I was first aware of the cool hands touching me, one pressed into the small of my back, and another supporting my legs.
Then I was aware of the voice. It was just a humming at first, and then it grew in volume and clarity like someone was turning up a radio.
"Are you awake?" The Ayakashi's voice sounded strangely worried.
My eyes opened. Pain lanced through the side of my hand, burning with a dull and fiery ache.
"No, I am not." I replied snarkily, waiting for the world around me to stop spinning before I attempted to continue the conversation.
The Ayakashi sighed, relieved.
"If you can talk, you're fine."
"Oh, haha. You are a real bundle of laughs."
"Can you stand?" He asked, setting me down gently on the ground.
"Of course I-"
"- Can't." He finished neatly, scooping me up again as my legs buckled.
"Hold on. We're almost there." The Ayakashi's grip on me tightened as he quickened his pace, streaking through the dark, thick under bush of the forest.
"Where are we going?" I asked, my own voice sounding very far away.
Bright yellow eyes, animal eyes, watched us from the depths of the forest, glinting with an evil phosphorescent glow. And as I stared, transfixed, a howl split the night air.
"D-Did you hear that?"
"Not good." The Ayakashi muttered, almost to himself. "You're starting to hallucinate."
Then, in a louder voice, "He most definitely will have herbs to help you. Gozumaru's tail was poisoned. I tried to stop the bleeding with bandages, but-" He lifted his shoulders in an elegant shrug.
"And y-your attendant?"
"You've just been poisoned and you're asking about Yuki-Onna? Well, I sent her back."
"Alone? Is… Will she-?"
"She'll be fine."
"I could have helped her."
"In your condition? No way. I borrowed the medicine and bandages from your pouch."
"You didn't borrow them, you took them. There is a difference." I stated indignantly, squinting my eyes in confusion at his face, which seemed to sparkle like a million diamond facets.
He laughed. "Okay."
When I didn't reply, he shook me. Hard.
"Oi. Don't fall asleep."
"I w-won't." I was shivering now, chills racking my body as I huddled closer.
"Hold on," He muttered again, a desperate tinge to his voice. "Just hold on."
The world flared up around me in an almost tangible blur as I was carried over the threshold of a large, Japanese style house, and down a long corridor. More than half-delirious, I stared as the hallway unfolded before me, growing longer and longer like a corridor from a nightmare.
I was vaguely aware of the fact that my breathing had turned to hyperventilation, and the Ayakashi heard it too.
"You are not dying on me. Not while I owe you a favour."
Don't be stupid, I wanted to tell him. You don't owe me anything.
But all that came out of my mouth was a whimper of pain when the world turned on its side. Suddenly, I was lying on a cold surface, and hands were smoothing warm fabric over me.
He didn't bother with formalities. In a voice that was warped and distorted like an old recording, the Ayakashi practically growled out, "Help her."
"Ah, yes. I assume Gozumaru found her? I'm impressed she's still alive."
The other voice he was talking to was low and cultured. A man's voice, sounding incredibly cool and calm. Almost as if he had been expecting us.
There was the whistle of steel.
"She fought and she won. But your... Clan member poisoned her."
Through the pain and the red haze of my vision, I managed to make out bits and pieces of their conversation. By the pause in his words, I got the feeling that he wanted to all Gozumaru something worse than a 'clan member'.
"I don't see how that is any of my concern."
"He was your attendant. And you must surely have an antidote."
The sound of his voice faded as a bright flash lit the room, followed by a deafening clap of thunder.
"… Ah, I see. So, did seeing her injured trigger your transformation? Or was it because your aide was killed?"
"I'm the one asking the questions here. I could kill you on a whim if I wanted to."
The tip of a silver sword kissed the Ayakashi's throat.
"You will answer my questions, Rikuo. Answer each one clearly. If I'm not satisfied with your answer, I'll chop off your ears and lop off your arms."
He was snarling each word out like a mad dog now, the calm façade gone. But he meant business.
Another rumble of thunder.
The world began to tremble like water being shaken in a glass.
No. You can't. Don't do it. STOP!
"She keeps calling out for you." The man observed, his voice strangely hollow. "Rather attached to you, isn't she."
"That wasn't a question, but… Keep her out of this. I'll answer your questions, just don't get her involved."
"Well, well… When morning comes, will you lose that form?"
"I might… Maybe." The Ayakashi's voice was strangely unconcerned.
"Hmm… You will forget everything about being a yokai?"
Silence.
"I'll ask you again. Can you transform into a yokai of your own free will?"
No reply.
"Does the 'you' here now, have any memory of the daytime 'you'? If the 'day' form has no memory of you, does it mean that during the day and during the night you are two separate people?"
"Heh… You sure know a lot about me. Am I really that interesting?"
There was the sharp intake of breath.
"Answer the question, you imbecile!"
Weakly, I raised my head.
"S-Stop!" I croaked out feebly, "Don't!"
The effort nearly caused me to pass out. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, clouding my vision, which was a relief. I couldn't see the world fall apart if everything went black.
"You idiot! Don't move!"
"Yohime?" Disbelief coloured the tone of his voice; in the dim lighting, he hadn't been able to get a proper look at my face.
But now, as lighting flashed, the light illuminated my features, and the man looked like he was about to have a seizure.
"But you should be-"
"How do you know her name?"
Cue the jealous, over-protective boyfriend.
Even in the gravity of the situation, I was sorely tempted to laugh.
Except that I couldn't.
"Is she –?"
"Well, I'm glad you find me so amusing."
I could no longer hear their conversation. In front of me appeared the rat Yokai, a snake Yokai, and a Yokai shrouded in a black robe.
Years of fighting kept him alive. The Ayakashi dodged the first yokai that lunged at him, using his katana to slice it in half. The yokai vanished with a dusty shriek, the violence of its exit from this dimension splattering me with a fine rain of ash.
"Did you transform on a whim too? When you killed me four years ago?" The toad yokai rasped out, its voice like nails on a chalkboard.
"Do you have the guts to inherit the clan…? That's what I want to know…"
The Ayakashi jerked back in surprise, plunging his sword into the yokai, until its twitching body disappeared.
Rat-Boy spoke net.
"Did you know..? After the second died, the clan weakened."
He snapped his fingers; a swarm of rats appeared, chattering as they attacked. They were the kind of rats I hated most, bedraggled, and matted fur, with beady red eyes…
The Ayakashi sliced them into half with a sharp swing of the blade, going on the defensive as the same three yokai from before attacked him, simultaneously. He managed to parry away their strikes with the flat of his blade, but he wouldn't be able to fight them all of on his own…
I… Can't… Move…
You can. You must.
I can't. It hurts.
Do you really wish to see him die?
"Rikuo! Without the Hyakki Yakou to protect you, is this the best you can do?! The supreme commander was wrong! Has the blood you inherited gone rotten?!"
I spat out a mouthful of blood, slowly using my hands and legs to prop my body up into a sitting position. The pain hit me with the force of an armoured truck. I knew I would be sore, but this was more than soreness.
Gozumaru's poison was flowing through my veins, was in my blood, carrying it to my brain.
"Shut… Shut up!" I screamed, pouring every ounce of anger into my voice, which was hoarse, muffled by my swollen throat. "You don't know anything!"
I coughed again, using the palm of my hand to cover my mouth. When I pulled it away, I found it coated crimson.
An exasperated sigh.
"I thought I told you to keep still."
Tongues of blue fire danced in the air like darting cyanotic fireflies, engulfing the yokai where they stood. With a sound like a pail of water poured onto flames, the demons shuddered and vanished in a burst of ash.
"Hey. Don't underestimate me, Gyuuki. This is my answer: My 'will' won't change. Not even if I awaken. I will become the third heir, and stand above all of you!"
His voice sounded impossibly far away.
I… I did it…
My jubilation was short-lived; the darkness came back, and the hallucinations pulled me under.
This time I dreamed of my namesake. Her smile was gentle, and as soothing as balm as she reached out for me. Two pure white crescents sprouted from behind her back – angel wings. Her hands made to grab me, golden light flickering from her fingertips, and I ran.
I could hear laughter, evil cackling.
"Run, little one, run. But you cannot escape your fate. The end draws near for you, just as it did before."
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that the visions would stop...
Someone… Make them stop...
It was a long time before I surfaced to the sound of voices above her.
"Rikuo… Take this."
"Is this…?"
"The antidote. Hurry. She's dying."
Gentle hands cradled me, their owner sounding upset.
"Wake up. Wake up. I told you I'd get you better, and I've got the antidote. Drink. You have to drink it."
Fluid was dripped into my mouth, and I choked.
It tasted of mouldy gym socks, bitter and strange-smelling, but the hands on my back were firm, and down it went, past my swollen throat.
"You'll be fine," The Ayakashi said. "You're going to live."
He gripped my hand tightly.
My eyes fluttered open, and his pale face, made silvery in the moonlight, hovered above me, his crimson eyes showing unadulterated concern. A thin streak of blood ran down his cheek, and blood oozed from the deep slash mark in his chest.
"You're… Hurt…" I mumbled, the words sounding unintelligible, even to my ears, but he got the message, and laughed in relief.
"You're impossible."
I was too exhausted to retort. It felt as if all my bones had been removed, leaving behind a limp suit if skin. Looking up drowsily through my eyelashes, I sighed out a weak, "Thank you."
"Stupid." He smiled haggardly. "Just rest. You've done enough for one night."
Rest. At last.