It was a dream, or maybe it was a memory, a woman with long silver hair and pointed fox ears and an ayakashi with black scales on his cheeks and needle-sharp fangs, one eye covered with a seal cloth that didn't quite hide the old burn scar beneath it. They stood in the middle of a birch grove, silvery leaves scattered underfoot, some starting to turn yellow as the seasons change from summer to autumn.
"You haven't been very discreet, Reiko," the ayakashi with the scales said. He looked calm, relaxed, but Takashi knew somehow that this wasn't his territory they were standing in, but Reiko's.
Reiko sent a cold look his way, sipping from a bottle of human sake that had been stored between the twisted roots of one of the trees. "Discreet. Seiji, I find it funny to hear that coming from a dragon that lost an eye for flooding his own river to drown humans."
Seiji didn't flinch at the barb, a small, confident smile on his face. "Perhaps. But I don't walk with humans, take their things or play with their hearts. But then you've lost your bite toward them, haven't you?"
Reiko snorted. "I have no idea what you mean with that. I'm as feared as I ever was." She showed sharp fangs, nine tails spreading in a show of age and power.
"Don't you?" Seiji's head tilted. "Rumor has it you've let yourself be tamed. By a human child no less. What's next, are you going to become its faithful dog? Let it bind you in chains of servility?"
Her eyes narrowed, golden like an ember in a fire, with as much heat. "Come closer, Seiji, and you will find out just how tame I am."
He held up his hands. "I have no interest in fighting, Reiko. I'm merely...passing on the rumor. I thought you might want to know since it could hurt your place in our society. Fraternizing with humans never goes well after all. Especially not when it starts catching the attention of exorcists..."
Her lip curled back to show more fang. "Don't think for a moment that I can't see right through you, boy."
"I wouldn't dare presume," he said. He took a step forward and Reiko mirrored, one predator sizing up another. "I'm sure," Seiji said in a low voice that filled the still air between them, "that you are aware of the Matoba exorcist group that has been picking off strong ayakashi closer and closer to our area."
"It would be hard not to," Reiko said, circling, "since rumor has it they are the ones that took your eye."
Seiji's teeth flashed, and for a moment he was both man and dragon, large and dark, filling the grove and coiling around the silver fox at its center, but he reigned in his energy so that it merely crackled along his skin like dark lightning. "For which they'll pay," he said evenly. "Know that they will be here soon. There are more rumors of a woman who vanishes like a ghost, rumors of stolen things and petty tricks, enough to catch their attention. And you know as well as I do that a spirit that can take human form is enough to catch their attention. Let alone one that has been seen circling a young human with a startling amount of spirit energy. I wonder, is he your pet? A future meal? Or has he truly tamed you?"
"How I fight off boredom is no one's business but my own. And I'm a fox spirit. I've been weaving in and out of humanity, in and out of their legends, for generations, dragon. I've been here since before you hatched."
"And the child?" Seiji asked mildly. "Although, he isn't truly a child anymore, is he? Humans age so quickly. Corrupt so easily. Hold desires for things they cannot comprehend."
Reiko hissed through her fangs, tails bristling. Seiji's confident expression didn't waver even as clawed fingers closed around his throat. "Enough!" she growled.
"State your goal, Seiji, before I take your other eye for trying my patience!"
"Like I said," Seiji said, like he wasn't being choked, "I came to warn you. And give an offer. The two of us, my court and your followers, between the two of us, do you not think we could put the exorcists—the humans—who have choked our kind back bit by bit, in their place? Apart, they will try to corner and collar us, the strongest of our kind, but together we could remind them why once our kind were worshipped like gods."
The two stared each other down, not blinking. Reiko relented first, letting go of Seiji's throat. "Godhood is overrated, Seiji. I have no interest in destroying the lives of men or in your quest for blood. When they come for you, it will be on your head for provoking them."
For the first time, Seiji's mild expression melted fully away, something dark and furious flickering across his face. "Funny, I was going to say the same to you. Expect no help when the exorcists come to bind you because you won't find it from me, Reiko."
She laughed, high and sharp, the cackle of a fox. "I've outlived the rise and fall of kingdoms, boy. If I turned to anyone for help, it would not be you."
"No," Seiji said lowly. "No, you wouldn't would you? Too arrogant by half."
"Pot and kettle," Reiko said, turning her back on him. "Go away, Seiji. And stay the hell off my lands."
Seiji snorted bitterly. "Oh, don't worry. I imagine we won't cross paths again."
The world went blurry then, the clarity of the dream and the burning bright emotions in it fading into the black sterility of sleep. When Takashi woke, he had only shards of recollection left; the glint of fangs, the drift of leaves, knife-sharp anger, and a heavy feeling of foreboding in his chest. Like always, he didn't know what it meant.
o*O*o
Madara returned to the ramshackle temple to find it occupied. As in by more than just Takeshi. There were two young tanuki bickering over a loaf of bread and what appeared to be a human child curled up in Madara's makeshift bed. Takashi, inexplicably, sat in the corner, watching all of it like it was amusing and not a violation of their personal space. Considering how twitchy he was over new people that was in and of itself a minor miracle. Madara would appreciate it more if it didn't mean that there was barely enough room to stand.
"What the hell is going on?" Madara asked.
The tanuki dropped the bread, springing apart like the expected to be eaten. Which, fair enough, they were young enough that they were practically targets for other spirits. Madara ignored them since they weren't actually a threat and focused on the child. "Takashi, please tell me you didn't kidnap a human child."
"I didn't kidnap a human child," Takashi repeated, skirting along his weird sense of humor. "I found a human child alone and offered a place to rest."
"You offered." It didn't seem like the kind of thing he would do unprompted.
Takashi nodded, a faraway look on his face for a moment. Like when he was remembering something, or trying to. "He can see spirits a bit. I think. He was alone and dirty and hungry so I helped him."
"You should have taken him to the police." Who'd get ahold of child services. Someone. There had to be someone missing a small child. Madara's stomach twisted. There should be someone missing this child. But Madara knew that it wasn't always that simple, and guardians... Well, not all of them were ideal in actually caring for their charges. The time between Gramps dying and coming of age... Madara shook the memories that threated to surface back into the abyss that they came from. He didn't need to dwell on that even if those times held some of the most precious memories of Reiko.
"He seemed to be avoiding people so there must be a reason," Takashi said.
"The kid is in the park a lot," one of the tanuki volunteered. They seemed to have gotten over their fear of Madara already, sitting and gnawing a bit of bread between the two of them. "Sometimes a lady takes him home, sometimes he stays a long time."
Madara rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And another thing. Who the hell are they?"
"I'm Satoru and that's Atsushi!" the paler of the two tanuki said.
"They followed me home," Takashi said, giving them a wry look.
"Well we had to make sure he wasn't someone creepy running off with a kid," Satoru said. "Right Atsushi?" His friend nodded. "And he gave us bread."
Oh. They were eating the bread Madara brought home yesterday. Bread meant to last them the week. Madara couldn't even find the energy to be properly angry. He just felt tired. "We're not collecting strays," he said to Takashi.
Takashi nodded. He made no move to shoo anyone away.
"We really aren't."
"I'm sure, Sensei, that they're just visiting."
"We're just here for the bread right now," Satoru said. "I think the kid'll be fine. He doesn't seem like the child eating type."
"If he was the child eating type I wouldn't be living with him," Madara grumbled. "Or have the ayakashi forgotten what happened to the last spirit that tried to eat children?"
"Wasn't that Reiko who killed it?" Atsushi said.
"Yeah, and I was the one it was trying to eat," Madara said. "I'm not going to let that kind of spirit hang around my home." The familiar glazed expression crossed Takashi's face. When he pulled himself back, he looked at the kid in Madara's bed with a new resolve, like he'd decided all over again that this human child was something to look out for.
"Are you even strong enough to run off a human eater?" Satoru asked skeptically.
"You want me to exorcise you to prove it?" Madara growled.
Satoru and Atsushi flinched.
"Sensei," Takashi said reproachfully.
"I'm not going to," Madara said. "But if they keep eating my food and crowding my space I am going to chase them off."
"Rude," Satoru said. "We're guests."
"You're moochers."
Atsushi patted his friend and set aside what remained of the bread—less than quarter of the loaf. Madara eyed it unhappily. So much for toast for breakfast the rest of the week. "Well it is his home," the tanuki said diplomatically.
"It's Takashi's home too," Satoru said. "And he said we could come in. I guess we shouldn't outstay our welcome though." He bounced up, giving Takashi a quick hug. Takashi flailed, entirely unsure what to do with a casual act of affection. "Thanks for the food! We'll come visit again! I can show you some cool places in town so you'd better not ignore us when we come."
"...Okay," Takashi said. He looked at Atsushi and got a smile.
"Thank you, Takashi, we'll see you later."
Madara felt a little guilty as they scampered out; sure he had the room to actually enter the room now, but Takashi was tense now.
"I'm not actually angry at you," Madara said as Takashi's shoulders crept toward his ears.
"...I should have asked."
"No, the tanuki brat is right, it's your home too." Madara sighed heavily, eying the child sleeping in his bed. The kid had dirt smudged on his face and hair long and snarled with tangles. "But we really can't keep a child—legally, primarily, but also we don't even have a proper home. We're barely functioning as it is."
Madara would have enough scraped together in a week or two for an apartment, something they needed before winter came, but rent and food for two was a lot on one salary and it wasn't like Misuzu paid a lot or big money exorcism work happened often. Madara was mostly being paid for chores and busy work as pity pay in between being actually useful.
He sat down on the shrine floor feeling way too old for this. Any of this. People his age were supposed to have shit figured out and have some kind of stability, not living paycheck to paycheck and being a parental figure to a random spirit. Maybe parental figure. Madara didn't know what the hell Takashi thought of him ninety percent of the time.
"Look, I get it," Madara said when Takashi stared unhappily at the bare wood between them. "I was in a position with a shit guardian once. Clearly the kid has a shitty home life. That doesn't mean we're the best ones to take him in. We can get the official people aware of the problem so he can go someplace better, but Takashi, I'm barely feeding me, I can't feed a kid too."
"He could have my share," Takashi said quietly. "It's not like I actually need the food."
Madara made an impatient sound in the back of his throat because food wasn't actually the point. It was just one of a dozen little things that added up to a big no way in hell.
"Sensei," Takashi said, freezing him with a piercing golden-eyed look. "What if he can see spirits? What if that's the problem?"
Madara opened his mouth, shut it, because that had been one of the main problems with him growing up. The too weird kid that saw things and got hurt by nothing and flinched at shadows. The kid with the crazy grandfather who hung out with the weird yankee girl that liked to prank people. The kid that always had dirt smudged somewhere and clothing that had holes or was a size wrong. "I can talk to Misuzu," he said finally. "He knows exorcist families and someone would take the kid in if that's the case. They could teach him how to use his powers and stay safe."
"Is that what they tried to do to you?"
Madara's lips pressed into a thin line. "Point being, brat, there are better people."
Takashi had the same stubborn and determined look Reiko got whenever she argued, and he probably would have kept hammering his points at Madara's weak points until something cracked, but the boy stirred, finally waking up. Really it was a miracle he'd slept this long...
The boy rubbed his eyes and glanced around only to freeze when he saw Madara. Madara was glad he was sitting down or he'd probably have scared the kid even more.
"Hey," he said, "don't worry I'm just the other guy that lives here. Do you remember where you are?"
"...a shrine in the woods," the boy said slowly. "A kid brought me and gave me food."
"That would be Takashi." Madara nodded to the corner Takashi was still crouched in. The boy looked and relaxed. Takashi smiled and gave a tiny wave which the boy returned enthusiastically. Ugh. It was cute. It was cute and Madara wasn't keeping him. "You have a name, kid?"
"Asahi," the boy said. "Saizen Asahi."
Madara didn't remember anyone with the family name Saizen, but it had been a long time and it wasn't like he'd known everyone here back when he lived here. Part of him had hoped it would ring a bell though. "Ok." Ugh, how did people interact with small children? "You follow strangers often?"
"No!" The boy clutched the blanket shaking his head like a dog. "Something just... it felt okay. And the tanuki weren't afraid of him. They're usually pretty good at telling if someone is bad or not."
...The tanuki did say they saw the kid a lot. So it wasn't too odd to think that the reverse was true as well. Madara glanced at Takashi and waved a hand. Takashi frowned. Madara gestured to the kid, then his eyes. Catching on, Takashi let go of his human form. The boy shivered, but he was giving Madara a confused look, not looking at Takashi, so that was something. "So. Kid. Asahi. What do you see when you look over in that corner?"
The boy looked where Takashi had been and blinked before going pale. "Oh. He was a spirit." He sounded so resigned, like something like this had happened before or maybe that of course it wouldn't be a human that showed him care. It stabbed Madara right in his soft spots with emotions that he didn't want to have.
"He's a special sort of ayakashi," Madara said. "So you can still see him?"
Asahi frowned and squinted. "Sort of. He's really blurry like seeing underwater."
Damn. Madara had kind of hoped that the kid wasn't spirit sensitive. He must have shown it on his face because the kid looked nervous all of a sudden, shoulders inching up toward his ears. "Relax, I see him too. He's as clear to me as you are. Takashi, you can change back."
Takashi did with a sigh. "Is it really that important to know?"
"Yes," Madara said bluntly. "Because do you know how bad it is when people don't believe what you can see?" The boy flinched again and Madara seemed to just keep hitting the wrong notes here on his tone. Ugh. He... really just wanted to sleep. He looked at the wood slat ceiling for a moment and wondered if he could get away with putting this off until the morning.
"He sounds scary," Takashi said to the boy, "but he's not." It probably would have been more soothing to the child if Takashi hadn't revealed himself to not be human moments before.
"Excuse you, I can be very scary," Madara joked. "Ayakashi flee before me."
Takashi laughed in his face. Fair enough. Madara had been reluctant to engage with any ayakashi the entire time Takashi knew him. Takashi didn't know how strong Madara could be. Now that he thought about it, Madara didn't know how strong Takashi was either beyond that he had to be powerful to wear a human form.
Asahi smiled shakily.
Madara returned his attention to him. "So, the tanuki brats said you spend a lot of time in the park."
"It's. It's quiet there," the boy said. "No one minds if you stay a while."
"That involve sleeping there?"
The boy looked at the door like he was going to make a run for it. He couldn't be older than five at most and he looked terrified to answer questions about his life. There was so much wrong with this. "No."
"Right." Madara didn't believe that. "You got a place to call home, kid?"
"I live near the park," the kid said.
"And you have a parent or guardian?"
"...I live with my mom's cousin."
"She gonna be looking for you? It's pretty late."
The kid paled further. Damn, and that told him everything he needed to know if his appearance hadn't been enough.
"He's not going to send you back," Takashi said confidently.
"You can't promise that," Madara said.
Takashi gave him a cool stare, daring him to prove his words false and face the consequences. "You aren't going back to that woman."
Madara huffed. "How likely is she to call the police if you don't turn up?" he asked after a moment.
"Uh." The boy was frozen again, something like confusion and hope on his face. "I've been gone a few days before and she never called anyone."
"Okay, that leaves us a few days." Madara was going to regret this. "Takashi, I hate you."
"Of course you do, Sensei," he said with casual irreverence.
"I'll talk to Misuzu. Tomorrow." Madara rubbed his temples before standing up. "I'm...going out."
"Don't drink away our food money, Sensei," Takashi said.
"Shut up, brat." He tossed his wallet at Takashi after taking exactly enough for two drinks out. He could live in hope that Hinoe would give him a bit more in his glass to edge him toward drunk.
"Does that mean I can stay here tonight?" the boy said in a tiny voice.
Madara couldn't deal with this. He all but ran while Takashi reassured the boy. Yet again, Madara knew he really wasn't suited to be anyone's guardian. The world seemed to have a sick sense of humor lately.
o*O*o
Hinoe's bar was crowded, enough people that she had a second bartender on that night. Madara got a place at the bar by staring a guy down until he nervously walked away; some things never changed, but this time he'd be glad that he could unnerve people with a look.
"Don't scare my customers away, Madara," Hinoe said.
"I'm a paying customer tonight," Madara shot back.
"I'll believe it when I see your money."
Madara placed what he'd brought on the counter. "I'll have however much of the strongest stuff you have that this will get."
Hinoe raised an eyebrow and pocketed the cash. "That bad a night?"
Madara grunted. The salary man to his right scooted away. "Know anything about a Saizen Asahi?"
"Saizen... Saizen..." Hinoe poured a glass of something that smelled like paint thinner and probably tasted like fire. "There used to be a family by that name I think, but I can remember reading about an accident about a year ago? Car accident, only the kid survived. Why?"
"Takeshi found the kid wandering around alone and invited him home and now I'm trying to figure out if I should try to find the kid's guardian or call child services." Madara snatched the glass up the moment she set it down and swallowed a mouthful. Yup, tasted like shit and burned like hell. About what he was expecting for cheap, high alcohol booze.
"You tell me, you're the one with experience with that sort of thing."
Madara glared. Hinoe was unintimidated as always. He sighed. "He looks like he hasn't bathed in the last two or three days and desperately needs a haircut."
"Says the man needing a haircut."
"The kid's hair is almost half a meter long! And tangled to hell! And Takashi seems hell bent on adopting him." Madara took another swallow.
"Congratulations," Hinoe said sarcastically, "Now you have two children."
"Shut up! I can't be responsible for a child! I definitely can't steal a kid from the system and try to raise him when I don't even have a legal address!"
"You could list your grandfather's property address," Hinoe said, playing devil's advocate.
"Where there's no house!" The patrons closest to them all moved away, and Madara wasn't sure if it was how loud that last outburst was or because he'd flared his energy without meaning to, probably giving anyone even the slightest bit sensitive to that kind of thing the heebie-jeebies.
"You're raising Takeshi," she pointed out.
"And he's three years short of being a legal adult," Madara said, using the age Takashi looked. "And I'm still barely meeting our basic needs."
"So call child services," Hinoe said. "There's more than enough evidence to take the kids from his current guardian by the sound of it, and maybe an orphanage would be better than a kid half living off the streets."
"Yeah." But he was like Madara. He saw things, saw them clearer than most humans could. And he'd see things no matter where he went and people would notice and questions would be asked, and the average person would freak out and jump to conclusions. "Damn it," Madara said.
"What?" Hinoe asked like she didn't really want to know.
"I really have to talk to Misuzu."
"About the kid?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because." Was dooming a child to the life of an exorcist any better than dooming him to an orphanage? Madara threw back the rest of his drink, feeling it burn all the way down. He coughed into his elbow, eyes watering. That really was the cheapest, strongest crap Hinoe had on her shelves. It hit his system all at once, everything feeling slower and a bit floaty. This level of inebriation wouldn't last long since he'd practically just chugged his drink. "Don't suppose I could get another drink."
"You got what you paid for," Hinoe said, merciless as ever.
"Why do you hate me?"
She snorted. "If I hated you I'd kick you out. If I liked you more, I wouldn't give you a drink at all."
He heard the words but his brain wasn't picking apart the meaning. Madara groaned into the counter.
"Don't drool on that."
"I'm not drooling."
"Sure you're not." Hinoe turned away, back toward her other patrons. "Wallow a little more, drink some water, and go home. You have kids waiting for you."
"I didn't ask for this." The world didn't care. The world was an unfeeling bitch sometimes.
Hinoe set a glass of water by his head. "It's what you have regardless."
o*O*o
The woman had blonde hair and a face that didn't look like it smiled often, her serious gaze cutting through them behind wire rim glasses as they approached. Her hair barely covered some sort of mark on her forehead. At her side was her shiki, a tall ayakashi with a mask tied over his eyes and a smirk on his lips. He looked perfectly relaxed as they approached, but Takashi knew threats, and the way his attention focused on Takashi the closer they came was definitely a threat. A small black lizard crawled across his shoulder, darting down the collar of his kimono. A familiar?
"You must be Madara," the woman said. "Misuzu said you were coming."
"I'd hope he said so since he's the one that sent me here. Natori, right?"
"Correct." She glanced at Takashi and frowned. "You brought a teenager?"
"He's not human."
She tensed. "Your shiki?"
Madara snorted derisively. "I don't have a shiki. He's here because he wants to be."
"You brought an unbound ayakashi on an exorcism?" Natori said sharply.
"I'm not going to chain an ayakashi to me like some kind of slave driver."
Both the exorcist and ayakashi tensed.
"Wow," the ayakashi drawled. "I think that I was just called a slave. How insulting." He leaned against Natori's shoulder. "It's like he thinks I didn't have a choice."
Natori ignored his touch and sighed.
"To be fair, a lot of ayakashi aren't given choices," the ayakashi said. He grinned. "But my human isn't like that."
"Shuichi," Natori said. Her shiki immediately straightened, smirk still in place.
Takashi stayed warily behind Madara, not sure what to make of her or her shiki. He only came along because the idea of Madara trying to do an exorcism with a stranger who might not watch his back made him worried.
"He won't get in our way?" Natori asked Madara, treating Takashi like he wasn't capable of answering himself.
Takashi narrowed his eyes. "I can fight," he said before Madara could answer. And he could fight; he just didn't like to.
Madara rolled his eyes and put a hand on Takashi's head. "He can pack a punch if he has to. So can I, or do you think Misuzu would send someone useless as your back up?"
Natori looked Madara up and down, from his rumpled shirt to his grass-stained jeans and battered shoes. "I think you're a man who skipped town instead of ever having a formal education on exorcism so please excuse me for having less than complete faith in your abilities."
"Harsh," Madara muttered under his breath as she turned away. He followed as she started walking, Takashi trailing a few steps behind him.
Her shiki, Shuichi, fell back to keep step with Takashi. "So, no interest in eating your human?"
Takashi wrinkled his nose. "Of course not." There were plenty of ayakashi who never had even a passing interest in humans let alone eating one. Most ayakashi even. What did they think he was?
"Hm. Just playing then?"
The easy smile was starting to get annoying, as were the assumptions. "I'm not sure what you're implying."
"Our kind don't hang around humans without a reason."
Takashi tipped his head to the side, let Madara and Natori get a bit further ahead. "I can't just want to be here?"
"Hmm, you could." A flash of teeth, and they were a bit pointed like Takashi's got when he let his ears out. "But even then there's usually a reason. Curiosity. Hunger. Gratitude. Hate. I'm interested to know what yours is."
"Why are you Natori-san's shiki?" Takashi countered.
"That would be because she's amazing," Shuichi said, a true smile flashing across his face. "Beautiful and strong and kind. How could I not agree to her contract?"
"You admire her."
"You don't admire Natsume Madara?"
Takashi looked at Madara's back, broad shoulders and wild hair. "Not really." It wasn't fully true, but it wasn't false either. Madara was loud and grumpy and made poor choices. He also shared food and knowledge and his space freely, which perhaps was a bit admirable. Admiration wasn't the word Takashi would use to describe his feelings toward Madara though. "He snores."
Shuichi laughed, bright and surprised. Takashi caught a glimpse of brown eyes under his mask. "Interesting," he said. "And yet you follow him into potential danger."
Takashi gave him a blank look. "He's not very good at self-preservation."
Another laugh. The lizard crawled across his hand, dipping between fingers before scurrying up his sleeve again. Shuichi, upon closer inspection, had tiny black scales at the edge of his jaw. He was probably some sort of lizard ayakashi in that case, but how strong that made him, Takashi couldn't be sure. "So, do you often just tag along to help with exorcisms, not-a-shiki?"
There was an edge there, testing and probing, distrustful under his outwardly pleasant expression and actions. He probably thought Takashi could end up a threat. Most exorcists and their bound ayakashi were of that mindset; an unbound spirit was always a potential threat. If Takashi hadn't spent his early years running from both exorcists and ayakashi, he would wonder how a spirit could turn so fully against its own kind.
"Occasionally," Takashi allowed. "Sensei doesn't get called to do exorcisms very often." Takashi didn't think they really trusted Madara fully to do them, not with his history.
"Sensei?" Shuichi glanced at Madara's back. "You see him as a teacher?"
Takashi gave the other spirit a neutral smile. "It's something like a joke at this point."
"Oi, Takashi," Madara called from up ahead. "We could use help looking around!"
Takashi sighed. He wasn't a dog. "Is the ayakashi we're after, very dangerous?" he asked, one last question before he fell into the swing of the job.
"An exorcist was injured and they lost two shiki." Shuichi's smile was gone. "If there wasn't a shortage of exorcists these days, we'd be in a larger group."
Takashi nodded. They were in danger then. He pulled his power tight and let his ears free for the bit of an edge it brought him. He could feel Shuichi's eyes linger on the change, but it didn't matter if he knew Takashi was a fox spirit. They were here to do a job, and Takashi would do his part.
"You're going like that?" Madara asked as Takashi caught up to him.
"Is there a point to pretending to be human right now?" Takashi shot back. "We're not traveling anymore."
That got him a sideways look from Natori. "He's powerful enough to take human form and you trust him not to turn it on you?"
Madara rolled his eyes. "You know, some ayakashi actually like people. Or did your shiki not choose to form a contract because he likes humans?"
Shuichi snorted. "He got you there."
"We're on the job," Natori said.
Shuichi's expression settled into something a bit more serious, standing straighter. "Right. Banter later."
Takashi could feel when they got close to the rogue ayakashi. The air felt wrong and there was a heavy pressure dragging at the edge of his senses. Madara clearly felt the same thing from his slight grimace, but Natori and her shiki didn't seem affected at all. Then again, Takashi thought, they probably dealt with this sort of thing often enough to not be bothered by it.
At the top of a hill was a ruin of a house, its roof caved in and plants overtaking it on most sides. In the broken remnants of a fence, an ayakashi paced, circling the lone tree in what must have once been a front yard, over and over again. It had one eye and wild hair in ratty tangles down its back, and it muttered to itself as it walked.
"Took out two shiki?" Madara said, watching it. They were as close as they could get without disturbing it, still a decent ways away in the trees.
Natori nodded. "It seems feeble, but it has long claws. The exorcist that tried to deal with it had to get stitches."
"Any power source?"
"Not that we could find. The location isn't something it's bound to. It goes and hunts, but returns there."
"It's sick," Takashi said, focused and certain about that detail for some reason he couldn't explain. "There's something wrong with it."
"Either way, it needs eliminated," Natori said. She dug into a pocket and came up with papers, like the seals Takashi'd seen other exorcists use, or maybe closer to those used in barriers. "I'll set up a trap and we'll lure it into it before finishing it off."
Takashi frowned. He didn't like the idea of killing this ayakashi even if it was out of control. The ayakashi kept mumbling. If Takashi strained his ears, he could almost hear it… A glance showed the others caught up in planning. Takashi eased himself closer, a single human body easier to hide than a group.
"Give it back…" the ayakashi groaned to itself. "Give it back…"
"Give it back!" Takashi memory echoed, a high, desperate child's voice. "Oh little fool, there are some things we do not wager with for there are things we cannot afford to lose." The second voice was older, maternal and stern, and it made Takashi's chest ache to remember it. He swallowed and backed away, the phantom anguish of a half remembered memory tangling with his current reality.
The others had noticed his disappearance and watched his return.
"It's missing something," Takashi said. "Something lost or stolen. If it got it back, it would probably calm down."
Natori shook her head. "Ordinarily I'd be all for finding a solution that didn't lead to sealing or exorcism, but it's too late for that. It's gotten more and more destructive lately, and it's already killed. It's too big a risk to take the time to find something that might not even exist anymore."
Takashi clenched his fists, stomach twisting. "I understand that it is a risk, and it's not one I would ask you to take. Let me try approaching it."
"Takashi," Madara rumbled, frowning.
"Please," Takashi said, meeting Madara's eyes.
"Madara," Natori said warningly. Her shiki stood by, impassive, his smile gone for the moment. Takashi had a feeling that if Natori gave the word he'd restrain Takashi in an instant.
Takashi took a deep breath. "Set up your trap," he said. "If it can't be reasoned with, I can be the bait." He smiled emptily. "It wouldn't be the first time I had an ayakashi try to eat me."
Natori let out a slow breath. She smacked Madara on the back. "Your ayakashi friend is an idiot. Please tell me you have a better sense of self preservation."
"Of course," Madara said.
Takashi snorted. He was pretty sure that was false, just judging on how poorly Madara managed to take care of himself compared to other humans.
"Oh, shut it brat." Madara grabbed Takashi's chin and frowned at him. "If it hurts you, I'm hurting it back twice as bad."
This time Takashi's smile was a real one. "If you think you can, Sensei."
Madara sputtered. "What's that supposed to mean?! I'm a capable, powerful—"
"Half-trained exorcist," Takashi finished.
"And you're a skinny little fox-brat who can't even use his powers right!"
Takashi laughed. It was good to see Madara puffed up like an angry cat. It was normal and comforting compared to what he was about to do. Maybe Natori was right about him being an idiot. At the same time, Takashi wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try. He pulled away from Madara's grip, looking at the exorcist and her shiki. Natori had a good professional face, but Takashi could see the slight uptick in her eyebrows. "It's a good thing my skills lie in running then," Takashi said. "Natori-san, will it take long to set up your trap?"
"…No, not long at all." She tipped her head to the side. "Why are you doing this for a spirit you've never met? You aren't going to gain anything."
Takashi's smile slipped, the edge of memory nagging at him. "I don't have to get anything from it. Besides, every spirit has something they can't afford to lose…" Takashi's thing… He wasn't sure. He was sure he knew once, but it was a long time ago if he did.
Shuichi watched him, a grim understanding in his face. This was something only spirits understood, probably. Takashi didn't look at him because he didn't want to think too hard.
"I have to at least try," he finished, tearing his attention back to Natori's cool gaze.
She nodded slowly. "Let me finish this then."
Takashi nodded and settled back to wait. The ayakashi kept its muttering and pacing; a few more minutes wouldn't change anything.
o*O*o
Madara hated this. Takashi shouldn't be going against a dangerous ayakashi on his own, and he shouldn't be trying to help it at all. He didn't trust much of anyone most of the time, so why on earth would he want to help it? But at the same time, he wasn't really surprised. He'd wanted to help Kaname too, and there hadn't been any need to do that. Takashi, Madara knew, was a lot more compassionate and altruistic than he rightfully should be for someone who had such a bad past. Then again, some people would say the same about Madara. He attracted strays even if he usually scared them off again in the long run.
He watched with Natori as Takashi inched his way toward the ayakashi. Takashi's frail body walking toward the snarled giant of an ayakashi. Madara itched to drag him back, but he'd be doing Takashi a disservice. He could at least acknowledge the kid's desires even if they were kind of dangerous and stupidly self-sacrificing.
"Relax or you're going to hurt yourself," Natori's shiki quipped at their side. "He isn't a weak ayakashi."
"No, he just has amnesia and had no idea he was a fox spirit until a few weeks ago," Madara shot back, hands clenched around the paper charm Natori had given him.
"Really?" The shiki hummed thoughtfully. "He is an interesting one isn't he?"
"Shuichi," Natori said. "Focus."
"I'm as focused as can be," Shuichi said with a flash of a charming smile. He drifted to the side of the trap. "But there's not much to do unless Takashi herds it this way." He flexed a hand and suddenly had long, sharp claws and black scales up his forearms. Several lizards dashed along his collar, and it was a question of if they were their own entities or bits of Shuichi he could break off at will. A step below a dragon, Madara thought, but lizards were carnivores. It would be foolish to consider him anything but dangerous. "It's been a while since we had a good fight."
"You're ridiculous," Natori said, straight faced.
"I'm dramatic," Shuichi said, flashing a toothy smile. "There's a difference."
The exchange seemed to settle them even as it distracted Madara. Up the hill, Takashi reached the edge of the fence line. The pacing form looming in its confines stopped.
Takashi crossed the fence line and was met with a bristling ayakashi, its tangled hair seemingly rising of its own volition as it had its territory invaded. Madara strained to hear anything as they exchanged words, but he could only make out body language, Takashi trying to look non-threatening even as the other spirit made itself as scary as possible.
For a minute, it looked like it was working. The ayakashi's hair deflated at something Takashi said, its stance relaxing. But then it said something and Takashi's ears went flat against his head. In the next moment the ayakashi's claws sliced through where Takashi's head had been a split second earlier, Takashi having the foresight to duck.
"Please!" Takashi said, loud enough to be heard at a distance. "I want to help!"
"Thief, liar!" the ayakashi roared back. "Two-faced fox! You smell of humans and treachery!"
"You don't have to fight me!" Takashi said, ducking another blow. "I don't want to fight you!"
"You chose your side!" the ayakashi yelled. Takashi barely dodged the next strike and Madara's body hurt from how tense he was.
"Run," Madara hissed under his breath, eyes fixed on Takashi. "Just run, it's a wash, run."
"You don't have to suffer!" Takashi yelled back.
"I always suffer, now so will you!" The ayakashi leapt, lips peeling back from sharp, curving teeth.
Takashi froze looking scared and young for a moment before he finally lashed out in defense, a bright flash of light leaving the palm of his hand. The ayakashi shrieked, a bubbling burn forming on the exposed skin where the light touched. If it hadn't been angry before, it was now. While it was distracted by the pain, Takashi turned and ran. The ayakashi took after him, mindless in its rage.
They passed into the trap zone in a handful of seconds and Madara and Natori raised their hands just in time to activate the seals trapping the ayakashi in a controlled space. Takashi barely made it out before the spell set in, wide eyed and shaking as it closed on his heels.
Madara grunted as the ayakashi tested the barrier, raging like a rabid dog.
"You humans! Exorcist scum! Thieves! Murderers! Give back what you've stolen! Give it back and I'll rend your flesh from your bones!"
"I think," Shuichi said lightly, stepping up to the edge of the barrier, "it's supposed to be 'or' not 'and'. Or I'll rend the flesh from your bones. It's not much incentive when there's bodily harm either way."
An inarticulate shriek was the only response as the ayakashi clawed at the barrier. Its fingers smoked and burns rose along its hands.
Madara took the weight of holding the barrier as Natori switched from holding to the offensive, a sword falling from thin air into her hand with a blue glow. He felt the strain on his powers immediately, but Takashi was still just centimeters from the frothing mass of spirit claws. Madara wouldn't let it through even if the backlash knocked him unconscious.
"Shuichi," Natori said, and she did…something, Madara could feel it even if he couldn't see it, and they crossed into the barrier at the same time, weapons arcing down to strike.
The ayakashi shrieked. It was an awful sound, like a beast being skinned alive, dual toned and piercing. Neither exorcist nor shiki let up though, Natori slapping a paper charm onto the spirit's side as she ducked and wove in the tight confines of her trap. Shuichi moved like he was part of her, fitting into gaps and shoring her defenses in a way that looked effortless.
For a moment Madara thought they'd make it out unscathed, but then the ayakashi let out some sort of energy wave that knocked Natori clear of the barrier.
Shuichi barely moved fast enough to catch her before she was slammed into a tree.
The force of it hitting the barrier made spots dance across Madara's vision. His legs wobbled and he locked his knees before he could end up embarrassingly face down on the ground.
"Madara!" Takashi shouted, suddenly at his side. He was bright with power and light again, the wildness of it surging around them. He looked angry, worried—worried for Madara?—and he turned to face the ayakashi that was prying a crack into the barrier bit by agonizing bit as Madara was forced to expel more and more energy to maintain it. "You will not!" Takashi snarled, and in that moment he looked like Reiko on her wild nights where she picked fights for the fun of it, teeth sharp and bright with the power of a creature that had the power of centuries amassed behind her. A night when she'd batted away an ayakashi that tried to make a meal of Madara, the edge of anger and vindictive pleasure in her snarl.
The ayakashi either wasn't afraid, or it was so far lost in its rage that it didn't register the threat at all because when the barrier broke it barely had a moment to shift forward before Takashi slammed it down with raw energy.
If Madara's vision wasn't swimming from the backlash, he'd have taken a moment to appreciate the shock on the ayakashi's face as one of its limbs burnt clean off in a sweep of Takashi's devastating light. Its scream was twice as horrifying with pain added to the layered sound. It lashed out blindly and got a lucky hit, Takashi tumbling.
It was enough for Natori to have recovered though. There was blood on the side of her face, the glasses gone, probably broken, but she slapped a seal on the spirit and pushed energy into it. The ayakashi clawed at itself, but it was too late as it burned up, dispersing into light.
The following silence was deafening, Madara's ears ringing. Thought maybe that was from the barrier backlash. Ow.
Natori slumped to the ground, Shuichi behind her with a supportive hand on her shoulder. "Well that was a shit show," she grumbled. She wiped blood from her face.
Madara groaned in agreement.
Takashi curled around himself a few feet away, still broadcasting energy all over, vibrating either with anger or terror, Madara couldn't tell with how tense he was.
"Takashi," Madara said.
Takashi looked up and it was the same blank look he'd had when Madara first unsealed him. He wasn't quite there at the moment, Madara realized. His body present but his mind ages away.
Madara reached out carefully and, miracle of miracles, Takashi didn't take his hand off when he touched him or lash out with his energy at all. "Hey. Better reel that in or you're going to have more fights for your life coming tonight."
Takashi blinked slowly, and the energy filling the air receded bit by bit.
"You okay?" Madara asked.
Takashi stared, eyes unseeing, looking through Madara. His blankness crumpled a moment later. "It wouldn't listen."
"I know," Madara said.
"It was too far gone. How. How did it end up that bad?" He shivered, and Madara wondered why this bothered him so much when he must have witnessed exorcisms before—been almost shredded by other ayakashi before. But then maybe that was the issue? Takashi could see it happening to himself? That sat uncomfortably in Madara's gut. Maybe he shouldn't have brought Takashi. Not when it was clear from the start it would end violently.
To Madara's surprise, Shuichi set a hand on Takashi's shoulder. "Sometimes," the shiki said, "there isn't a way to help. Sometimes they don't want it. But you made sure no one else will be hurt by it, so take pride in that at least."
"I ripped its arm off," Takashi said, still horrified. "I hate fighting."
Shuichi tipped his head to the side like he'd just realized something. "A funny choice to come to an exorcism then. You're strong for such a young spirit."
Takashi gave him a blank look.
Shuichi patted his back. "You helped your human and protected yourself. That's not fighting, that's defense and survival."
"But—" Takashi started.
"Oi, since when am I his anything?" Madara cut in, more because he knew it would make Takashi give him an exasperated look than because he meant it.
"At the very least I'm your roommate, Sensei," Takashi said with only a fraction of his usual emotion.
Damn. Madara cast around for a topic to distract everyone with. His eyes landed on Natori as she blotted her cut. Without her glasses…
"Wait. ...You look kind of familiar," Madara said, squinting at the exorcist.
"You must be mistaken," Natori said in cold voice that shut down any continuation of that line of thought.
"…Natori," Madara said. "Natori… Natori Hiiragi?" She flinched. "Like the model?" It was in the shape of her face and her eyes now that he thought to look for it. She looked almost like a different person without any makeup on, but after having that one roommate obsessed with her photos, he'd have to be pretty out of it to not recognize her once he made the connection.
Her shiki snorted. "Well, that cat's out of the bag."
Natori stood straight and gave Madara a look so impassive he had to take a step back. That look said she could kill him with her bare hands and feel nothing at all. "I think we're done here."
"Woah, wait, that wasn't me judging, I'm just surprised!" Madara sputtered.
"Goodbye. I hope we never work together again."
Shuichi snorted again. "Don't worry, she just hates being recognized. Her made-up face is like a mask, you know?"
"Shuichi!" Natori said.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," he said with a good natured smile. "We'll be in touch."
Natori kept walking. Her face was starting to turn red with embarrassment. For once Madara really hadn't been trying to get under anyone's skin.
"Right." Madara scrubbed at the back of his head. "So…" Takashi met his eyes, tired and drawn. "Report to Misuzu and then home?" He didn't know what would cheer Takashi up, but maybe he could stop and get some of those steamed buns from a few weeks ago. Takashi seemed to like those. Did he need space? Did he—and Madara was bad at this—need a hug? He hesitated, hand lifting from his side a bit to reach out.
But Takashi's eyes still held a bit of wild energy in them, something skittish and fragile and dangerous.
Madara let his hand drop. "Thanks," he finally said, gruffly. "For protecting me and for trying to help the ayakashi. It wasn't a very good ayakashi, but it's good that you care. Probably." Ugh. Why were emotions so uncomfortable?
Takashi sighed, and tension seemed to follow the air leaving his body. "Let's go home, Sensei."
"Yeah." They left the hill and ruined house behind. "So." Madara glanced at Takashi, silent at his side. "Natori being an exorcist didn't bother you, did it?"
"Hmm." Takashi gave a small shrug. "She's not the one who sealed me."
Oh good. Now Madara was wondering who that was and if he knew them. He'd have to keep Takashi far from them if he ever found out.
"I think I like Shuichi though," Takashi said. "I wonder if in another situation they'd be kind."
Frankly, Madara thought they'd been pretty kind except for Natori's 'strictly business' demeanor. But Madara wasn't an ayakashi and didn't have too much to fear from exorcists the way an ayakashi did.
"Are you coming or not?" Shuichi called from up ahead. "It's rude to keep a lady waiting!"
"Lady my ass," Madara muttered. Famous model or not, she was an exorcist, and she took a blow from an ayakashi without flinching. He didn't know what to make of the pair, but he supposed they weren't as bad as some of the exorcists who had crossed his path. There was more than one that he'd wanted to punch on principle, either for how they treated their shiki or how they'd viewed the ayakashi they fought.
She hadn't trusted Takashi and she didn't seem to like Madara much, but she hadn't refused to work with them either.
If Takashi liked something about them, Madara supposed he could give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Although damn it Takashi didn't still look rattled.
"We're definitely getting steamed buns tonight. And pick up something extra for the kid." Their newest addition to the household was probably letting the Tanuki in and eating all their food. Or maybe he'd gone to the park again. Madara had a feeling he probably should have made better plans for him than just 'eh, the tanuki will watch him.' He cared enough to make sure the kid was fed and sheltered though? That was a step up from whoever his actual guardian was.
Takashi tipped his head to the side. "Because we're getting paid?"
Madara ruffled his hair. "C'mon, kid."
Madara refused to admit how much he'd do for Takashi even knowing him such a short time.