Disclaimer: I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures.
Sequel Note: This is a sequel to "Queen of All Oni". If you have not read that fic, this will not make much sense. Thou hast been warned!
Betaed by: Zim'smostloyalservant
Shadow Seeking
Prologue
Rising Sun Welcome
or
Road Trip Commence!
A broken city languished beneath a cracked, dismal sky. Darkness defying the faint light of the sun crept freely through the rubble, herding ragged humans of all sorts toward the center with threatening tendrils. And in the center, the silence was broken by lash and screams as the people toiled clearing, stacking, breaking to no end. And in the center of the center, a young man died before a throne of blooming razor sharp blades of steel.
Right grunted sharply, teeth clenched as the blade twisted in his guts, his arms held fast by ninja drones, looking past his executioner to his brother's corpse impaled atop the throne.
"Long live the Queen," Queen Jade smirked as she pulled the blade out. Blood sprayed, sticky and hot across her face, raising a giggle that turned into a laugh that echoed into the smoke choked sky.
Jade's eyes opened. She didn't gasp, hardly made a sound, glancing around aware of the cold sweat running down her face and back.
"Dream," she whispered. She was in a plane, squeezed between the window seat and Tohru taking up multiple seats. Slowing breathing she hadn't realized was fast, she rubbed sweat from her brow.
Sweaty… she pulled a compact out of her pocket. It was the color of green jade; not her idea, a gift from Jackie. Flipping it open confirmed her spy make-up wasn't running. As ever, though, she thought it looked terrible. Couldn't anyone else see how fake her skin looked? They might think she was sick.
Well, they weren't wrong. She had learned first hand how sick she was under the surface. Hidden depths? Cha, some things might be better off left hidden, not that she deserved that, she thought, lifting her full cover sunglasses to look into her own red eyes. Blinking, and only getting rewarded with a thin shrouding of the glow and sight.
"Attention, attention passengers," the PA said as they made their approach to the airport.
Giving a relieved sigh that this leg of the trip was gone, Jade turned in her seat, poking Tohru in the side. The sooner things got moving, the more distracted she could be.
Motel Room, Tokyo:
In a poorly lit room, a white light ignited, pristine and cleaving the darkness. It shined on a plain dresser, from a piece of paper weighed down on the edges by spent ramen cups.
Revealed in the darkness was a man meditating. Springing to his feet, he leapt over the bed to reach the dresser, pulling the map close.
"So, Master Dark was right, you have come. Well, I picked the wrong city to lie in wait. No matter, I have waited this long for justice, I can make a trip to pick it up," the man said, giving a mirthless smile that illuminated his teeth.
X X X
Jade tried to remember if she used to like airports. Because she certainly hated them now. Too bright, too confusing, and too much feeling like the tides of people would carry her away or that she'd get yelled at for crossing a security line of some sort by complete accident.
Taking refuge in the little girl's room was so much of a must, she didn't even think of how odd it would look for Tohru to be standing guard. Jade power-walked past an old lady dressed like an old-timey parlor attendant to slam a stall door shut. Plopping down on the toilet, she let the pressure go with a shuddering sigh she was sure the other women in the stalls couldn't help but hear.
No, she hadn't needed to go that bad. Instead it was Lee, rising from her shadow and silently taking a position atop the toilet, looking over her. Smiling wide, Jade reached back and patted his shin through the black cloth.
She took her sweet time, enjoying both the absence of the pressure of long-term shadow holding and just his silent company before finally flushing. After all, they did have an appointment with Mama Tohru, and despite Jade's assumptions apparently she lived outside the city.
And Jade realized she really should get a proper name for the woman, she realized.
X X X
"Bah, old billy goat just realized he was holding you back, Tohru. You were always too good to be his servant. Soon enough, he'll be looking with envy upon your success."
Mama Tohru had quite the nice house, Jade noted. It was no Windsor manor, but it had the look of a degree of wealth and taste and sat on a decent bit of property abutting a small forest. Jade, not for the first time, wondered about T's past. She had always figured money troubles had sent him to the Dark Hand, but did you become even a small sumo on a shoestring budget?
She dismissed the line of thought; it wasn't her business. She had no right to pry. Sipping her tea, she looked to mother and son seated around the table with her, and decided Tohru needed a bit of a reprieve from his mother.
"Nakamura-san, the tea is quite good," Jade told her.
The old woman cut off her rant/praising session to give Jade a smile.
"Why thank you. And I must say, your table manners seem to have improved. Not that they were subpar to begin with. Yes, you seem to be maturing into a fine young lady," the Japanese woman said.
Jade resisted flinching at the compliment. Fine young lady? She had done so many terrible things since she last saw this woman, she would consider herself lucky not to end up despised by everyone who knew her someday. She wasn't better mannered, she just knew she had to keep herself in check. She couldn't just go wild, bending rules willy-nilly or whatever. She was dangerous, even her family knew it, the tightness of the choker on her neck a reminder.
Tohru's mother raised an eyebrow at Jade's lack of response and near mechanical but impeccable continued eating of her meal. Frowning, she gave Tohru a look. He gave a small shake of his head, but then gestured to the ornate clock hanging on the wall. 'Not now, later.'
"…So, you are going to visit your father's grave now, of all times?" she asked.
"Yes, I feel I need to. I am at a crossroads, and it just seems right at the moment."
"Hmm, it's been so long," she noted, looking to a spot on the wall where photos were hung, before pointedly pointing her chopsticks at him, "I go there every year, you know. He was not a perfect man, by any means, but he did his duty and I have mine to honor him. You never went; I let you have your way on that."
He closed his eyes and nodded.
The dinner proceeded, not exactly awkward but clearly carrying a tension of things to come.
X X X
Jade had gone to bed, though Tohru guessed she was as much motivated by letting Lee out in the guest room. But he was certain she would not emerge anytime soon, as he set to work on the dishes.
"Tohru, what has happened to that child?" his mother demanded. He did not jerk at her tone or the question. After all, he had expected her to pick up on something being wrong.
"Many terrible things," Tohru answered. He did not elaborate, more from surprise at his own upfrontness than anything else. She joined him as he continued working on the dishes; his mother's fine wares demanded more care and thoroughness than even his usual standards. It had been a welcome distraction.
"I see, the sunglasses? I normally do not allow such things, but you knew that and it's clear she's not being rebellious."
"Her eyelids are badly damaged. She can't, not see anymore."
"Tch, who did this?" she snapped, eyes sliding in the direction of the guest room.
"I am told he is dead."
"Good," she said. Tohru felt a chill at her finality there. After all, he had not been above harming children — he could remember the weight of the sword in his hand when he had prepared to cut Jade open in that warehouse. Did that mean he should feel the wizard had deserved mercy in spite of everything, or that he himself had not deserved the chance at redemption he had received?
How had she ever forgiven him, he wondered not for the first time.
"Why is she with you and not her parents then?" she asked.
"…She feels safer with me than them." He did not want to speak too ill of them, but he was not willing to cover too much for Jade's parents. His mother's scowl deepened.
"Seems a lot has been going on in her life, and too little of it good. So, she's here with you trying to put things behind her?" his mother asked.
"That's part of it. I don't think she really knows where to go from here."
"Bah, life has too many directions on where to go next, or not enough. It's to each to accept one or the other, and the consequences. But remember this, Tohru, the past does not simply die. You may think it's buried, only for it to claw out of its grave. Facing it is needed, often whether you're ready or not. Otherwise run as far and fast as you want, won't matter because you're just dragging it along behind you the whole way."
"…Thank you for the advice," Tohru said. He wasn't sure how much use it would be, but he'd take what help he could get. His mother smiled up at him; it never stopped surprising him how her appearance could change so much.
"You've become a good man, my son. One who can be trusted with something like this. Stay true to the man you're becoming, and I am sure you will find what she needs, what you both need."
She patted him gently on the back of a massive hand and withdrew.
Tohru watched her go and walked through the corridors, idly looking over the photos that gave a broken narration of his family's life. The few photos of his father his eyes lingered on; so many years he had scarcely thought of the man. But what stopped him was a recent one.
"The cruise," he realized. He didn't recall this photo op, but then he looked as sick as he would expect in the photo. It was a group photo, as one might have taken as a family souvenir, and she had not even cut out Uncle, who looked mutinous, with her glaring at him while trying to still look at the camera. Jackie clearly trying to defuse the situation.
And Jade, the only one dedicated to a good picture it seemed, flashing a closed eye grin to the camera while giving double victory signs. Could she be that happy again? And if she could was he really the one to do it?
Setting his expression, he turned and made his way to the guest room. His mother, he realized, had been telling him to press ahead. It didn't matter right now if he was the best for this — he had offered Jade this journey, and she had accepted. He owed her his best effort, self-pity and doubt would help no one right now.
And if they reached the end no wiser on what to do next? Well, they would just have to deal with that then.
X X X
Lee drew the closed curtains slightly part, looking out over the yard and the surrounding area of fields and houses. Eyes narrowed, he let the curtains fall back into place.
"I told you to relax," Jade said tiredly, slithering from the guest bathroom. He turned his back on the window and bowed slightly as she made her way to the bed. She had shifted her lower body into the serpent shape she had acquired during her failed quest. Even with a rather used white night shirt on she looked better like this, he thought, than taking pained steps. Though having scrubbed off the disguise to show her natural blue may have had more to do with that, he conceded.
"I can not be at ease if I have not done my duty to ensure your safety. I have was idle enough in a prison cell."
Jade made a thoughtful sound. Reaching the edge of the bed, she didn't bother going to the head, just lifting the edge and sliding under it to curl up under the the covers, out of sight. Left tilted his head at a strange motion through the covers and a familiar sound.
"Why not sleep with your body shifted? It seems more comfortable to you than your legs?" he asked.
"I told you, it's a matter of principle. Now, I need to try and sleep. We're hitting the road early tomorrow," Jade answered, muffled.
Lee did not argue further, but he expected he would need to at some point. Setting himself at the foot of the bed, he began to guard his Queen who refused her title.
X X X
"You're driving rather than taking the train? Tohru, has living in America made you forget the virtue of public transportation?" Mrs. Nakamura asked. They sat around the table again, enjoying a traditional but simple breakfast.
"No, mother. But this is meant to be a journey, simply taking the quickest route seems to be missing the point."
"Billy goat's advice, no doubt. But he might be right in spite of himself. You could stand to get reacquainted with your homeland. Perhaps your destiny is to move back here even. Your mother still has some strings she can pull to help you get yourself set up good and proper."
"Uh, perhaps," he said.
"Jade, last night I made a little something for you," Mrs. Nakamura said, putting her purse on the table and opening it. Jade frowned a little as the old woman pulled something out.
"Uh, it's a bit early for Halloween," Jade pointed out, looking at the little white ghost doll. Tohru sighed, putting his palm to his face as his mother's smile twitched.
"Young lady," Mrs. Nakamura ground out, before clearing her throat and taking a more pleasant tone, "It's not a ghost. This is a teru teru bozu, a charm the Japanese people have used for centuries to ask for good weather. Typically for the rain to stop for special occasions. If anything, the West stole this fine Japanese image for their little carnival-"
"Mother," Tohru cut in with a groan.
"Yes, yes. Anyway, I want you to have this one. It's homemade, properly done, not a cheap vendor trinket," she said, handing Jade the little white cloth charm.
"So, for sunny days on our trip?" Jade asked.
"It can do that. But for me, as a girl when I was sad, my mother made one for me, as a reminder that while rain can seem endless, it does end," she said with a small warm smile.
X X X
"And remember, give me a call every once in a while. You young people carry a cell phone everywhere these days. No reason to not take a minute or two to say how your day has been!" Mrs Nakamura said, as Tohru finished loading up the blue Honda they had rented for the trip.
"Yes Mother," Tohru said. He looked over the trunk as Jade hung the teru teru bozu on the rear-view mirror.
"And remember, Americans drive on the right side of the road, but here we drive on the correct side!"
"Yes mother."
Soon enough they were on the road with a fond farewell. Tohru was a bit ashamed of the sigh of relief he gave. Jade at least had a valid excuse for her relief as Lee emerged from her shadow to take a seat in the back of the car.
Which was another reason to avoid public transport.
"I have a feeling this is going to be quite a trip," Tohru said to the two Shadowkhan.
"Willies?" Jade asked, glancing around.
"No, just… a feeling," the sumo admitted, as the car shifted into gear going down the road.
X X X
The man in white watched them go, slipping away under the cover of the stone fence. Reaching a drainage ditch, he dropped into a low run into the tree line, where a map was laid out, held in place at the corners by stones.
Kneeling over it, he pulled a pouch off his belt.
"The best hunters don't pursue prey like a wolf on a trail, they determine its path, and get there fist. To lay a trap," the young man in white said with a grin.
Author's Note:
Merry Christmas! And if you are not celebrating that holiday, then Happy Friday!
Well, I admit I was hoping to offer something more substantial for today. Particularly the next Queen of Shadows chapter. But alas, the season has not been the best for getting my ideas written out.
And of course here we are, the sequel to "Queen of All Oni". I remind you this is not going to be an epic length story like that behemoth was. Aside from all the stuff already going on, just creatively I would rather continue the QoaO storyline with stories that can be wrapped up quicker and address more singular goals rather than vast narrative long running epic length.
If nothing else, it will hopefully be a fun experiment, I hope.
Well, joy of the season to one and all, stay safe out there. Long days and pleasant nights!