Chapter 12: Lost and Found

Waka's "revelation" drew a collective gasp from everyone, including myself. I sat there, gaping at him, not entirely sure of what I just heard. Then, recovering from the shock, I walked up to him, determined to find some answers.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"As I said, Kiyoko is not dead," he replied coolly, so calm about everything that it irritated me to no end.

"What does that even mean? She is dead!"

"No, she is not," he said, still annoyingly levelheaded and calm. Was that a smile I saw on his face? It was! He was smiling that smug smile of his, so sure that he was right. But he wasn't even making any sense!

"Forgive me for asking, but . . . have you lost your mind?" What he was saying was so insane, there was no other conclusion I could come up with.

His smile disappeared. "I most certainly have not, Amaterasu. Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Because what you're saying is completely crazy!"

The smugness returned. "My apologies, ma chérie. Allow me to explain. You see, Kiyoko is gone, yet she is not, not in the entire sense of the word."

I let out a low growl. "I'm not in the mood for your stupid mind games! Tell us already!"

"Temper, temper," he said. "Patience is a virtue, you know."

"Yeah, guess what? I don't care!" I snarled, baring my fangs.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'll tell you. Just calm down."

"I'm listening."

"What I mean by 'not gone' is that Kiyoko's soul has not ascended yet. It still wanders the earth."

"Her soul . . . ?"

"Her life essence. Without it, she cannot live. By now, it should have passed on to the next world, but it has not. In other words, her soul is trapped here."

"Where is it now?"

He was silent for a moment, and then he said the one word that I didn't want to hear: "Kagetatsu."

"Kagetatsu? The Shadow Dragon? You're telling me that he has Kiyoko's soul?" He nodded, confirming my fears. I huffed out a breath, brows furrowed in confusion. So much has happened in the past few days that I could barely keep up with it all . . .

I then realized that Waka was thinking aloud, talking to no one besides himself.

"Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise," he mused. "If we were to return her soul to her body . . . she could come back to life."

"Well . . . what are you waiting for?" I said softly. "Let's go rescue her. Issun!" I called out to the Poncle, whom had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time. "You coming with?"

"Sure, why not," he mumbled. He just hasn't been himself since Kiyoko supposedly "died". Didn't he hear a word of what Waka said a few minutes ago? Well, I figured he'd cheer up after a little while—perhaps he needed some time to take it all in. So anyways, we all set out on a quest to save Kiyoko's soul . . .

o~*~o

Issun

What can I say? She pushed me nearly to my breaking point. I didn't know what to do with her gone, and I barely had a hold on my sanity. I never knew that her death would affect me this badly, but then again, I never expected it this soon . . .

People say that the pain, the heartache of losing someone close to you goes away with time—but for me, it's only gotten worse, if anything else.

She was the only thing I could think of, and what could have been. At times, I swear I could almost hear her voice and feel her touch again. There were even times when I thought I saw her. And, like the fool I'd become, I talked to these hallucinations. I didn't even care if I was losing my mind, because it was better than a life without her.

In that kind of state, I didn't bother to listen much to anyone anymore. So when the prophet came in, I didn't hear a single word he said—heck, I'd tune him out under normal circumstances, so that didn't help much. All I knew was that whatever he said raised a commotion. Next thing I knew, Ammy called my name and dragged me off to who knows where.

I was trudging along behind Ammy and the prophet, when . . .

Hey, Issun!

Yep, you guessed it. It was Kiki—or should I say, an illusion of her. Not that I wasn't glad to see her or anything, but I couldn't be caught talking to her. I'd look like a crazy person! Even if I was crazy, I didn't want to go broadcasting it to the world.

"Now's not a good time!" I hissed, attempting to keep my voice quiet so the others wouldn't hear. But of course, Ammy—the one with ears that could hear a feather drop from a mile away—did hear me. She turned to look at me curiously, if not a bit suspiciously.

"Who are you talking to?" she asked.

"Um, I, uh . . ." Crap. I hadn't been exactly counting on this happening. "Uh . . . nobody. Just . . . talking to myself?" I suggested, hoping she didn't notice the part at the end that was more question than statement.

She gave me another curious glance. It looked as if she wanted to say something else, but instead settled with, "I'm not even going to ask."

Then Kiki just had to make herself known once more. Hello! What am I, chopped liver? she said loudly. I waved her off, getting somewhat annoyed with her.

Wha . . . ? Issun! Don't you dare ignore me! Did I mention that she hates being ignored? I tried to wave her off again, but she wasn't having any of that. No! Don't even try that! she snapped. I will NOT be ignored!

I sighed. Since when did Kiki get so irritating?

Ammy heard me sigh, and she turned around to look at me again, this time with concern in her eyes. "Issun . . . Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I . . . I'm fine."

"Well, you don't seem fine to me. Wait a second . . . You really didn't hear anything of what Waka said earlier, did you?"

"Not a word. Why?"

"So you didn't. I guess I'm going to have to explain things to you. You see . . ." Her words were soon drowned out by one certain person who can't stand being ignored.

Issun? Issun! Issun, Issun, Issun, Issun, Issun, Issun, Issun, Issun . . . She kept going on like that endlessly, desperate for attention.

I appeased her with a quick glance, all the while silently willing her to go away. And to my surprise, she did, vanishing into thin air. With her gone, I came back to oh-so-depressing reality.

". . . and that's all I know," Ammy was saying.

"Huh?" I had missed everything she was trying to tell me in the first place. "Uh . . . Could . . . could you repeat all that? I didn't exactly . . . get it."

She rolled her eyes, sighing. "Oh, come on. I thought the concept was quite simple, or at least simple enough for you. Might as well say it again, but make sure you 'get it' this time around. Kiyoko is not dead—her soul has left her body, but is still trapped here. Kagetatsu, the Shadow Dragon, currently holds it captive. We are going to retrieve it. Do you 'get it' now?"

Whoa. I had no idea. I stared speechlessly at her, trying to take in what she just said. Kiki's not dead. My heart leapt as it finally hit me. We're going to bring her back. For the first time since that day, I laughed. I laughed out loud, overjoyed about the news, about the fact that she's not dead.

"Oh . . . wow. I . . . I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. Let's go—the cave's right over there." Ammy nodded in the direction of the cave where Kagetatsu made his lair.

"Yeah." I was ready to do anything if it meant bringing Kiki back . . .

o~*~o

Amaterasu

Even as we made our way towards the cave, I still had no strategy for taking on Kagetatsu. He was still untouchable, and our attacks were still useless. Unless . . . Of course! Why didn't I think of it before?

Kagetatsu is pure shadow, and a shadow's only weakness is none other than light. Now to figure out how to go about producing light in a pitch-black cave . . .

My Sunrise technique—my first and foremost technique as the sun goddess—wouldn't work, as there would have to be a crack of some sort in the cave that revealed part of the sky, and there were none. Perhaps the fire-manipulating Inferno technique . . . No, that's no good, that technique requires a source of fire nearby. I was going through all 13 techniques, until it finally came to me.

I would use the Cherry Bomb technique.

Yes, that was perfect—the light given off by the explosion would more than suffice to weaken the Shadow Dragon. I gave two sharp barks to grab the others' attention. "Guys, I have a plan."

"Well? Don't keep us waiting, Ammy! Tell us!" Issun demanded, definitely more energetic than before.

"All right, I am going to plant a bunch of Cherry Bombs around Kagetatsu. When they go off, the light from the explosion will most likely weaken him, and possibly make him vulnerable to our attacks—though I'm not completely sure. But that's when I want you to attack—when the bombs go off. Got that?"

"Yeah, and I got another idea," Issun replied. "I could help you with the Cherry Bombs—more bombs, more light, am I right?"

"Right . . . but how are you going to do that?" As far as I knew, I was the only one able to fully master all the brush techniques.

"Don't ya remember? I've seen every one of those brush techniques of yours, and I've had twenty years to practice. I'm almost as good with 'em as you are now."

"Point taken. But let's stop talking and start walking! I don't know about you, but I am just itching for a fight right about now."

"Believe me, I'm right there with ya. Let's go!"

o~*~o

Just as we figured, Kagetatsu was waiting for us in the cave, most likely anticipating our arrival.

The dragon laughed. "Mua ha ha ha . . . I knew you'd come here for your friend. But it's futile to try and get her back, so don't even think about it."

"Futile, you say?" I smirked, confident with my plan. "We'll see about that . . . Issun! Now! Do it now!" I then started working on drawing as many Cherry Bombs as possible. Not long after, some smaller bombs materialized next to mine, these ones green—clearly the work of Issun. Kagetatsu was soon surrounded by a circle of Cherry Bombs, with no possible escape route.

Kagetatsu laughed again, unimpressed and unintimidated. "Do you really think that a few bombs can stop me? You must be out of your minds to think such a thing!"

I smirked again. He had absolutely no idea of what was coming. The fuses on the bombs were starting to burn out, and soon enough . . . BOOM! The first one went off, setting off a chain reaction of explosions, each flaring in a bright show of fireworks.

Kagetatsu recoiled, hissing in what sounded like pain. This was our chance! "Now!" I called to the others. "Now's the time! ATTACK!"

Issun was the first to respond, charging at Kagetatsu with his trusty sword Denkomaru in tow. When he swung his sword, the sword actually made contact, cutting into the dragon's scales. My plan had worked! Too bad I couldn't join in on the fight—it was my job to keep on drawing Cherry Bombs, providing a near constant source of light.

Then Waka made his move, a combination attack with his two swords. Kagetatsu was still flinching away from the frequent explosions all around him, paralyzed and open to attack. Waka's swords also connected, inflicting damage on Kagetatsu. All the dragon could do was screech in pain, unable to strike back.

Working together for once, Waka and Issun fought together, wounding Kagetatsu to the point where the dragon ceased to move. It was the perfect time to finish him off. But before I could raise my Celestial Brush, Issun stepped in.

"I got this, Ammy," he said.

"No, you don't!" I snapped at him. "Stop it right now! You don't know what you're doing."

"Yes, I do know what I'm doing. Just let me take care of it."

"No, let me take care of it. I'm more experienced than you, so I should do it."

"What does that even matter? All I gotta do is do a simple Power Slash and it's done. And don't try to argue; I won't listen to any of it!"

Oh, this was bad. Very bad, indeed. The Power Slash technique—the technique to be used to end Kagetatsu's life—needed to be placed very carefully and precisely, seeing as Kiyoko's soul was in there somewhere. One wrong move, and we could lose her forever. I prayed that Issun would land a lucky hit, one that would miss Kiyoko altogether. But . . . there was no such luck.

He executed the brush technique, aiming for dead-center. His Power Slash was surprisingly strong—though still not quite as strong as mine—cutting through Kagetatsu easily, finally putting an end to the Shadow Dragon once and for all. But it was all too powerful . . . as it split Kiyoko's soul into two.