Chapter Nine
The fog was thickening, but at least the rain seemed to have stopped for good. Chizu and Karasu-Tengu walked through slender trees illuminated in shades of green, purple, and blue. As they drew closer to the mountains, the ground began to slope upwards and they encountered clumps of mossy rocks jutting out of the ground. Chizu could hear Karasu-Tengu's labored breathing behind her.
She paused, taking a moment to drink water from a small waterproof pouch, and offered some to the tokage nestled around her neck. "Karasu, would you like me to carry Yuichi for a turn? You look like you're losing strength fast."
"Nonsense." Karasu-Tengu glanced down at Yuichi, who was wrapped in a blanket and fast asleep. "I'm gaining my strength. Soon my system will have eradicated the poison. Nature's favor is upon me."
Chizu stroked Spot's snout as she resumed her weary but steady pace. She wasn't so sure about the "nature's favor" part, but Karasu-Tengu was definitely recovering. Soon, Chizu hoped, the Yokai would be strong enough to fly.
"How far do you think we need to walk until we're near the valley?" she asked.
"We're getting closer. This place looks somewhat familiar. I'm surprised we haven't seen any unicorns yet."
Chizu ears flicked as they picked up a distant sound, but she couldn't make out what it was. "I'm just surprised the legends are even true. Most unicorns were killed off or captured long before I was born, and stories about them are just that; stories."
Karasu-Tengu snorted. "Animal-folk. So selfish and irreverent. They'll pay for their actions."
Chizu could hear Yuichi stirring. "Are we there yet?" he mumbled.
"Not yet, pupil. Save your strength."
Yuichi tapped on her neck. "Why is your skin so hard? It feels like armor."
Chizu glanced back, trying to hide her smile at Karasu-Tengu's sour face.
"Don't touch me."
"Okay."
Chizu clambered over a rock, squinting at some figures in the distance. Please don't be ninjas. Thankfully, as she drew closer, the figures revealed themselves to be tree stumps. She spotted an arrow embedded in one of them and studied it. It was a simple but good quality hunter's arrow. It looked expensive enough that she was surprised its owner hadn't retrieved it.
"Why does your face have golden stuff on it? Is that armor, or part of your face?"
"Stop looking at my face," Karasu-Tengu huffed. "Go back to sleep."
"Karasu, look at this," Chizu said, showing her the arrow. "I wonder if its owner was hunting the unicorns."
Glaring, Karasu-Tengu snatched it in her beak, aggressively snapping it in two. "I hope its owner shared a similar fate," she said darkly, grinding the splintered shafts into the ground with her clawed feet.
Chizu and Yuichi glanced at each other, making a "yikes" face. Neither of them said anything.
Suddenly, Karasu-Tengu raised herself fully upright like a startled deer. Her head turned from left to right.
"What's wrong?" Chizu whispered.
"I hear something. It's…a shinobue," she murmured.
Chizu strained to hear the faint sound of a shinobue flute drifting through the air. It had a beautiful, haunting melody and a clear high-pitched sound.
"You two stay here," Chizu said. "I'll investigate."
Karasu-Tengu nodded at her and moved behind some trees for cover. "Be careful!" Yuichi called after her in a half-whisper.
"Shhh!" his mentor said.
Chizu trained her ears on the direction from which the sound seemed loudest. The music grew in clarity as she crept closer, keeping her steps as silent as a snake gliding over the ground. Eventually, Chizu climbed a large rock and peered into a small clearing near a stream trickling through the forest. There, sitting on a rock, was the source of the lovely sound.
It was a caracal, shinobue lifted to her lips and her eyes closed in blissful concentration. Like all caracals, she had tan fur with black and white accents, black tuffs on her ears, and a black-tipped tail. She was wearing a beautiful purple outfit with brown armor, and there were two swords tied to her waist. A teal tokage was asleep by her side.
A samurai? What is she doing out here? Chizu's eyes narrowed. Wait a minute. Is this the warrior?
The music halted and the caracal's violet eyes shot open. She turned her head slowly to face Chizu.
"I can see you, ninja," she said, slipping the shinobue into a pack strapped to her back and rising slowly to her feet. "Why have you come here?" Her hand hovered over one of her katanas, and the tokage growled.
Spot growled back just as fiercely.
"Wait! I mean no harm." Chizu slipped down from the rock and stood meekly as the caracal approached her. "I seek help for my friend, who has been wounded."
The caracal relaxed slightly. "I have never had a ninja come to me before."
"How did you know I'm a ninja?"
"No one else could have approached me so quietly. You have great skill." She smiled sadly. "You remind me of someone I used to know, long ago."
Chizu froze. She took a slow, shuddering breath, daring herself to hope. "What is your name?"
The caracal hesitated, noticing the look on Chizu's face. "You know me? My name's Kaiyo." Her voice started to tremble. "Wait…are you Chizu?"
Chizu's tail lashed with excitement and her eyes shone with emotion. "Yes! Kaiyo, it's me! From the Neko ninja clan!"
In a moment all caution was thrown to the wind as old friends embraced and tears flowed.
It had been ten years too long.
XXX
With every minute that passed, Yuichi's anxiety grew. His whole body ached with fever, and his whole shoulder burned, but the dread building in his chest was even more unbearable.
"We should go after her." He struggled to sit up in his mentor's arms, eyes fixed on the spot he had last seen Chizu.
"No. If we follow her in our injured state, we merely bring more danger to her. She has been raised a ninja; her greatest strength is her stealth."
Yuichi's rabbit ears could pick up the slightest sound. He listened to the sound of the shinobue as it drifted mournfully through the forest.
"But what if something happens to her? We-" he stopped. "What happened to the music?"
Karasu-Tengu stood motionless, eyes closed in concentration. "It's stopped."
Yuichi struggled again. "See, something's happening, and we're missing it!"
Karasu-Tengu held him firmly and glared at him. "Quiet! You're not helping!" She closed her eyes again.
There was nothing Yuichi could do, and he wrestled with the bitter thought before going limp in defeat. A wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him and he groaned softly.
"Chizu has already risked herself enough for me. Maybe it's time to accept the fact that I'm not going to make it much longer."
Karasu-Tengu opened one disapproving eye at him before closing it again, saying nothing.
Yuichi played with a fraying thread on the blanket. "Tell my aunt that I love her, and tell Hana I love too, and she's the best sister I've ever had, and tell Gen and Kitsune they're the best friends ever, and tell Chizu…" he hesitated, blinking hard. He was determined not to cry again.
He couldn't tell if Karasu-Tengu was listening to him. Her eyes were still shut tightly and she was taking deep breaths.
"Tell Chizu, I care about her a lot, and that I think she's the bravest warrior I've ever known."
Karasu-Tengu's eyes opened and she unexpectedly smiled at him. "Why don't you tell her that yourself?"
Yuichi turned to see two figures walking towards them through the fog. It was Chizu and an unknown caracal, both of their faces radiant with joy.
Chizu spoke as they approached. "This is Kaiyo, the one who was playing the shinobue. Kaiyo, this is Karasu-Tengu, the Yokai who helped me rescue my friend Yuichi from the Ninetail Ninjas, and this is Yuichi."
Kaiyo bowed respectfully and studied Karasu-Tengu with interest. "I have never seen a creature like you up close. Truly an honor." Her face clouded with concern as she studied Yuichi next. "You poor thing. There is no time to waste. Everyone, follow me!"
Yuichi could feel Karasu-Tengu stiffen slightly as the caracal walked into the mist, waving them after her.
"Chizu, do you know this caracal?" the mentor asked.
Chizu opened her mouth but Yuichi interrupted her. "Wait, wait, I know! Is this is your friend from the Neko Ninja tribe who Lady Fuwa kicked out?"
"Yes, just for being too kind to me. I thought Lady Fuwa had done more than that; I thought she killed her. I had no idea she's been alive this whole time." Chizu smiled, and Yuichi saw a light in her eyes that he had never seen before. "We can trust her, I'm sure of it."
Yuichi grinned back at Chizu, his friend's happiness overflowing into his own heart. "That's so cool! Your day just got a whole lot better, didn't it?"
She patted his leg affectionally. "My day's going to get even better when you're healed." Then, followed by Spot, she ran off to join Kaiyo with footsteps that seemed much lighter than before.
Karasu-Tengu made a huffing noise with her beak, but she started following the felines. "I hope this isn't a trap," she muttered under her breath.
"I don't think it is," Yuichi said, watching Chizu and her long-lost friend talk and laugh with one another. "I've never seen anyone make her so happy before."
His mentor didn't respond, and he wondered what she was thinking.
XXX
They traveled through a narrow passage between two mountain peaks for some time until they reached a beautiful valley. It was filled with trees with large spreading branches and the sounds of birds. Kaiyo stopped suddenly and sat down. Ignoring her tokage, which was chewing playfully on her ear, she took out her shinobue and held it to her lips. "I have trained the unicorns to understand me through my music. They know if there is danger and they must hide, or if I am calling them close."
Chizu knelt next to Kaiyo, watching her expectantly. Karasu-Tengu stood uncertainly next to them.
"Set Yuichi down right here, and then sit," Kaiyo said. "We want to look as non-threatening as possible."
The Yokai set him down in front of them, then sat stiffly, watching him and Kaiyo with a piercing gaze.
She doesn't trust Kaiyo, Chizu thought. I don't blame her. A twinge of worry panged her insides. Maybe she's right.
Yuichi was the only one who didn't seem worried. He sat up, studying the forest and lifting his unwrapped ears to their full height. Spot settled into Yuichi's lap, looking just as alert as he scanned the strange new place.
"Alright, now no one move," Kaiyo said, and began to play a tune. It was much sweeter and softer than the first melody she had played. Even the birdsong seemed to falter at the beauty of the song as it echoed through the forest. Kaiyo's thick, black-tipped tail thumped softly on the ground in tune to the music as she played.
At first nothing seemed to happen. But then, from the depth of the forest, Chizu could see a white form appear, then another. She caught her breath.
Two creatures that could only be unicorns were coming towards them. They were similar in body to a deer, with cloven hooves and the head and mane of horse. Their tail looked much like a lion's tail – thin with a tuft of hair at the end. A thin, sharp horn curved upwards from their foreheads.
One unicorn had blue eyes and the other had brown, and one has mottled silver spots on its body while the other was a pure white. They looked very similar to the ink paintings she had seen of unicorns that she'd seen in a lord's palace once.
Kaiyo did not stop playing the shinobue, but as the unicorns approached, her melody changed to something sad and soft. The unicorn with the dappled spots moved towards Yuichi, studying him intently.
Yuichi stared at the unicorn in awe. Spot stretched out his neck until his nose touched the tip of the unicorn's muzzle. It snorted, causing Spot to squeak and huddle in a tight ball.
"It's okay, Spot," Yuichi said, patting his tokage reassuringly. Slowly, he reached out his hand, letting the unicorn nuzzle it cautiously. Taking another step, the unicorn sniffed at the bandage on his shoulder and then moved to his face.
Yuichi giggled. "It's tickling me!" he said, stroking at its face.
"Don't move too much," Kaiyo instructed with a smile. "That horn is very sharp, and it's about to use it."
Satisfied with its investigation, the unicorn drew back and arched its neck, bringing its horn closer and closer to Yuichi's face. He froze, watching it come closer, but didn't look afraid.
The tip of the horn rested on Yuichi's lips. Then, like a spring being released, the unicorn reared upwards before galloping back the way it had come, tossing its mane dramatically.
Chizu was so fixated on the first unicorn she hadn't realized the other had approached Karasu-Tengu and done the same to her. It trotted over to Chizu, blue eyes watching her intently, and touched its horn to her lips as well.
Chizu hadn't realized how much her head and shoulder had been hurting until the pain vanished. She blinked at the creature in astonishment. It's true. The Maker really has given these creatures the ability to heal.
The unicorn nuzzled her face as though to say "you're welcome" and then cantered into the forest after its friend.
Silence followed as the three sat there, stunned. Kaiyo grinned at them. "So, how do you feel?"
Yuichi was the first to react. He ripped off the bandage and studied his shoulder where the wound had been. There was a bare patch of missing fur covered with ointment, but when he wiped it away but the skin itself looked entirely unharmed.
"Guys, check it out!" He felt his wrists and ankles where his chain sores had been. "I feel completely fine. It's a miracle!"
He sprang to his feet and danced around, laughing with pure joy. "Chizu, check it out!"
Chizu chuckled as he completed cartwheels in the grass like an excited child, joined by his tokage, who ran in circles around him and yipped loudly. It was so good to see her friend move with no chain or injury holding him back. She glanced at Karasu-Tengu, who was feeling her face where her abrasion had been. It looked completely gone.
"Do you believe me now?" Kaiyo said, looking at the Yokai and smiling. "I could tell you were skeptical."
The Yokai looked at her and a rare smile curved across her beak. "I am glad you proved me wrong."
Chizu hugged Kaiyo tightly, overwhelmed by emotion. "I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am," she said in a shaky voice. "I really thought I was going to lose him."
"And I thought I'd lost you, Chizu." Kaiyo pulled back and the long-lost friends looked at each other, caught in a moment too deep for words.
Then Yuichi interrupted, grabbing Chizu's hands and pulling her to her feet. "Isn't this amazing!" he cried, pulling her around the clearing in a clumsy dance. "I feel like a new rabbit!"
Chizu stumbled after him, too amused to be upset. "Yeah, I can tell!" He stopped for a minute to catch his breath and smiled at her, eyes sparkling. Chizu felt lighter than air as they stood holding hands in the sunshine. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming urge to kiss him.
Oh no.
She broke away, hoping he couldn't see her blushing under her fur. "So happy for you, Yuichi. Go have fun! I've…uh…gotta sit down for a bit."
As she returned to the others, Kaiyo looked at her, a puzzled expression on her face. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Chizu said, trying to look anywhere but at Yuichi. She could see him watching her out of the corner of her eye, but eventually he returned to his celebratory frolicking.
Kaiyo patted her shoulder. "I'm sure you've been through a lot. I've never met anyone who's escaped from the Ninetails' den. Yuichi is lucky to have such a brave friend willing to save him."
"You're wrong," Chizu said, watching Yuichi wistfully. "I'm the lucky one."