Author's Note: Apologies for any delays on this. I've been very busy starting to do college applications, and so that's why I haven't had as much time to write. :C But here's a chapter I finally banged out. Just please, remember to review so I can feel motivated to keep on writing... this college stuff has got me really stressed out, as I'm sure many of you can imagine. Enjoy the chapter!

#08: Table-chan's First Stand

The halls of the sauna had fully cleared of fog save for a few straggling wisps, and, in some cases, the steam as well. If it had been a real facility, one would assume it had a disturbingly incongruous thermostat. There were some rooms and halls that were as hot as they had ever been, and others which were drafty and almost frigid.

"Damn! Another locked door!" Kanji pounded on the wood and then drew away. "They've been showin' up everywhere I turn." He scratched his ear. "Huh. Coulda sworn we went through this one already."

A call came from around a corner. "Yo! Kanji! Check this out!"

Kanji gave the door one last stubborn kick and then jogged down the hallway. "What is it?" He turned a bend and saw Kajiko kneeling in front of a wooden chest. The Laughing Table had strapped itself to her back like a knapsack, whirling its inventory over her head like a halo, and its blank mask stared out at Kanji whenever Kajiko was facing away from him. Kanji could have sworn that from time to time, its slit of a mouth changed shape ever so slightly. "Oh! Right, those boxes… I think saw a couple of 'em upstairs…"

The lid of the chest creaked open. "It's empty…" said Kajiko, disappointed. "I was hoping it—ow!" The hammer that the Laughing Table had been carrying around suddenly dropped out of the air, bouncing off Kajiko's head. "What the hell, Table-chan?! I won't carry you if you're gonna drop things on my skull! What're you doing?"

What looked like a wrinkled brown stone was rising out of the chest. Kajiko goggled at it as it maneuvered itself into a spot just above eye level, and then started flying in a neat circle. "Uh. Okay… You wanna hang on to that, go right ahead…" The girl stood up and shrugged at Kanji. "It's just an old peach pit. How'd that get in there?" She picked up the Table's hammer, which was about the length of her forearm, and smacked it against her palm, tried to bend it at the middle. "Stronger'n it looks…" she said appraisingly.

Kanji grinned. "I figure you could use this to break a kneecap or two."

"For the ones that have knees," grumbled Kajiko, and then her eyes widened. "Like… say… th-that one—look out!" She pointed over Kanji's shoulder, and he spun around and caught a glimpse of something large and gray swooping towards him. With a hoarse shout, he lashed out with his fist, and the Shadow reeled backwards.

Kajiko ran up to his side and readied herself for a fight. The Laughing Table sprung off her back and scuttled behind the chest. "Well, shit… That's gotta be the creepiest one we've seen…"

"Damn straight…" muttered Kanji. "That thing is just messed up."

The Shadow that had surprised them seemed to be one monster, but it was composed of two figures side by side, clad all in a funereal gray, held together by long spears that had been impaled sideways through them. They looked indecently like two murdered corpses, their masked heads lolling forward, their bodies slumped on their conjoined crucifix.

But the Shadow itself was very much alive. It hung in the air, as if suspended by unseen hooks, and by the looks of it, it was preparing itself to swing itself forward for a second attack.

"Stay back!" yelled Kajiko, holding the hammer high. "Let me handle this!"

"Argh! I need a weapon, dude!" Kanji complained as Kajiko ran forward, brandishing the sledgehammer. "This ain't fair!"

"Hell, you could just swing Table-chan around or something!" said Kajiko. She spun the sledgehammer in a circle around her head to get up speed and then smacked the Shadow back with one, two, three powerful blows. "She probably won't mind... Damn! This one's not goin' down so easy! I can't make a dent on it!"

Despite Kajiko's surprising strength, the blows to the impaled twin corpses seemed to have had little effect. Kanji felt a prickle of static on her tongue and a sudden fear lashed through him. "Kajiko, get the hell back!" he ordered. "Get back now!"

It was too late. A forked pillar of lightning stabbed down from above and struck Kajiko, who arched her back and screamed. The bolt didn't even send her flying, as one might expect, just tore through the girl and then vanished into the ground. Kajiko was swaying where she stood, but somehow she was still standing, and that was unbelievable in itself. Kanji didn't notice this though, fearing the worst.

"Kajiko! KAJIKO! Shit, shit, shit…" Kanji caught the girl by the shoulders and dragged her back. His words were choked with rage and grief. "You're not dead, right? Tell me you're not dead or I'll—I'll kill you myself!"

The girl's eyes were shut tight. "Good thing I ain't dead yet," she told him grimly. "Just really… really… pissed… off. Now give me the frikkin' hammer."

Kanji held it over his head, out of the girl's reach. "You think I'm going to let that freak thing get away with shit like that?" he said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'll take care of this from here."

"I already told you, just hitting it ain't gonna work! It'll just—"

Kanji let out a bloodcurdling battle cry and swung the hammer with all his might at the Twins. The hammer rebounded off the left Twin's chest and flew out of Kanji's grip. The boy gulped. "The hell…?"

The lightning struck. Kanji reeled, stumbled, and landed hard on his backside. "Ngh… damn… that hurt…" He looked over at Kajiko. "Just hitting it… ain't gonna work… you're right about that..."

The girl levered herself upright and faced off against the Twins. "I don't know why, but I feel pretty good for being hit with a giant magic lightning, how about you? Seems like those shots weren't intended as a warning."

"Yeah, come to think of it…" Kanji crawled to his feet. "But if it can't really hurt us, we can't really hurt it, so what do we do now?"

Kajiko pulled the sledgehammer out of Kanji's unresisting fingers. "I guess we just see if we're more resistant to their attacks or the other way 'round, huh?" She swung the hammer over her shoulder. For some reason, she'd remembered it being rather small and thin when Table-chan had been carrying it, but obviously she'd been mistaken. This was no twig, but a heavy-headed, formidable instrument of concentrated blunt force.

"Guess we're gonna take turns about this," said Kanji to the Twins, cracking his knuckles. "All right, let's do this!" He turned to Kajiko. "Yo! So, do I actually get to swing Table-chan around or was that you kiddin' with me?"

"I… eh… couldn't hurt… I guess you—argh!" A bolt of lightning had streaked out from a patch of air over their heads, or perhaps it had come up out of the floor – the counterstrike of lightning is the brighter one in nature, but this was magic lightning, so could follow the rules of physics or the rules of expected dramatics, depending on its mood. And it hit not Kanji, nor Kajiko, but the Laughing Table behind them.

"Table-chan!" they both yelled in horror. The Table had collapsed to the floor, its legs splayed out and feebly flopping, its items scattered around it. Without warning, the Twins flew in for a second strike, charge building up over the downed Shadow.

"Don't you dare!" shouted Kajiko, and she launched herself at the Twins in a blind fury. She got in a half-dozen frenzied blows before the lightning attack powered up again and threw her backwards.

"I guess… we ain't doing turns after all," said Kanji. He cracked his knuckles. "Well that suits me just fine. Bring it on, ya punk—ack!" He shuddered as another shock ran through him. "How is it getting in those attacks so fast?"

Behind them, the Laughing Table had jumped to its feet, disoriented. Its items shook as they levitated, as if the Table's invisible muscles that held its inventory in the air were becoming fatigued. Kanji and Kajiko were trying their hardest to keep up a continuous barrage of blows, but the lightning attacks kept coming as well, dealing small bits of damage every time.

"God… damn…" grunted Kanji, after one such attack. "I can't feel one of my legs…"

"It feels like I've got a couple extra ones," complained Kajiko. "How many fingers 'm I holding up?"

"Fif—fifteen?" said Kanji blearily. "Fif—ty?" He picked up his fists and glared at the Twins. "Aw, who the hell cares how many of you there are! I'll take all of you down!"

Kanji charged forward, but was blown back by another lightning strike. He landed on the ground and didn't get up. The acrid smell of ozone was hanging heavy in the air.

It looked like the Twins were gearing up for a second attack, and Kajiko forced her heavy limbs into action, lugging the hammer off the ground and settling into an unsteady fighting stance. But she didn't get the chance, because something dark and square went hurtling over her head and landed between her and the Twins.

"H-huh? Table-chan?" she said in disbelief. "Get outta there! You don't do so good against its—"

The Table's inventory contracted and then burst apart, and a flash of light spun out of the center. There was a roar of heat and then, like a couple of straw effigies, the Twins went up in flame.

"Table-chan?!" Kajiko exclaimed, dumbstruck and woozy. "How the… how the hell did it do that?"

Somehow, despite physical strikes having little effect, the fire had knocked the Twins badly off balance. Their drab rags were smoldering. Kajiko realized that for once, they were actually weakened, perhaps even vulnerable. "It's down! I don't know how but… now's our chance, Kanji, let's do this! What are you waiting for?"

She turned to Kanji, but he was still slumped on the floor. "Get up, come on!" Kajiko pulled her male self to his feet and, seeing few other options, gave him a solid punch to the jaw. "Don't let that thing get to you!"

Kanji yelped and rubbed his face, but the dizziness in his eyes seemed to clear up. "Damn! Did you really have to hit so hard?" He faced the Twins once again. "So they're weak now, are they? All right, let's see what we can do here!"

One wonders if the Twins knew that death was approaching, and if they felt it with the same dread that humans did, although the nature of Shadows was that they normally did not have such sentience. Still, some primitive spark of foreboding probably lit up in their fragmented psyche as the two Tatsumis bore down on them.

There was a series of loud thumps, yells, and grunts. Kajiko had to be a little cautious to make sure she only hit the target with the hammer and not anyone else, including herself, but Kanji was simply letting loose with everything he had. The bodies of the twins, which had been hard as rocks before, now felt just like sacks of rice against his fists. The spears easily splintered under the force of Kajiko's sledgehammer. And then, quite suddenly the whole creature came apart into dark, splotchy mist.

Kanji thumped his chest, wheezing a little. "Damn… wonder what happens if too much of that stuff gets in your lungs." He started to chuckle. "But, man, what a fight, huh? First time we actually killed one of those things on our… well…"

"We got a little help," said Kajiko, and she turned to the Laughing Table in awe. "And wasn't it just freakin' amazing?"

Kanji looked considerably less enthusiastic. "Yeah… I guess…"

"What's the matter with you?" Kajiko spread her arms out grandly. "Come on, we may got Shadows to fight, but we got some awesome power on our side to help us do it! The world is our lobster! Or… however the hell that saying goes…"

"You're… sure it's going to help us, right?" said Kanji, with a wary eye on the Laughing Table. "Just, you know, making absolute certain that it really is… on our side?"

Kajiko considered their small, square ally. "Tch… what's to worry about? She could have done that to us any time when our backs were turned. But she didn't. So I figure she'd just not gonna. And she fought for us!"

"Only after the thing went for it… uh, I mean her," Kanji pointed out. "It knocked her flat! Maybe she was just getting back at it."

"Well, that just goes to show that the other Shadows don't see her as one of them, right? They don't attack each other, but they did attack her." Kajiko suddenly grimaced and clutched her shoulder. "Crap, it… still feels totally numb. That lightning really did a number on me, even if it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be."

Kanji reached out to help her and then stopped himself, drew his hand back as he reconsidered this move. "Well, uh… don't strain yourself, okay?" he said. "Try to leave most of the physical stuff to—" He caught her expression and backpedaled frantically. "Half! I mean half of the physical stuff! To me! You know, share the load, all that crap… Wouldn't be, heh, wouldn't be right if you did more'n your, uh, equal share, now, would it? And you gotta leave some of the fun for me!"

Kajiko considered this, and then handed Kanji the hammer. "Don't think I can swing it as good with my arm like this," she admitted sadly. "Here, go nuts with it. I'll figure something else I can do… Kick stuff, maybe." She felt a wooden edge of some kind nudge against her leg and looked down. "Table-chan? What's up?"

The three-legged Table slowly levitated the wrinkled peach seed up into Kajiko's hand. She closed her fingers around it, and then held it up for inspection.

"I guess it… she wants you to have it," said Kanji. "Wonder why."

The Table sprang up onto Kajiko's back, clambored over her shoulder, and then floated its severed arm down in front of the girl's face. Leaning itself around her head to get a good look at her features, it finally found what it was looking for, and pointed an index finger at her mouth.

Kajiko leaned away from this. "Stop that!" she said. "What're you tryin'a do?"

The Laughing Table poked the girl's mouth more urgently, and pointed at the fruit pit.

"Ah… I get it!" said Kanji, as light dawned. "She wants you to eat that thing! But why would she want that?" He shrugged. "Why don't you try it?"

"I'm not eating some weird thing we found in a box!" protested Kajiko. "And that thing's a whole peach pit; you don't just swallow those! I might choke on it! H-hey, stop—!" The Table swooped its hand out and plucked the seed from Kajiko's fingers, then firmly pressed it to the girl's lips, which quickly clammed shut. "Mrmf!"

"I dunno, Kaji-kun," said Kanji thoughtfully. "Table-chan seems pretty keen on it. And you were the one who said you trusted that thing." Kajiko just shook her head and tried to ward off the Table's insistent prodding.

The Laughing Table appeared exasperated by all this. It removed the seed from the girl's mouth, let it levitate above its own hand, and snapped its fingers. The seed shivered in mid-air, then broke in two. A faintly luminescent cerulean mist started to spill out of a hollow center from each half, until the Table righted the halves like cups. One such 'cup' it brought to its own slit of a mouth, as if showing Kajiko how it was done, and that it would be safe to eat. The glowing mist poured out into the mouth on the mask.

A stream of blue light then rose from the Table and it shook itself out, looking far more chipper. Its goblet and disk seemed shinier, its cloth appeared to brighten in color, and its mask almost could have been smiling, just at the corners of its mouth.

Confused but less frightened, Kajiko imitated the Table and lifted the seed to her lips. As the cool, tangy smoke flowed down her throat, she felt a rush of energy, and a veil seemed to lift off her eyes. She tossed the spent shell of the seed into her mouth and crunched down. Sparks appeared in the corners of her vision, and the pain she was feeling in her limbs seemed to lift.

"Whoa… what is this stuff?" she said wonderingly. "He-hey! Not bad! My shoulder's like brand new!"

"So it really did do something?" asked Kanji. "I mean you kinda glowed for a second there… that was part of the effect, huh? It actually works?"

"Hell yeah, it does!" said Kajiko. "Man, I feel like I could take on an army! Thanks a ton, Table-chan!" She scratched the Table's surface affectionately.

Kanji frowned and crossed his arms. "What, so I don't get any magic healing peach seeds? Thanks a ton, Table-chan, for not sharing with me, when I'm just as worn out as Kajiko here!"

"Well, maybe we'll find some more?" suggested Kajiko. "It looks like those chest things ain't so empty after all!"

This cheered Kanji up immensely. "Yeah, an' I saw some more upstairs! Wanna go check 'em out? See what we can root out, huh?"

The two of them had to take a moment to reorient themselves, and remind themselves where the stairs were, and then eagerly raced for them. Or, at least, Kajiko raced, with the Table folded up on her back once again, and Kanji followed at a halting skipping pace, still trying to shake off the numbness in his legs.

"You know what Table-chan sort of reminds me of?" Kajiko said as she pushed open a door. Her eyes widened. "Ohshitno—get out, get out, get out…" She hurriedly slammed the door shut and then pulled Kanji away from it. "Shadows in there… we gotta find another way around."

"We ain't fightin' 'em?" Kanji asked. "Aw, come on, Kajiko…"

"There's three of them," she said bluntly. "You wanna charge in, go right ahead."

They wandered for a bit along the hallway as they tried to find an alternate route, but it didn't look like they were going to succeed at this. "What does Table-chan remind you of?" Kanji asked as they looked into another dead end room.

"You ever seen that movie, Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away? Table-chan… heck, all the Shadows… remind me a little of No-face."

"Oh! Yeah, I totally get you!" Kanji nodded along happily. "That movie was really cute— I-I mean… it was… I…" He stopped himself and looked away. "Yeah, uh, I… I sorta like that kinda stuff…"

"I know, me too…" Kajiko tilted her head up to the ceiling. "And I guess this is a bathhouse of the spirits. Sort of."

"It sort of is, yeah," agreed Kanji. "Hey, that makes me feel a whole lot better about this place." He peeked around a corner and then threw out an arm. "We got one Shadow, facing the other way. Want to risk it, catch it off guard?" He cracked his knuckles. "Come on, we have Table-chan on our side, right?"

"Nah, 'cause… I think we went that way and it's just a dead end…" Kajiko turned around and headed back for their original route. "Might as well just risk it runnin' through those other three. Once we get to the stairs they might not follow us up."

Kanji seemed disappointed that they weren't going to fight, but he did have the sense that she was right about it being a dead end.

"All right," Kajiko said, once they'd positioned themselves on either side of the door. "Ready… set…"

Kanji kicked open the door and rushed in with a yell. "Raaaaaaaghh!"

"What the shit, Kanji?!" yelled Kajiko. She dashed after him. "I didn't say go yet!"

The three Shadows had all reared up in surprise at the sudden entrance, then moved as one towards the two kids.

"Table-chan!" ordered Kajiko. "Do your fire thing on any that get too close!"

The Table gave a crisp salute and then drew a spark of orange light out of its spinning cup. The spark hovered at the ready, and then flew out at one of the blobs crawling its way towards them. As soon as the fire hit, the Shadow puffed up, let out a burst of smoke, and then flew backwards in the form of a pair of Twins. Table-chan dealt out a few more tongues of flame to the other two Shadows and then threw a fireball at the downed Twins.

Kajiko wrestled open the door at the end of the hall. "Come on, Kanji! Don't dawdle!"

"I ain't dawdlin'!" the boy yelled indignantly, and he sprinted through to the next room. "Stairs! We found stairs! Let's book it!"

The two of them pounded up the flight of steps and then stopped for breath at the top. "I think we did it," gasped Kanji. "Whew! That was great! Now let's find some more of those seed things so my legs don't give out…"

"Where did you see those other treasure chests?" asked Kajiko. "Let's make this trip quick, okay?"

"Oh, yeah, just right around the corner of the—" Kanji stopped. There was no corner. The stairs had not opened to a hallway, but a room. "Wait, shit, I musta gotten confused… what happened here?"

"No, you're… you ain't confused," said Kajiko. "I know it wasn't like this before." She covered her eyes. "L-let's go back down, okay…? J-just want to make sure we…"

Kanji looked at her in alarm and then turned and rushed down the stairs. Kajiko followed behind warily. "Watch out for the Shadows, though—"

"Oh… oh shit," said Kanji. "Well, damn, that really… puts a wrinkle on things…"

The place that the stairs opened to was a completely different. As far as a person could tell in a place as structurally identical as the bathhouse, it bore absolutely no resemblance to the room they'd ran through. Kajiko rushed through the door ahead of her.

"There's no more Shadows!" she said in disbelief. "And it ain't the same room, I swear… wait, Kanji, where're you going?"

He was rushing up the stairs. "I gotta see something! Just wait there!"

"No!" yelled Kajiko. "What're you thinking?!" She pounded after him. "If we get split up on either side of the stairs, who knows what'll happen?"

"I thought so!" said Kanji, calling down from the top of the steps. "It's a hallway but! But it ain't even the same one I remember, neither!"

Kajiko rubbed her eyes. "What the hell is with this place? It literally resets itself every time we—"

Kanji nodded and leaned against the wall, spent. "Guess we'll hafta be a lot more careful 'bout all this. I mean, what if we get split up?"

"That's what I said!" complained Kajiko. "That's what I just said!" She smacked her palm to her forehead. "Man, you really don't listen, do you? Well, come on… if the stairs reset things, then it's no good looking up here for treasure chests. Might as well keep headin' down. Keep an eye out for more chests, though. We could use all the magic crap we can find."