14 The Sweet Taste of Revenge
A Shadow of the Recent Past Haunts Taiki.
"As far as we can tell, there are no internal injuries. She was rendered unconscious due to blood loss, primarily from the wounds on her shoulder, but also from numerous abrasions and lacerations. We've administered a transfusion and patched up what we can, but the rest is up to her."
Takeshi nodded, acknowledging the medic's diagnosis while forming theories of his own in his mind. "Thank you. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like some time alone to discuss this with the other members of our team." Bowing, the medic walked out of the room, leaving the jounin with his students. "All right, do either of you know what really happened? I'm not going to punish you, I just want to know."
Naeko glanced once at the drowsing Kotori, grimaced, and shook her head. "I wish I did, sensei."
Taiki sighed, unable to reconcile the blood-streaked and sharply-fanged visage that he'd seen before with the waxen effigy that lay in the sickbed next to him. "Would you believe me if I told you that she did it to herself?" A gasp from Naeko and a sharp frown from Takeshi. "I mean, it's the demon. She let it loose while she was training this afternoon, and..." He paused for a moment, then muttered, "It's one of the most frightening things I've seen, and I've seen more than a few. Especially when you know what she normally is, and then seeing her changed into a monster that has little regard for life. She almost killed me."
"But why didn't she?" Naeko wondered.
"Because her will – Kotori's, that is – is stronger than the demon. She took control in time to stop it, but all of the other damage had already been done." Clenching his hands once sharply and then releasing them, he turned to Takeshi with pleading in his eyes. "Whatever you do, keep her away from that scroll. I know her mother gave it to her as a gift, but something she learned from it made her release the demon! And you don't want to see what she's learned, either. I only saw part of it, but it's gruesome."
"I'll take your word for it." Giving his niece one last concerned look, Takeshi patted Taiki on the shoulder and turned to leave. "Why don't we all call it a night? I'm sure she'll be safe here, and the staff will let us know if anything else happens."
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See? I told you it wouldn't be so bad. We work well together, Kotori.
"You call that working together? I almost bled to death because of you."
A minor inconvenience, I'll admit, but one that can be prevented with training.
"I almost killed one of my teammates because of you!"
Oh, him. The look on his face was so priceless – I haven't seen fear like that in some time. Why did you stop me? It's been so long since I've tasted someone's life blood.
"And if I have my way, it'll be a long time yet. If I let you kill someone, it'll be for a damn good reason, not just because you wanted to."
You're such a spoilsport.
"Listen – just because I was raised and trained as a killer doesn't mean I have to act like one all the time!"
And listen to you! Little Miss Merciless, gone soft. They should never have let you leave the Mist Village. You used to say that the weak don't deserve to live, that you would sooner wipe the earth clean of them and do humanity a service. What in hell has happened to you?
"Gone soft - ! I'm just saving my energy for those who truly deserve it."
Sure. Keep telling yourself that – one of these days that mentality will get you killed, and I'll be laughing at you all the way to the afterlife.
With that the demon fell silent, leaving Kotori alone in the darkness of her mind with only her heartbeat to keep her company.
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Sleep did not come easily to Taiki, exhausted as he was, and even when he did finally close his eyes and drift away as dawn began to light the village it cannot be said that he rested. He became aware of a cold dampness, an alien sensation that brought him to full alert as he recognized what it was – the same lethal fog that had surrounded him in the forest earlier and had bathed him in red. Yet even through this mist he could feel the eyes on him, calculating and unfriendly eyes that laughed at his unease, and then he heard the voice: "Kotori's quite the charmer, isn't she?"
It seems so familiar, even though I'm sure I've never heard it before. Turning slowly in the blinding gray, Taiki tried to pinpoint the source of the voice but was without success. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?"
"You mean you don't recognize me?" A wheezing, rickety laugh. "You destroyed my body and absorbed it into yours, and now you know its secrets. What do you mean, you don't know who I am?" This time the voice came from directly behind Taiki, and he whirled to face the speaker. The first thing the youth noticed was the gaping wound in the throat, one precisely placed knife slash that leered in an unclean second smile. Then he saw that the figure, whoever it was, bore two bloody stumps in place of arms, and Taiki remembered with a sickened groan. "Ah yes, I see you know who I am now. You can thank your Kotori for doing this to me. But how convenient for you – it gave you another chance to exercise your birthright." Again the laugh, whistling through the damaged windpipe. "I'll let you in on something, son. You might know my secrets, but you have yet to master them!"
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"Even if I hate her guts for being so close to my Tai-kun, the least thing I can do is to help her get out of the hospital quickly. Then we'll be able to take our exams, and I can show Tai-kun just how worthy I am of his attention!" Leaving a note explaining her actions out on the counter for her mother to see, Naeko then rummaged quickly through the tailor shop's sale rack until she found a tunic and pants that were approximately her teammate's size. These she put in a basket along with some fruit and bread from her family's pantry, and bearing these gifts she made her way to the hospital.
"We haven't seen any change in her condition, Naeko, but there's no harm in letting you visit," the medic on duty said, waving the girl on down the corridor. Naeko bowed in thanks to the medic and trotted the short distance to the room where Kotori had been left overnight.
"Well, Tori-chan, I've brought a few things to help - "
Shock-numbed hands dropping the basket, Naeko let out an alarmed shriek as she beheld two ghostly hands wrapped around the sleeping girl's throat in a chokehold. Reflexively she reached for two shuriken and flung them at the hands, which then vanished with a watery splash. Kotori's eyes flew open and she sat upright with a sputtering cough. "What the hell was that?" the redhead growled, massaging her throat and glaring at the other girl as if it were her fault.
"I'm... not sure," Naeko stammered, "but I think Tai-kun has some explaining to do."
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"Just what the hell do you think you were doing?" Taiki yelled at the spirit of the Mist jounin. "I could have killed her if I had stronger control!"
"That was the idea." Turning an eerie double grin on the genin, the specter murmured, "Revenge is a sweet thing, even if all you get is a taste of it."
"And that's all you're going to get, a taste." A foul glare. "Trust me, killing her is not worth your time."
"We'll just see about that," the jounin replied casually, turning and disappearing back into the mist. Taiki then snapped awake, drenched in sweat and pulse racing. If I'm not careful, I'll turn into a monster too... Ignoring the mocking laughter in a remote corner of his mind, he then peeled the covers away and got to work preparing himself for the day ahead of him.