The Winter of the Ubume

A/N: I think it's safe to assume that nobody was expecting Episode 7. Neither was I. So accept this as my flailing response! – LLS


: 枯葉

Viktor❆

Was this a good idea?

I don't know. I should've asked Yakov about situations like this. True, I don't know any skater who would have reported being haunted.

Neurotic, perhaps.

No, I firmly decided. Yuuri's problems were not something to be solved immediately. That's like assuming that Canada would never get the gold in Winter Olympics men's figure skating1. Or that the Sports Illustrated cover jinx is real2. Or...

...putting aside Yuuri and his little black beast from hell, the competition won't wait. It's painful, but I have to be the coach here!

"So, I'll show you guys the routines first," I decided, chivvying the two off of the ice and manipulating the sound remote.

First, Yurio's 'On Love: Agape'.

Agape... unconditional love. God's infinite love is self-sacrificing and uncalculating. It is a winged and feathered cloak of white and black tips, helmed in red and gliding across the lake, the crane prince.

...chassé crossé would work better here. Yurio doesn't have the leg length.

"So, it's kinda like that," I explained once I'd finished Agape. "What d'you think?"

"Yeah, I pretty much got it."

Damn brat. If Mrs Nishigori hadn't appeared in the middle of practice... Alas, I'm fairly sure the rink employees are contractually bound to prevent homicide.

I decided to ignore him to show Yuuri 'Eros'. Sexual love. To drown in a succession of pleasure unto pleasure. Set off by a spark of flame, running into a moonlit night, chased by a black beast and saved by a hand from the darkness-

Ah, maybe up to here is good. I paused the music. "Yuuri, how was it?"

My student began to panic – clearly he hadn't been paying much attention. "Uhm, er... It was very erotic!"

"Isn't that right?" I prompted him. I wouldn't ask this of Yurio, but for Yuuri... "So, for the program composition, which quads can you land?"

"The toe loop, and... I can land the Salchow in practice, but never in competition- um, I think I can do it if I try!"

I assigned him basic training.

I was planning to do that anyway, but this just confirmed my thoughts. How many times has he messed up? He clearly has the skill to win, so why couldn't he make it happen? My job as your coach is to make you feel confident in yourself even if there's ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties coming after you.

Maybe not that. Maybe...

No, this would push Yuuri out of his comfort zone. Yuuri clearly needed a challenge. His rationality needed to be broken and reassembled along with whatever was stopping him from winning – including his anxiety. Even if your opponent is a curse, curses can be broken. Love conquers all, but you need the confidence to win first.

"Think long and hard about what eros is to you, alright?" I murmured to his blotchy red face.

Why is he blushing? Was the Japanese blood pressure a problem?

Now, Yurio. Unihime said that he needed to visit a temple, get hit by Zen sticks, and bathe in a waterfall, right...? This brat just got Yuuri's family making arrangements over him, it'll almost be fun.


Yuuri❅

In the song, there is a story.

A playboy comes to a certain town and bewitches the women left and right. He decides to pursue the most beautiful woman in town, but she isn't swayed. Then, as they play the game of romance, she finds it difficult to make the right choices and ends up falling for him. Then he casts her aside as though he's tried of her, and goes off to the next town.

"That doesn't really sound like you," Nishigori immediately stated once I'd elaborated on the story of Eros.

"Right?!" I waved. "I bet people would say that they'd prefer to see Viktor skate the program."

"But you looked pretty sexy in the video when you copied his program."

"Well, I can't copy him," I refused. "I'll never surpass him by doing that."

Nishigori blinked. "Wait, you seriously think you can surpass him someday?"

"Huh?" I realised. "Oh- Oh, no, not at all-!"

"I mean, how can someone as inexperienced in dating as you beat the hottest bachelor in the world?"

Nishigori, I know you meant well, but did you have to say it like that?

The question haunted me through off-ice training, walking Vicchan, even all the way to the baths. I mean, I'm an adult male of twenty-three years. I could totally show off mature sexiness if I wanted to!

Viktor walked into the open-air baths, totally blowing away any expectations I could have had. From a physical standpoint, I doubt that I'm even close to eros. It's that thing which causes people to lose their rationality, right?

Laughter erupted from the bar halfway through dinner. I sat up immediately. "Is it- wait, Monday was yesterday. No way-"

The bar door slid open.

"My apologies, but I brought Mari back," Kyō Kaigara floated in, with another attendant carrying Mari-neechan through the bar. "The oni sake was quite strong."

Viktor stopped eating. I saw him about to point, and just barely held down his hand. Viktor floundered until I shook my head.

"This is..." I paused.

"Hamasaki Nanami," Kyō-sama pulled a name-card out of her purse, presenting it with both hands. When she next spoke, I had to shake my head, because it was in Russian. "Dobro pozhalovat' v Yaponiyu."

"Charmed," Viktor took one hand and bowed his head over it, much like an English gentleman. "If I recall..."

Kyō-sama's wrist turned, and she grabbed Viktor's wrist in response. "I don't know you." She smoothly began to speak.

Viktor blinked, quickly, and then slowly. "Right... My mistake."

Both hands let go, and Viktor sat back down.

"The katsudon is delicious," Kyō-sama prompted.

"Yes..." A pink tongue curled over his bottom lip.

"Oi, Viktor!" Yurio complained, but I could see – or sense – something... weird going on. Her eyes haven't left his. If I didn't know what she was-

Vicchan barked. The spell was broken, as Viktor wobbled in his seat.

"Uhm, Kyō-sama?"

Kyō-sama blinked. "Follow me, Katsuki-kun."

Viktor's eyes rolled back into his head, and he shuddered as I walked with her into the inside of the inn, into my family's quarters. Kyō-sama arranged herself in seiza, with Mari-neechan laid out next to her.

"What did you do to Viktor?" I tried to keep the shaking from my voice. I had been so obsessed with Viktor's physical safety, I forgot what would happen if he accidentally talked to a gitsune, a Kuchisake-Onna or a Yuki-Onna3. If they managed to extract a marriage promise from him, it would never end.

"Nothing," Kyō-sama evenly replied. "He is a normal human after all, to fall for miryoku at this level."

"Miryoku?" I echoed.

"Demons and monsters sometimes attract humans using their magical power," Kyō-sama began. "This magical power is called miryoku – written with the character 'mi', and the Kanji for power. If I'm right, you Japanese use the verb 'miwaku suru' – with the meaning of attraction or captivation. Have you noticed? The 'mi' character in that verb is the same 'mi' in chimimoryō – the demons and monsters of Japan."

I thought about it. She was right. The characters for miryoku (魅力) did share characters for the four-letter idiom of 'monsters of the mountains and rivers' (魑魅魍魎), and was related to the verb for 'captivate' (魅惑する). "Never mind the grammar lesson. Is it permanent?"

"No. He just fell for my charm," the last word became a caress. "A general all-purpose omamori for avoiding evil would work," she offered.

I sighed. "Thank you."

"No, it was my fault for exposing my demonic charm on these premises," Kyō-sama moved to stand. "I was entertaining in a party of oni, and I forgot-"

"Uhm... actually..." I fidgeted. "About this week's competition-"

"I have tickets."

"You do?!"

She blinked at me. "Minako arranged for me to... look in. Since there are few avenues to enjoy Western arts..." she shrugged.

"Ah..." I looked down. "How much would it cost me to consult you about... my program?"

Kyō-sama drew a breath. "Oh."

"I- It's fine," I tried, but she had already leant over until her body was almost parallel to the tatami.

"Now, that, nobody has ever asked me that," she murmured. "Hmm... how much do you remember what we spoke during the winter party?"

"Erm... on ballet?" I fidgeted.

Kyō-sama pulled a pout. "I have few people to talk to about Western arts. Once a week, I will consult you."

"I'll help you out," I sighed. That was relatively cheap.

Then again, all addictions to that world tend to start like that.

"It's... I'm competing against Yurio. We're skating to two different arrangements of the same song, on love. Viktor assigned Agape to him, and Eros to... me."

I risked looking at her full in the face, regardless of the supernatural charm she apparently wore. Kyō-sama thought. She smiled again, and then her expression changed, her features growing remote. Her shoulders eased into relaxation, and then her eyes opened: shining like the underside of an abalone. She stared into the far distance for several moments, her breath rate slowing.

Her eyes started moving, as if she were reading a book. Then they snapped back to earth, leaving the barest hint of a rainbow lighting up her dark pupils.

"I might be rather out of date with regards to Western concepts," she started, "but from my understanding, eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty, and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth."

"Uhm... I'm talking about sexual love," I fidgeted. "From my understanding, eros is the kind of feeling that leads people to lose their ability to make normal decisions. So... I don't know how to show that feeling. I mean, I lose out physically."

"Mortal standards of beauty changes with the times," Kyō-sama stated. "I think you're quite handsome by Tang Dynasty standards."

"Thanks?" I hazarded, though I didn't want to be held to beauty standards a few centuries out of date. "But... I don't know that feeling, Kyō-sama."

"Call me Kyō-san, or Kaigara-san," my sister's boss ordered. "Are you asking for seduction advice?"

"No! Not at all!" I waved my hands in a collective refusal, the better to show how much I refused. "I thought, demonic miryoku could give me some insight into what makes people lose their inhibitions to make irrational decisions,"

"Ah, so it's like that." Kyō-san huffed. "I got it."

"Really?"

"Japanese borrowed a number of four-character idioms from Chinese," Kyō-san started. "Amongst them is keiseikeikoku (傾城傾国). If we're talking about losing rationality, then toppling countries and dynasties should work."

"Nobody needs to lose rationality to that extent!" I protested. "How is that a good thing?"

"You're forgetting that you're asking a yōkai, one of the chimimoryō," Kyō-san reminded me. "What is violence and fear for humans is feeding and largesse to us. Your pain is our gain."

That was... fair.

She was what she was – a being of violence, deceit and the thirst of power. Her attitudes and reactions could not fairly be called inhuman when she wasn't human to start with. Then again, that would presume that all non-human peoples were incapable of niceness and kindness.

"Yes, so can we please discuss this from a human perspective? I'm fairly sure that even a great daiyōkai like you can manage that."

Kyō-san looked caught out. "Very well."

"For human sensuality... Dakki is the main example when we think of castle-destroying beauties, but I can only think of Seishi, Ō-Shōkun, Chōsen and Yōkihi.4" She paused. "They're all female, if that's a problem?"

"I... I'll get to that," I nearly face-faulted. "What about handsome men?"

"Handsome men..." Her eyes lidded over. "In the Tang Dynasty, it was a scandal when the Crown Prince left Chang'an with his catamite-"

"What? Wait, no, don't elaborate, I don't want to know," I groaned. "What about handsome Japanese men?"

She thought. "Oda Nobunaga was fairly handsome," she offered at last. "And Mori Ranmaru was quite a looker..."

"So now I have dead samurai to choose from?"

"Yoshitsune and Benkei?"

"I give up, please stick to the female examples." I studied her. "There's really no other option?"

"I can get Dakki on speed-dial if you like," Kyō-san frowned. "You have to understand, though, that we don't form attachments the way humans do. So we can live and breathe lust and have men falling over their feet to serve us, but that doesn't actually mean that we can inspire the kind of love that causes you to lose all rationality and still help you. There's only... one."

Her eyes fully closed. "Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua. I knew them before they became royalty. They had about thirty years to work through their marital problems on top of managing an empire."

"Eh?" Standing before Kyō-san made me feel small and insignificant. In the entire face of her entire lifespan, we humans were literally mayflies. "Managing... an empire?"

"Because it's not enough for one man to get his dream job of city mayor and marry his childhood sweetheart and the love of his life, no," Kyō-san carried a look on her face that now, I could recognise, was envy. "He had to establish the Eastern Han Dynasty of China with it."

Her eyes fell on Mari-neechan, who was still sleeping beside me.

"It's their kind of relationship that you want to find for yourself, standing on the outside looking in," she reflected. "But with magic, you never know if the person you've charmed is in love with you because of you, or because you've charmed their minds, you know?"

I struggled to get up. "You've been a great help. Thank you, Kyō-san."

I was never going to use any of her information. Eros would be hard enough to carry off without the baggage of thousands of years behind it.


Critiquez, s'il vous plaît !

1 The Canadian curse is more a media invention, stating that Canada would never win gold at the Winter Olympics despite landing the top stages at other top figure-skating competitions.

2 The Sports Illustrated cover jinx is an urban legend that states that individuals or teams who appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine will subsequently be jinxed (experience bad luck). Wikipedia has a full list of examples.

3 In order: gitsune are shape-shifting foxes. Kuchisake-Onna is a slit-mouthed female yōkai that specialises in facial dismemberment. Yuki-Onna are female yōkai of the snow that prey on travellers lost in the heavy snowstorms in winter.

4 These are the Japanese names for the Four Beauties of Ancient China: Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diaochan, and Yang Guifei.