Author's Notes: I'M BACK, INTERNET! And I come bearing new stuff. Sorry, about the lack of ADF. It's still my baby and I plan on finishing the story this year, but my muse for it hasn't really been up to snuff lately, so yeah, holding off on that for the time being. But hey, we have more of this bad boy, and a new title! Go ahead, look it up 'cause I know you're gonna. But really, the change is to do more with the fact that the actually plot line has been revamped. Plus I wasn't really digging the title all that much. So anyway, without further ado, onward, to the fic!
Callowed
Shi 四: General Parturition
Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat until sufficiently calm. Once the desired state of serenity has been reached, continue to perform the task at hand. Remember that said task will cement your decision and forever close off any chance you have at return to a normal, ordinary life. Have a brief panic attack before slowly calming down as you recount the number of things and lives that hinge on this decision. Remember that said choice has the entirely likely possibility of killing you. Have a major panic attack over your mortality before slowly calming back down again.
This was pretty much the cycle that Drew's mind ran through as he continued to make preparations for his Rebirth, as Kaito called it. Said shadowy figure was also going through a change of temperament leading up to the event. Mostly in the fact that he practically vibrated with eagerness now. A fanged, expectant grin was on his face whenever he showed himself and Drew could admit to being a bit unnerved by his constant enthusiasm. Not that he could blame the guy. From what he'd been told, this was the equivalent of a new baby being born. (Not a comparison he liked to make, as that placed himself on the level of a newborn.)
Eventually, he managed to calm himself once more and with a deft flick, finished the last of the preparatory seal. Stepping back, he took a moment to take in the scene. According to Kaito, the Rite of Reawakening was an old, tried and tested thing made during the time of Ichiro and had been used for each General since then. As with most Old Magic, it required very specific steps.
First was the setting. The elves had worked hard for three days and nights before Kaito had announced the building to be satisfactory. It was small, barely bigger than his old apartment, and bare save for the platform in the center and four tall, looming columns framing it. The ceiling was open, allowing the light of the full moon to beam down in all its borrowed brilliance.
Second was the seal. It was large, expansive spiral scrawled in the young boy's messy script that stumbled clumsily over the unfamiliar symbols. It wasn't perfect, evident by the various scuffs and smears that frequently cropped up over the work, but it didn't need to be. As what truly mattered was the third and final step: the offering.
"You sure about this?" Drew started so bad he nearly dropped the ink well, but managed to avoid what would be a waste of nearly five hours of hard work "This is a one-way trip. Once you do this, there's no going back."
Jebediah had been the only other person who knew about his insecurity, his fear of this decision. Kaito meant well, but ultimately he cared solely about the restoration of his people; Drew's feelings came a distant second in the face of that. But Jeb knew. Jeb knew about how he was still holding on to the thin hope that maybe he'd be able to go back, retreat once again into the realms of normalcy and not have to worry about elves, Oni, wizards, or magic ever again. And he could even understand it, to a degree.
Another calming breath. His nerves had been fraying all this week leading up to now and they were completely stripped bare at present. He didn't have to say that half of those mistakes on the seal had been from shaking hands as opposed to inexperience. Kaito simply thought him nervous, hesitant before finally tipping over the precipice. Jeb knew it because he was scared outta his mind. He wanted to leave. In that moment, as Kaito shifted into being and called to begin, his first mind was to bolt. The General wouldn't do anything, couldn't in his wraith-like existence. Jeb would let him and the elves would simply think he'd had another panic attack. He could go back home, apologize to his dad, and go back to bickering with Ninja Girl on the playground.
But then he thought about Kaito's excitement, Jeb's encouragement, Jabber's earnestness, the Elves general happiness. All that would disappear if he left. The Elves would be homeless again, Jeb would be disappointed, and Kaito's dreams of the future would be mercilessly crushed like the grass beneath his soles. He thought about the things Kaito had and would teach him, Jeb's dry wit and insightful council, Jabber's all-encompassing enthusiasm. How the elder elves would ask him to help with a something age had made too difficult, children clamored excitably towards him whenever he wondered about, how everyone else would nod and voice thanks for the aid he'd provided and continued to provide.
A small huff rushed from him, a breathless laugh. Who was he kidding? He was too invested, too attached to run away now. And his dad always told him to honor his commitments. So, with that in mind, he made his way into the center, the scruffy Chieftain giving his hand a brief squeeze before slipping away. This part was intimate, after all. And Jeb had denied invitation to watch and no others were allowed. He climbed the three short steps and stood the platform, then started quietly chanting.
The words were the first part: Bathed in presence of Tsukuyomi, he offered his Name, so that it might forever be cast to the heavens. He'd thought a lot about this next part, brain confused upon what to offer before finally settling on his glasses. The thick, ebony frames glinted in the light and he was suddenly reminded of his…well, everything. With a sigh, he offered his Life to Amaterasu, so that her brilliance might blaze away old so new might flourish. He very nearly let out a very unmanly shriek as the eyewear caught a bright, blue fire but managed to withhold it and confidently flick the now burning article at the seal, upon which it lit with the same, burning glow.
He took another breath before finally offer Himself to the Oni, so that he might lead them to glorious prominence. He kept calm, even as he was slowly lofted into the air, struck by how light, but restricted he felt. He kept calm as his own shadow shifted, separating into tendrils that grasp coolly to his skin. When they pulled back, tearing his skin from his body, he managed a brief, ear-splitting scream before he was enveloped in the darkness of his shadow.
-\=/-
The skies were clear, the city was alive with activity, and Miss Hartman actually managed not to spring a surprise quiz on them that day. Her favorite lunch had been waiting in her bag, kids were finally starting to talk to her, and she got a new Super-Moose Limited Edition Plushie yesterday at theme park.
Jade couldn't enjoy it. Everything was finally going her way and she couldn't bring herself to take pleasure in any of it.
Not when the seat adjacent to her was empty. Not when everyone thought Drew was just missing.
But not Jade. She knew the truth. She knew that the boy smiling brightly in the posters wasn't missing. He was gone. Reduced to particles as that bastard, two-cent cross-dresser had basically made him a suicide bomber. He may have gotten away, vanished in a puff of dark smoke, but the Enforcers remained and Jade had even got a good kick in after Jackie and Tohru had beaten them within inches of their lives. Killing kids was not cool.
They dropped them back off to the prison, somewhere remote, heavily guarded, and definitely not nice, and returned to see a familiar face pasted to the street pole outside. Suddenly, reality hit her like the Mountain Demon and she was brought home to the fact that Drew had family, a Dad who was worried enough to post flyers. Jackie had looked sick when he'd seen it and had hurried her off to her room as he made phone calls. She'd gone to her room, stared blankly at the ceiling for half an hour, and then decided that what she was feeling was best dealt with while eating some serious junk food.
She'd snuck down stairs, a force of habit nowadays, and was soon glad she did when she heard the conversation going on in the kitchen.
"Thanks for calling me, Mr. Chan." Jade froze, afraid to move, to even breathe before morbid curiosity and instincts won out and she peek over she a black man in white and blue seated with her uncle and, surprisingly, Captain Black. She hadn't heard him come in. Then again, she was zoned out there for a while. A quick shake and she once more honed in on the discussion.
"It's nothing." Jackie was nursing a steaming cup of something, his posture stiff and eyes heavy with…something. Black looked cool, more so than usual, his posture radiating authority and empathy in equal measure.
"And you said you've seen my son? Drew?" Jade's heart stopped "You know where he is?"
Jackie said nothing, his eyes cutting to Black, before nodding and taking a drink "We don't know anything for sure, but we do know he was last seen somewhere along the coast, possibly heading north to one of the other cities lining the coast."
Jade said nothing. Her mouth was wide open, too shocked to speak even Black continued his spiel "We suspect a kidnapping, but we're not ruling out the possibility of him being a runaway. Should we come across any other information, while let you know." He reached over and gave the man's shoulder a firm squeeze and his mouth stretched into a soft, understanding smile "We'll find him, Mr. Porter. I know it's hard, but just give it time. I'm sure he's fine."
"Yeah. I guess you're right." He wiped a hand over his face, looking tired yet hopeful and Jade was suddenly running for the bathroom, passing a bewildered Tohru before tossing the door open and dry heaving in the toilet.
In the following days, she went to school and listened to idle gossip about what might've happened to her classroom rival. Some said he been abducted by bad guys, others by aliens, and still more by ninjas as a none too subtle dig at her. She watched as the bulletins around school were slowly pinned with a poster. She saw how Miss Hartman would spare a glance at the empty seat between lessons with looks of worry.
Days turned to weeks and Jade watched as Mr. Porter came by the shop, sat with Jackie by the phone and waited. Sometimes they talked, about the weather, the news, their jobs, raising kids, but mostly they waited. He would sit in his chair, checking his cell every few minutes and jumping at every call only to hang up with no success. The man came in each time looking worse and worse off and Jackie would sit with him and wait and listen and talk.
Weeks turned to months and Jade watched as Mr. Porter haltingly asked if he could stay awhile and Uncle for once didn't shout about having another person in his shop. He spent most of his time there by the phone, but slowly started attending training sessions with Jackie, would cook with Tohru, work the register on his days off. But always within reach of a phone. Still waiting. Waiting for a call that would never come because his son was gone.
She'd asked Black, once, earlier when she'd still been furious over the lie. She asked, see screamed, why they couldn't just tell him the truth.
"What truth, Jade?" he didn't crouch, didn't bring himself to her level. He stood, no, loomed over her and stared down with hard, dark eyes and suddenly she knew he was Agent Black "That his son was vaporized into dust by a piece of magic paper by the Wizard who leashed him because he'd accidently turned himself into a demon? Do you think for a single moment that he'd believe that? And we can't simply say he's dead without proof that we don't have without Daolon or whatever is beneath all that rubble in the cave." Then he was soft again, the Black she remembered "This is the best we can offer until otherwise. So just go along with it, okay rookie?"
Jade was no stranger to lying. Even accustomed to it. But they'd always been for some greater goal. Something that she'd wanted or needed to happen. Sure she felt bad about them sometimes, but never had lying hurt before. It hurt whenever she saw Mr. Porter by the phone, hands clasped in prayer. It hurt whenever she heard gossip at school that she had no means of stopping. It hurt seeing her uncle hurt having lie to the man who was quickly becoming a friend. It hurt, hurt, HURT.
But there wasn't anything she could do about it. She knew the truth but also knew it wouldn't be accepted. Acting out would solve nothing and offer little release. So, she sat at her desk and did her Algebra.
Drew had been good at Algebra.
She gripped her pencil tighter and worked.
0\=/0
Warmth. A coolness against his skin, relieving and soothing.
His skin felt prickled and he twitched. The coolness washed over again, soothing but not relieving. It prickled again, flaring into an itch and he longed to scratch it. Limbs trembled, sluggish from disuse as muscles spasm and stretch. Not far enough, the coolness pulsed and he was suddenly angry. He wanted to scratch. He wanted relief the coolness couldn't give, but refused to move. He pushed against it, but it was firm, unyielding. It would yield to him. Limbs trembled once again, but more effort than hesitance. He shoved now, the coolness gave but didn't yield. Anger flared once more and he shoved harder, more force. It gave more, stretched thinly but still held. A feeling in his belly, moving to his chest, than mouth, tingling. A shout, loud and fierce and angry and primal. His limbs jumped at the call and he pushed and it gave.
Rushing. A lightness about him as he was tugged down. Falling. Nice until he hit hardness. Discomfort but no hurt. Should hurt. His limbs, Arms, twitch and scrabble at hard flatness. Ground. Light from above, softness clinging to his skin and a warm, thrill. He reaches for it and grasps but gets nothing. He cannot grasp it. The light soon cools and he watches lumps darken it, block it out. This is the Sky. He is on his back. His arms scramble again, this time bracing and his world flips as he does and suddenly he is staring at ground. His other limbs, Legs, are this slow, and they move slower to his command. He looks around. The tall things and light and walls. He doesn't know them. He doesn't know where he is. Who He is. This is important. He Knows this.
"Calm yourself, young shade." Sound. In his Head? Not right, not right. Outside better. He Knows this. "Shhh, that's it. You are doing well, little one." It was soothing. Like coolness had been, but better. The sound makes it better. His chest heaves less now and his legs are strong enough now to follow him. He pushes and is suddenly standing. The Sound. Voice. Speaks again. "Good, good. Now, come back to yourself, young shade."
Come back? How? He doesn't know. He Knows This. But the Voice is soothing and his head is swimming and the world, these walls…make sense now. Yes… Elves built them…Pointy ears and bright eyes, clever for small things. Simple, but not for long. They made this…why...He had them built it. Because he is their leader, even more so than the Older One. Scruffy and sharp and wise with clever hands and tongue. He was Leader because they chose him. And he was complete now. He wasn't before. He Knew This. But he was now.
More things now…He remembered being afraid, indecisive. Being small, immature. Not ready. But he was now. He Knew This. His head hurt now, many things filling it, remembering. He went to a learning place, School. He disliked it and most things there save perhaps that one Girl. He had no Mother, gone before his memories remember, but he did have a Father. Dad, big, strong, steadfast and kind with warm arms and forehead kisses and weekends at the park and arcade and zoo and home with movies and snacks. He loved Dad. His Dad. He wanted him, but could not have him. He wouldn't want him anymore. But he still loved Dad.
More things, recent things. The Girl and him in an argument with spectators. Him losing and rage, hot and violent and rash. The man, the bad influence, the Artist, helped him get even. Queasiness then Fortitude than Pain, pain, pain like never before. Soon rest and then bewilderment in fear. Men in Black. From the Shadows. Angry red then frantic then more pain and the Artist screams. The Voice then shelter than Taken. Bounded and Leashed and Tethered and Humiliated. The Girl then Pain then Yelling then Sound then More Pain then AGONY. Coolness then Elves then Oath then Seal then Hesitance then ANGUISH.
He remembered. Not all but enough. Would be enough until it wasn't.
"Kaito," his voice was rougher, deeper, breaking like glass. Used to be smoother, higher, and tiny, not like Dad "you owe me a drink."
Kaito laughed, a deep thing, but pleasant "That I do, young shade. That I do."
0\=/0
The General could barely contain his excitement. After so many years, new blood had finally been brought back into them. He was still fresh, evident from his scattered focus and foggy recollections, but that is to be expected. After all, the seal had been for a complete Rebirth, instead of the Reawakening that most worthy of the honor received. It granted them far more power and intimacy with the Shade than most Oni. Even he, the Shinobi General himself, didn't possess the same connection his new Lord now possessed. The price paid, the dissolution of all that had been himself previously, had been a necessary cost. Even as he struggled to reconcile memories that were and now never would be complete, Kaito knew he'd made the right decision.
Speaking of the boy, he found himself watching him now, as he took in all around him. He took in his new form with approval. His stature had risen to just over twice that he was before bringing him closer to his own height as opposed to that of a child's before. His skin was a dark maroon that strained somewhat over his enlarged calves and forearms which lent his adolescent frame a power that it would otherwise lack. His hair was a long, wild mass of shockingly white locks that fell to his small of his back and frame his face in small side burns which gave the illusion of age. His face was longer, his chin squared and cheeks chiseled of baby fat. His eyes were a curious pale brown with light pupils and above on either side were an already impressive set of horns tipped an even deeper red. Overall, the boy now looked a figure to be feared, respected, and admired.
The door slid open and the young elf, Jabber, slipped in and poured them their drinks into the flat cups and Kaito nodded his thanks. The elf looked at the boy, who seemed lost for a moment before smiling gently, careful to keep the fangs from sight. It proved the right thing to do as Jabber beamed and retreated back out the door, leaving them in silence.
"So, young shade." Those eyes snapped to attention and he couldn't help but chuckle at their eagerness. "Have you decided on a name for yourself?"
It was a bit of a departure from tradition, as Kaito should be the one gift him with a name befitting his nature, desires, or temperament seeing as was 'assigned' to him. But rules were made to be bent, broken if need be. He'd instructed an elf to procure him a list of names to choose from in their native tongue.
"Yes." He said this a bit seriously and Kaito once more stifled a laugh "This one."
Kaito shifted the shadow to better see the answer and once he had could not contain the pearl of laughter that rumbled from his chest. The boy looked at him with a faint timidity and sheepishness.
"Is it a bad name?" he asked earnestly and Kaito managed to curb his amusement long enough to smile fondly at him. He was still so young, so new to the world. He reminded him of Anko.
"No, Daisuke." He rumbled "It's a fine name."
They raised their cups and drank, Daisuke almost instantly gagging yet still managing to swallow. He sat the cup down and eyed the rest of the bottle with leery eyes. The General chuckled and sipped his drink. The boy would be good for them. All of them.
Author's Notes: And there you have it folks! I know it was a little shorter than normal, but I didn't want to do too big chapter as this signifies the end of the Noob Arc and allows us to finally move on into the actual plot now. Like always, here are some Q and A.
Daisuke: Shadowkhan General: Yes, Human!Drew is now officially Oni!Drew. To get why Kaito was laughing, Daisuke basically means 'Big, Help' when translated and is a pretty common name in Japan. Kinda like Steve or John or Smith. Which in turn reflects the fact that Daisuke is still average in the grand scheme of things. No powers this time, sorry but that'll come in the next chapter along with possibly the next General.
Daisuke: Who Am I?" So basically here's what happened: The Seal of Reawakening is only supposed to change a being's True Shape and doesn't touch their memories or personality all that much. The Seal of Rebirth, however, completely wipes out all traces of who they once were but keeps strong memories and events, but not how they themselves were. So Daisuke knows Jade as the Girl and Jason as the Artist, but not what exactly happened when he was around them. Personality wise, he'll still speak like Drew for the most part but might lean a bit in other directions.
Jade: The Girl Who Lies: Jade's having a bit of an internal crisis at the moment. Understandable as Drew is dead and she's discovering that lying can actually hurt. Its one thing to know that and quite another to know that. So even though life is going pretty well for her right now, she's not really getting a chance to enjoy it. Also, can't wait to see her face when she meets up with Drew again.
Name Change: The Callow Oni: So, yeah. Name change. This was actually going on for a while but I couldn't really pick a name. Originally, I had this story as The Oni Wear Glasses, but decided against that and instead choose Your Children Are Oni. However, since I last updated, I've reworked the plot quite a bit and the title became less…true, so I changed it. I actually like this title better, since it reflects the General feel of the Oni in this story. Oh and callow means 'inexperience, immature'.
And anyway, until next time. TTFN!