Chapter Thirteen
"Mokona senses a feather, but it's very faint."
Kurogane glanced at the manju bun, wishing the witch had put a more sophisticated tracking device inside the thing. "How far?"
"Far."
He sighed. "Great. We have to bring you with."
Mokona smiled at the development. Fai scooped the little creature up into his arms and allowed it to slip into his hood.
Sakura approached them timidly, her face unhappy. "When are you expecting to be back?"
"Nightfall, if we don't find him," Kurogane said. "I don't want to risk staying out any later than that."
She frowned, and he felt an impulse to pat her on the head, like a child. He restrained himself. Back when he'd been in Tomoyo's service, such gestures of affection had been discouraged, simply because those small comforts could be easily misconstrued by outsiders as something scandalous. They'd had their moments, of course, when they'd first met. But those times were long past. I still have to get back to her, he thought, remembering the paneled walls of the castle, the warm smile Tomoyo had always favored him with.
"Kurogane, what are you thinking about?"
He glanced up at his name. A moment later, he frowned, annoyed at the person who'd said it. "Nothing," he answered stiffly.
"Well, we'd best be going then. Mokona, you should stay hidden."
He grabbed Souhi off the table and moved it to his hip. "Don't answer the door," he told the princess. Something like fear flashed across her face, but she controlled it quickly. She's gotten stronger, too, he thought, turning. The magician held the door for him, lips twisted in that damn grin of his.
They moved down the elevators in silence. The moment of quiet, so rare in the presence of the magician, allowed Kurogane to think. Tomoyo said I would get weaker if I killed someone, but by how much? I won't be able to use anything less than lethal force on this guy if he does show up, and none of us are safe until the feather's out of his hands.
The elevator reached the main level. They stepped out and headed across the lobby.
It doesn't make sense for him to stay here, Kurogane thought. He'd try to get to Tokyo. What would the price have been to choose his next destination? He thought about it, eyebrows pulling together. The witch wouldn't just send me back to Nihon, but that might've been because she knew I needed to be sent off with these people. Unless picking and choosing between dimensions is harder than just traveling at random until you chance across the right one. He frowned.
"Something wrong, Kurogane?" Fai asked, saying his name like some foreign flower.
The ninja scowled at him. "Of course there's something wrong. Have you been paying attention the past few weeks?"
For just a second, the smile vanished from the vampire's face. It reappeared in a flash, as if it had never left. "So we've got one more potential enemy floating around in this country. It wouldn't be the first time we've faced someone strong like us."
"I'm thinking it doesn't make sense for Seishirou to be here when he knows the vampires he's hunting are in another world. Unless he's got some other reason to stick around."
"Oh, that's smart," Fai said, grinning wider.
"You could at least think of some idea why that is."
The mage shrugged. "We can ask him when we find him."
Mokona piped up just then, poking out of Fai's hooded shirt. "The feather's presence is getting stronger."
"We're headed in the right direction, then," Kurogane surmised.
"So it would seem. Is that a fudge shop?"
Kurogane glanced up, half-surprised and half-annoyed by the mage's observation. "Why does it matter?"
Suddenly, a change came over Fai's face. He lost his smile, and for one second, his eye glowed gold. His fingernails shot out half and inch, barely noticeable compared to the sudden change in eye color. All these changes reversed after a moment, concealed by the mage's normal features. "It doesn't, I guess."
Kurogane frowned, noting the coldness in the mage's voice. It only took him a moment to make the connection. "That's probably where the kid bought that fudge."
Fai was silent.
"He only meant it as a peace offering. Stop being so suspicious."
"Right. I guess so."
Mokona popped out of the mage's shirt, startling both of them. "Mokona just felt the waves from the feather. It's very close."
Kurogane turned, sensing a presence behind him an instant before Seishirou's voice pierced the air. "I suppose you're looking for this," the man said, holding Sakura's feather between his fingertips.
"It's been a long time," Kurogane muttered, drawing his sword. "We never finished our fight in Outo."
"Technically, the country was called Edonis."
The ninja made no response except to raise his sword. Seishirou smiled, not a malicious grin, or a threatening one, but a curious, almost lazy smile. Ignoring the blade pointed at his chest, he turned to Fai. "I don't suppose you'd know where to find Subaru and Kamui, would you?"
"We parted ways in the last world. I'm assuming they left Tokyo looking for some safe place to run."
Seishirou either missed the accusing note in the magician's voice, or chose to ignore it. "No idea at all? Not even now that you've joined their ranks?"
Fai hissed, fingernails shooting out and filing into sharp points.
Not a smart move, Kurogane thought, edging between the two of them. "We don't know anything about your targets. All we want is the feather."
"Perhaps we can arrange a trade. You want the feather, and I'm looking for things of interest."
"What kinds of things?"
Seishirou smiled again. "Perhaps we can talk about this over dinner?" he suggested, glancing around the busy sidewalk. A few people had stopped to watch their confrontation, noticing the unsheathed sword in Kurogane's hands. Others continued to move by, not noticing, or perhaps ignoring them.
Kurogane sheathed his sword. "Meet at the Ephemeral Apartments at nightfall," he said shortly. "We'll talk in the lobby." No sense risking either of the brats when the lobby would be private enough. In their seedy building, no one would look twice at a heated conversation.
Fai stiffened a bit at this, but Seishirou merely blinked and widened his smile. "That will do fine. I'll see you then." The younger man retreated, slipping through the overflowing streets with ease. Within seconds, he'd vanished to some place Kurogane couldn't see.
"What was that?" Fai demanded.
"There's no point in taking the extra risk to fight him. If he's willing to make a deal, we'll make a deal. And stop being so fucking angry all the time. That's my job."
Fury flitted across the sorcerer's face, controlled quickly as his gold eye flickered to the place where Seishirou had disappeared. He returned to his normal state, his eye turning sapphire and his fingernails shortening up. "What do you think he wants?"
"We'll find out in a few hours. Let's go." He turned back toward the apartment complex, walking briskly.
What does he want? the ninja wondered, trying to guess what would interest someone who traveled dimensions. Traveling that long, he must've seen a lot of things. Why does he assume we've been to a world he hasn't? Unless he's looking for something he knows we have. He tried to imagine what they owned that could possibly be construed as valuable, or what they could reasonably obtain that he couldn't.
And then it hit him.