'd like to come true. A jealous Kantarou didn't sound bad at all.
As they neared Kita's home, Kantarou's bracelet started to shake uncontrollably. There was no searing pain to the scar on his chest this time, but he still felt uneasy. To the silver haired man's dismay there were anagrams written everywhere. On the rooftop, walls, windows, and doors. The woman's house was literally covered with them.
"Wow, lots of writing," Haruka stated the obvious. "Shall we enter?"
"Sure." Kantarou knocked on Kita's door. A little girl with scared green eyes opened the door a crack. She looked from Kantarou to Haruka. The spiritualist bent down, smiling at the child as he did so. "Hi, is your mother home?"
"Are you Mr. Ichinomiya?" the child asked. Kantarou nodded. "Okay, come in. I'm Masami."
"Nice to meet you, Masami. Where's your mother?" Kantarou craned his neck around the doorway before stepping in fully. The interior of the house was covered with anagrams too. This family must have been terrorized for months . . . Why didn't they come for help sooner?
"My mommy is in her room. She's trying to solve one of the word puzzles, she said." The child led Haruka and Kantarou to her mother's sleeping quarters. Ms. Kita was hunched over in a desperate attempt to figure out the confusing anagram. She looked up when she saw Kantarou and his assistant.
"Help me, please!" Ms. Kita begged. "This thing is serious this time!"
"What do you mean serious?" Kantarou asked. His bracelet hadn't stopped jingling ever since he got here, and it was shaking with much more force now. Looking at Haruka, Kantarou added, "the youkai is close. It might attack at any moment based on the vibrations I'm feeling from my bracelet."
"It said if I don't solve this one it's going to kill my daughter! It found out I consulted a spiritualist!" Ms. Kita cried out in agony. Haruka pulled out his staff, standing in a battle-ready stance. "I can't solve this! I simply cannot solve this!"
"Calm down . . . The youkai wants you to feel this way. He wants to scare you." Kantarou was unsure of the youkai's true intent, but he knew the best thing to do at the moment was reassure his client. "Tell me what the anagram says . . ."
"I can't! If I tell you Masami will be killed right away!" Kantarou growled in frustration, he hadn't expected the youkai to resort to something like this merely because of his presence.
"Haruka . . . Can you sense the exact spot as to where the youkai is?" Kantarou asked. Haruka shook his head. "Ms. Kita . . . Get the anagram wrong . . . Force the youkai out. Haruka will keep Masami safe."
"He's telling me that's it's useless . . . Masami cannot be saved!" Ms. Kita was torn between trusting the silver-haired man or the demented youkai.
"Show yourself you coward!" Haruka shouted. "If you're a true youkai, you'd come out and face me right now!"
Ms. Kita fell to her knees as she sobbed, "I don't know what it is! Take me instead, demon!" In that instant Masami fell to the floor - lifeless. Kantarou and Haruka looked at the child in shock. Haruka furrowed his brows together; he was right there in front of the child and yet she still perished. Was it too difficult a task for him to pick up the creature's whereabouts when it had struck the child before him? "Masami! Masami! Oh my god, she's dead!"
Just then, Kantarou caught sight of the youkai. He stood beside Ms. Kita as he laughed. Haruka immediately lunged at him, missing when he swung his staff in a upward thrust. Haruka knew he couldn't use his thunder because of the woman. The youkai was using her as a shield.
"You've taken a human life! For that I cannot forgive you! Instead of me sending you off I'll destroy you!" Kantarou declared.
Youko was greeted by an unhappy human and Tengu when they came home. Kantarou was covered in green blood, his eyes held unforgivable guilt when he looked at the fox youkai. Haruka didn't look any better, though his worries were directed towards their Master.
"What happened . . .?" Youko asked, curious to know, and bothered at the same time.
"I need a bath," Kantarou said, completely ignoring Youko's question. Youko was panic-stricken now - something terrible had occurred; she wanted Kantarou to fuss up. "Youko . . . I'm not in the mood."
"Tell me what happened!" Tears started to well up in her ocean-blue eyes. "Kan-chan, don't you walk away from me!" She grabbed Kantarou's sleeve before he could go farther, before he could even take another step. He turned to her then, red orbs flaming angrily. "I won't let go!" The fox youkai was determined.
Kantarou was not taking this lightly at all. Youko's urgency to know only made it worse. With all his strength he punched her - she didn't deserve a slap, or so he thought . . .
"Shut up, Youko! I am your Master! You have no right to speak to me that way! I warned you, didn't I! I told you I wasn't in the mood!" Youko started to cry as she held a hand to her slowly swelling cheek. Haruka looked from Kantarou to Youko with surprise. "Now, let go of me. I need a bath . . ."
As Kantarou was making his way to the tub area, Youko shouted, "I hate you!" Even as she said it, she couldn't really find herself fully dedicating herself to the statement with all her being. It was just that she truly cared for the silver-haired man. Couldn't he see it? Was it so unorthodox?
"That's fine with me. I don't need you. I don't need any of you . . ."
"Kantarou . . ." Haruka didn't know what to do if their Master were to release them from his imprisonment. If that was the case, he'd have no reason to remain here with him. He didn't want to leave.
Inside the quietness of the bathroom, Kantarou started to sob, softly at first, though it increased in volume within a short time. He stripped himself of his haori and undergarments. Green blood covered his arms, face, neck, feet, and parts of his legs. He let Masami die . . . He couldn't even stop Haruka. Ms. Kita . . .
"It was so horrible . . ."
Chapter 4: END
