You'll be happy to know that chapter 95 is basically written, so the wait for that won't be very long. Sorry that I couldn't be quicker with this.
Notes: A "yuta" is a shaman of the Ryukyuan tribe. They're very important to the village and are traditionally women.
"Imouto", if your fangirl Japanese is lacking, means "younger sister".
Disclaimer: The anime/manga Shaman King and its characters were created by Hiroyuki Takei. All original characters made specifically for this fanfiction and any tie-in/spinoff pieces were created by Jezebel Parks
A Gift of Love – Chapter Ninety-Three: Tadashi's Last Joust
She stopped, her eyes widening in horror. She whipped her head to look in the opposite direction, then took a few steps.
"My Lady, what is wrong? Do you feel something?"
She shook her head.
"That's the problem...I don't."
Tadashi could feel himself tense under Hao's gaze – even if it was really the young Tao's gaze targeting him. The first phase of his plan had been carried out; Lien was out of harm's way for the time being, and he could concentrate on buying enough time to revive her. In order to succeed, he needed to make sure Hao was distracted long enough so he could being the process, and still long enough to complete it. He tried to wipe it from his mind. He now understood that it didn't matter if he said it in his head or if he screamed it out loud, it was all the same. If he thought about it, Hao would become aware of his intentions, and his efforts would be for nothing.
"What do you plan to fight me with, Tadashi?" Hao jeered. "I took back most of my power when I came here. Even a large piece of your soul belongs to me as well. What do you have?"
Tadashi knew he was right. He no longer had the Spirit of Fire's power, and he had no other spirit ally. But really, it made no difference; it didn't matter how, but he had to accomplish his goal. His retort came in the form of a hot flying dagger.
Hao used the back of his hand to swat it away. "Is this your idea of a joke?"
Tadashi just glared at him, trying to think of the most random things he possibly could. Lien's piano playing came to mind, and he frantically dismissed her. Even one thought of her would be a betrayal.
"Fine, die like a dog, then."
Tadashi narrowly avoided an undoubtedly mortal wound with a sidestep. He spun to face him again. If he was going to survive long enough to revive Lien, Hao needed to be in eyesight at all times. In spite of his efforts, it soon became clear to Tadashi that this lethal variation of dodgeball, or rather, dodgeblade, couldn't go on forever. He was getting tired, and no closer to success.
A hard kick hit his solars, and he sailed across the clearing, landing near a distinct roughness. It wasn't until he sat up that he realized what it was. Stiffly, he turned his head to see Xue's blackened corpse. He flinched. Even thought it had been his wish to kill her, now that he understood what her feelings had been, and why she had seemingly turned her back on him, he wanted nothing more than to bring her back, to see her smile again – even if it wasn't for him. It was just one more reason to keep fighting.
Ignoring the pain in his side, he got to his feet. With little hesitation, he ran at Hao with knives drawn. He swiped at him multiple times, but couldn't make contact. Hao's oversoul was overwhelmingly large compared to his small daggers, and also had the furyoku attacks to back it up. The red jouster was thrust at him. He quickly moved his head away. The spear-like OS missed him by centimeters. The heat resonated from it, so much that his cheek burned. The OS burst into flames. Hao swung it so it rammed Tadashi in the neck and sent him to the ground a few meters away.
Tadashi shuddered in pain. At least I'm still alive enough to feel it. A shadow cast over him as he tried to push himself up.
"What a pathetic fool," Hao sneered. Tadashi slowly looked up at him, worn and gasping for clean air. "Your resilience is so conceited."
The young man's eyes narrows. "How do you figure that?"
Hao pointed the fiery edge at him. "You seem to misunderstand something. The first time your life ended, it was by your own hand. It was your decision. You chose when you wanted to die."
A shiver went down Tadashi's spine.
"You don't have that authority now. I'm the one who decided to give you 'life' again; I'm the one who will decide when your life is over."
He swallowed. As Hao lunged at him again, he rolled out of the way, staggering to his feet. He quickly produced his iron harisen, then tried his best to parry. Even with a slightly longer weapon, it was hard to deflect the oversoul away from him. He tried to bat it out of the way, but Hao blocked each attempt. Being made of iron, the harisen wasn't exactly light. With every desperate swing, his arms felt heavier and heavier.
Hao could see that the once vengeful spirit didn't have much time left. He stabbed him in the right shoulder, the flames burning the skin and the fabric around the newly pierced wound. He forcefully yanked it out, coaxing blood to spurt and his victim to fall forward.
Tadashi caught his balance, looking up to see Hao pull back for another thrust.
"Your second life is at an end."
Just as he was about to complete the attack, he felt a sharp, distinct spike in furyoku. He whipped his head toward its source. His gaze immediately fell on Lien, who was more than visible from her perch, but still unconscious.
At first, Tadashi paused, unable to detect what his former master was feeling, but tossed it to the wind. He couldn't ignore the opening he had been given. He pulled back and swung his harisen upward, launching Hao a few feet in the air. Jumping up after him, he took out two knives and stabbed them through Hao's shoulders. His weight sent them both crashing to the ground, but Hao, being on the bottom, took the brunt of the fall.
When they landed, Tadashi looked up in mild surprise that his ad-lib attack had worked. Then he forced the knives as far in as he could, trying to reach the ground. When they would move no more, he scampered up and into the tree to Lien. There was not a second to waste.
He put his hand on her shoulder. "This had better work." His eyes softened. "Princess, just make sure you get out of this alive."
He placed his right hand on his chest. He inhaled in anticipation of the pain he was about to inflict on himself, then forced it into himself. A small gasp of agony escaped him, but he caught it and held it in. After a few moments, he slowly pulled the hand back out, now holding what looked like a bright, yet pale blue ball of flames. He looked at it, panting, before looking at her.
"This is going to sting. Just bear with me, Princess."
He thrust his hand into her chest, careful not to touch her breasts as he did so. When he could feel a small warmth similar to the one he held in his hand, he released it. Unable to see inside of her, all he could do was trust that the two souls would merge smoothly. He jerked his hand back out, then watched her expectantly.
Nothing happened.
His tired eyes trailed down to the branch. It had only been an idea, a hunch. He thought that maybe if she had more of a soul, even if it wasn't entirely hers, she could move, try to save herself. But he knew next to nothing about this shamanic world the people around him were so accustomed to. What could an outsider like him to do help, anyway?
"Give it time."
He jerked his head up and searched for where the voice had come from. "Who's there?"
She ignored his question. "What you have done is unconventional, but workable. She won't become you, of course. When her soul is restored, it will become nothing more than an awkward Hyoi Gattai. I'm sure she'll have no trouble relinquishing your soul."
His vision was blurring. He had given Lien most of the soul he had left in his body, and he felt like he was close to dying…again. This time was so much more painful, not the quick finish he had enjoyed before.
A blast of fire swept past him. He slowly turned to see Hao, bloody and consumed by rage. Tadashi shuffled back to face Lien.
"Princess, it looks like my time is up," he said with a small smile. He leaned in and kissed her. His eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't feel her lips against his own. He touched them as he leaned back, but tried keep smiling. "Just promise me that you'll survive, alright? Too many people have died trying to prevent Hao from taking your soul. It just wouldn't be right if you went and died anyway."
He closed his eyes. "Hey, Ms. Voice…I don't know who or what you are, but can you look after her for me? I know that if she wakes up, she'll have a chance of making it out of here alive."
Silence.
"I make no promises," the voice said, trying to keep itself from trembling, "but I will try."
He smiled. "Thanks."
With that, Tadashi leapt down from the tree to face Hao. "Okay, I'm done now." He chuckled. "Or is it well done? I guess we'll find out, won't we?"
Hao said nothing. He raised his hand, and the Spirit of Fire unleashed another stream of flames. Tadashi closed his eyes, his smile still present.
I know I fucked up, guys, to put it mildly. I'm sorry. I tried to make things right. I'm sorry I couldn't do more.
The fire ate away at the artificial body, leaving a flickering soul in its wake. His movements quick and sharp, Hao advanced, fully intent on taking the small snack being offered to him. But just as he was reaching for it, a chain looped around his arm, preventing him from grasping the soul. He followed the chain's length with his eyes, down to the woman that had jumped down to stop him.
Her stance was staggered, her legs bent but not quite in a kneeling position. He could see the animal hide that made up her boots as well as her shirt, which was dyed peachy color. Her hair was tied in a low clip near its end which kept most of it out of her face. She slowly looked over her shoulder at him, her grey eyes like daggers.
"Leave him be. He is no longer your concern."
Before he could protest, she freed her right hand from the chain. As her left grabbed the slack, she whipped her free hand out to capture the near powerless soul and trap it in a jeweled medallion that hung around her neck.
Hao allowed his arm to drop. "Yet another interloper? Such pests…"
She stood, giving a sharp tug to take back her chain. "Don't misunderstand. I have no stake in that girl or her family. My reason for being here is much more…" Her hand went to touch her pendant. "…Personal."
He ignored her, choosing to advance toward the final ingredient he needed. She ran and blocked his path. Though she showed no hint of fear, he knew that she was not so naive as to think that she had a chance of defeating him.
"I'm not done talking to you," she said in a threatening tone. "I may not care about that girl, but because 'he' does, I have to look after her for the time being. Also, I just really, really hate you. I hate someone else, too, but since he's not here, I hope you don't mind if I take my rage over him out on you."
"I believe the proper course of action would be to take your human problems out on humans."
She clenched the chains tighter. "But I won't because I don't make innocent people suffer for the way others have wronged me." Her eyes narrowed even more. "Or how they've hurt my child." She tapped her toe on the ground. "You called him a human, but you must have been able to sense that he had some furyoku buried deep inside him. So deep that not even he himself was aware of it. You took advantage of him, but in a worse way than he himself knew."
She gracefully used the tip of her boot to move the lid of the urn, coaxing the sweet fumes forth once more. "I concede that I am merely a distraction. However, now that I finally have my son back, now that I know it is impossible for me to hold him in my arms, there is nothing left for me here. Those you have already killed wished to defeat you while still preserving their own lives. I have no such desire."
"And yet, your furyoku level pales in comparison to Ren's. What do you hope to accomplish here?"
She whipped her arm around, yanking the urn up, then allowing it to sway back and forth on its leash. "I am going to suffocate this fire of yours with my own. You see…" A rust colored energy engulfed the urn. "When I returned to my village, I was desperate for a way to locate my son. The yuta, though she scolded me for running away, offered guidance. She allowed me to perform rites alongside her. Having so much to do almost made me forget why I had come back in the first place.
"The Ainu have the bear. We, the Ryukyuan, have fire. The fire god guards the hearth, sends messages, and is even more important to us than our ancestors. For the past twenty years, I have sought his help in finding my son. Now, he has led me here. It was your Spirit of Fire that attracted him. Apparently, he knows a lot about you, Hao, especially your use of the Spirit of Fire. I will have you know, he is not pleased with the way you are using fire to destroy."
Hao was unfazed. After all these years, did she expect him to suddenly fee remorse for using such a powerful spirit? "And what does the hearth spirit plan to do about it?"
She placed her hand on the urn's cover. "He's telling me to do anything and everything in my power to hinder your progress." She opened it, the lid hinged to the side of it. "That young man you're possessing really does have a beautiful face. It saddens me to have to damage it."
Before he could react, she reached in, took a fistful of cinders and tossed them in his eyes. He closed them, but they still succeeded in blinding him. She rushed past him. It wasn't even worth attempting to fight him. She knew that. Instead, she would work on slowing him down. The portion of Tadashi's soul that he feasted on previously wouldn't sustain him forever. If he was weak enough, Tadashi could maybe recover it and Lien, were she to wake up, could have a chance of defeating him.
She darted to the right. Sliding to a stop a few meters away from him, she took out a piece of charcoal and slammed it into the ground. She ran until she was a few feet away from him, his back to her. Her hands were shaking as she reached into the urn again.
She could feel the exact moment that he finally cleared his eyesight and glared at her. Her muscles tensed. She froze. With a deep breath, she put another piece of charcoal into the ground.
Hao gave a wave of his arm, and the Spirit of Fire resumed its attack. She reluctantly skidded past the next planting point to evade it. The spirit eventually had to recoil and prepare the next blast, and she used the opportunity backtrack and place a third marker in the ground.
Hao had seen what she was doing, but was just a second too late in his attempt to foil her. Nonetheless, he took satisfaction in the hit that came just after her small victory. He had aimed for the shoulder of her dominant arm and made contact. This would no doubt hinder her attempt to put the last charcoal in place.
As she saw more fire headed in her direction, she made a desperate attempt to jump behind him, hoping to either deter the fire or take him with her. The spirit was powerful, but it didn't have the ability to zigzag the fire anywhere it was commanded to. To her relief, it was called off.
He turned to her angrily. "This is the last time I'll—"
The urn was smashed on top of his head. She escaped. Reaching her point, she turned to face him. True to form, the hard-headedness that the heir had inherited from his father made her last attack less effective, only causing him to stagger as opposed to knocking him out. As he regained his balance, she took out the last piece and forced it deep into the mud. After a Ryukyuan command, restraints from the four markers formed and captured him. At first they only bound his body, but a quick phrase sacrificed one of the chains and covered his mouth, preventing him from giving his spirit any verbal commands.
She let out a sigh of relief. He was already showing signs of sluggishness due to her son's spirit being so undeniably weak and lacking a formidable source of furyoku. It was the only reason why his capture had been in the least bit possible. After all, how else could she accomplish something that others much more powerful than her could not?
She turned and ran to where she had grouped the bodies of the fallen. Now would be her only chance. She began swinging the urn on its chain. Furyoku engulfed it, and she twirled it the way a gymnast would do with a ribbon. Though her mouth was dry, she tried her hardest to recite the chant.
"Ones thought to have left this world, heed my words; I give you but one chance to live! Have you the will, I will sacrifice my life for yours! I am without the ability to heal, so you must endure the wounds that aided your passing…You have little time, so pray that she may reach you!"
Tap tap.
"Souls! Hear the pleas of your bodies! Your business is unfinished – you cannot leave yet! Though it is your will that determines the outcome, have sympathy for those who need you!"
She unscrewed the top of the urn to reveal a container of ash. She picked it up and spun herself, spreading them on top of the bodies. When it was done, she stopped and surveyed them. It was suddenly harder to breathe, an effect of the dance.
Yes…with this…if someone can heal them, then…
She was yanked back by her long hair, and Houraiken was at her throat. It had cost her to bind his mouth instead of a limb – it would have given her more time.
"You should know that what you just did is fruitless. It will at least be another hour until that woman shows up. I'll have destroyed those bodies by then."
She kept still, but tried to get him to let go of her midsection. "It doesn't matter." She grinned. "Didn't I tell you that I have no will to live anymore? Killing me solves nothing."
He was silent for a moment. "Ah, that's right. That fool Tadashi was your son."
"Yuntaku. His name is Yuntaku," she slowly corrected. He pressed the blade closer to her neck, drawing blood.
"You seemingly hate me for giving him another chance at life, but you think I should bear the burden of your revenge against that human father of his?"
"What else should I do?"
"Lament running away from your tribe. Had you not given in to the stereotype of a rebellious teenager, you could have lived in peace."
She struggled minimally. "I…had to leave. I couldn't stand my heritage. I needed to live somewhere I could think and experience a 'normal' life. I turned away from the elders who wanted me to participate in the Shaman Fight. I couldn't commit to that."
"But…" He paused to gather the story. "An affair with the only teacher who wouldn't shun you? Is that really what a human would consider a 'normal life'? You committed to that and suffered the consequences."
"I have no regrets…not when it comes to giving birth to my son," Aika whispered. "The only regret is that I didn't find him sooner. Your idiocy of using the Spirit of Fire is what led me here. I had felt my son previously, but it was the Spirit of Fire that pinpointed your location."
"That 'idiocy' is going to kill you as opposed to myself."
"Go ahead and kill me, you disgraceful fire shaman."
"Gladly. You're one less obstacle after all. But first-"
"Ni…Niisama?"
They both jerked their heads up. Lien was trying to climb down from the tree she had been in. She looked immeasurably tired. Inevitably, she lost her footing and fell to the ground. With a moan, she began to push herself up. She looked up at her brother with puppy dog eyes, wondering why he wasn't running to help her. She looked away, then finally stood. Holding her arm, she made her way over to them.
Aika, wide-eyed, tried to flail and shoo her away. "Don't come over here! He'll-!"
Hao glared at her, deciding whether or not he should try to casually slit her throat. He ultimately decided against it, knowing that even with her mind in a fog, Lien would more than likely notice a bloody corpse falling over. Instead, he roughly shoved her to the ground, easily masked as a desperate attempt to reach the girl.
Reluctantly, he wrapped his arms around her. He'd have to fake it. "Thank the gods you're safe."
She felt relieved to finally be in her brother's arms. "What's going on?" she whispered. "Everything was so dark…I felt like I was dying. I kept hearing voices. I didn't know what to do." She was shaking. She looked up at him. "N-Niisama…can we go home now?"
He paused, grinning over her shoulder. "Of course, imouto."
Her teary eyes flew open. "I…mou…" She pushed him away. "Y-You're not Niisama…" She said shakily. "Even though I call him Niisama, h-he calls me mèimei! Not imouto!"
Hao sighed. "Easy mistake. If only that fool had let me get into his mind, I wouldn't have slipped up like that."
Her eyes widened. She glanced around and saw the assortment of bodies. "H-Hey…Is that…?"
She spotted her father.
"P-Papa? What happened?" She went to run to him, but was stopped. She froze as her chest was slashed, blood spurting everywhere. Aika staggered to her feet as Hao stood over the bewildered girl.
"It doesn't matter if you've woken up," he said menacingly. "You're so small that you shouldn't even attempt to fight back.
"Tao Lien, you're finally mine."