Still Waters 3 Book 2: Day to Day

by RedPBass

Now that the festival is over, everyone is preparing for the big trip to the magic world. It's the first time the old 3-A has all gathered in one place since their graduation; what awaits them now? Alternate Timeline, OCs. The end of Book 2 nears. An incident in the magic world...? Chapter 29, It's Time, is up.

17. Ch 14 Youkai Festival

Still Waters 3 Book 2, Chapter 14: The Youkai Festival

---

Monday, June 29th, 2009

---

Language Warning, especially at the end

---

"So what can I expect at this youkai festival?" Natsumi asked as she gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror. She wasn't quite satisfied with what she saw, but even she had to admit she looked cute in her shorts and top, and she had just the right pair of boots to go with them...

"Eh...I dunno. I guess a lot of youkai will be there," Kotarou said absently as he poked around in Natsumi's refrigerator for a moment until he pulled out a small package of pudding. "Contests and fights and stuff. Hey, you got a spoon?"

"Put that back," Natsumi said automatically as she tried to make her hair look more like the way Ayaka had shown her. She wanted Kotarou to think she was pretty. 'Pretty' had always been hard for Natsumi...the most she usually managed was 'cute'. She finished arranging it and cocked her head to the side, biting her lip as she looked at her reflection. She saw Kotarou making his way over and smiled at him in the mirror. His reflection grinned crookedly at her, and then he was standing beside her. He glanced at his reflection, flicked his fingers through his hair, and nodded as if to say 'done'. Natsumi rolled her eyes.

'At least he put my pudding back,' she thought to herself as she eyed her reflection. She poked at her hair again, trying to get it to lay the right way, but it just kept falling back...she was jolted back to reality when Kotarou slipped his arm around her waist. "K-Kotarou-kun...!"

"It looks fine," he said, entirely too close, in Natsumi's opinion. She blushed and shivered as his breath washed over the side of her face, but didn't pull away, instead putting her hand on Kotarou's.

"Are you sure...?" she asked softly, not entirely trusting herself to speak normally.

Kotarou cocked an eyebrow and made a show of inspecting her hair as if looking for parasites until she swatted him, and then stepped back, smirking. "It's good. Are you ready to go now?" Natsumi nodded, and the pair headed for the door.

---

"Come on, get up, what are you waiting for?" Youko asked playfully as she kicked in the door of Kagami and Haru's dorm room to reveal Haru in the process of pulling a t-shirt up over her head and Kagami eating a piece of toast while playing with her tiny playdoh cat. The two girls just looked blankly at the intruder for a moment, obviously still half asleep as they prepared for school, and then Kagami scooped up the cat and put it in a box and Haru shrieked and yanked her shirt back down.

"What are you doing?" Haru demanded, her voice unusually high while Kagami coughed in the background, choking on her toast.

Youko grinned at her. "Picking you up to go to the youkai festival, of course! Oh, heya Kagami-chan. Sorry, you can't go," Youko said as she strolled over to the other girl and smacked her hard on the back. Kagami glared at her for her trouble as she chocked down a few loose crumbs.

"Youkai festival? I can't go to something like that; I've got school today, and so do you!" Haru said as she walked over to the small table under the window where she did her homework. She grabbed the textbook lying there and shoved it into her bag.

Youko ignored her and flung open the closet. She reached in and pulled out a shirt seemingly at random and tossed it to Haru. "Come on, put that on. You'll probably want some shorts too...something easy to move in, anyway."

"I can't! We've got school today!" Haru said again, trying to move past Youko in order to return the shirt to the closet.

"Forget about school, this is gonna be a lot more fun!" Youko said, deftly blocking Haru as she tried to slip through.

"Look, I don't care what you two do, but I'm not skipping school today," Kagami said irritably. "Both of you, out!" she said, pushing both girls toward the door. She shoved Haru through first, then Youko, and then threw a pair of shorts taken up at random after them. "Now stay out!"

Kagami slammed the door and Haru and Youko found themselves alone in the hallway.

"Huh...She's a real spitfire, isn't she?" Youko asked, grinning.

Haru just sighed and gathered up the shirt and shorts. "So where is this 'youkai festival' anyway?" she grumbled.

"Youkai festival...?" an all-too familiar voice asked.

Youko and Haru turned to see their mutual friend Suzuki Keiko standing in the doorway of the dorm room she shared with their classmate Mako Sylvester. Ever since Haru had used her power to save Keiko's life during the vampire incident, the other girl had stuck around her constantly, badgering her for information on youkai and magic, a problem that had only grown worse after Youko had all but kidnapped Haru in order to properly train her in the ways a youkai was supposed to behave and how to control her power, something in which Haru had absolutely no experience; she had never used her power, but rather had kept it smothered for as long as she could; all the better to hide, since her family situation had led to her getting moved from place to place all through her childhood. Keiko simply wouldn't be left behind, so Youko had agreed to let her tag along for as long as she could keep up; Haru could have told Youko that was a mistake, but the fox youkai wouldn't listen. To make a long story short, Keiko had impressed Youko with her tenacity and intelligence, and so Youko had agreed to let Keiko participate, or at the very least follow along, during Haru's training. Already Keiko's quick mind was showing; she was far more well-versed in youkai lore and society and how to deal with them than the vast, vast majority of humans, even among those who dealt with youkai on a regular basis.

Haru rubbed her forehead; she felt a migraine coming on.

---

Natsumi and Kotarou walked along, followed a fair distance behind by the strange woman they had met the day before.

Kotarou sighed. "Does she have to come with us?" he grumbled.

Natsumi grinned up at him. "Mm-hmm!"

Kotarou sighed again and, a sudden devilish thought darting through his mind, took his hand out of his pocket and grabbed Natsumi's. She looked up at him, blushing, and then away. Kotarou couldn't help but smile down at her before he glanced back at the woman who had been trying to kill him only the day before, Linda Cale, and smirked. The woman gave him a level glare, and he turned away, satisfied.

"What's this going to be like?" Natsumi asked a moment later as they walked along.

"Oh, you'll see lots of youkai; there'll be lots of contests and stuff and a big bonfire every night until they decide the festival's over. We can see the coming of age ceremony too, if you want," he said idly.

"What does that involve?" Natsumi asked, swinging the hand Kotarou was holding as she walked.

Kotarou grinned crookedly. "Mostly a bunch of young youkai sitting around while the steward makes a speech."

"Steward?" Natsumi asked, glancing up at him.

"Yeah," Kotarou replied as they walked along. "He's an old youkai from back in the day. Pretty strong, from what I've heard."

Natsumi couldn't help but smile at that. 'Trust Kotarou-kun to find out how strong he is before anything else,' she thought. "Have you ever met him?"

Kotarou gave her a strange look. "The steward of the youkai? The guy who takes over in between youkai kings? Nah, I've never even seen him," he said, shaking his head. "It's pretty rare that he comes out for something like this. I'd bet most youkai wouldn't know 'im if they saw him; everybody knows about him though..."

The two of them walked along in silence for a while, still holding hands, followed at a distance by the white haired woman.

---

"Hey, is it alright for Keiko to be here?" Haru asked.

Keiko looked at her.

"What? Yeah, sure. Why not?" Youko asked.

Keiko turned her attention to Youko.

"Well..." Haru said, trailing off as they approached the boundary that kept most normal humans out of the youkai festival grounds.

Youko smiled brightly at the few youkai standing guard at the entrance to the festival grounds. "Don't worry about it; it's not a problem."

Haru looked up at the guards as the trio approached the entrance. 'They're huge...!' she thought fearfully. And they were; she thought they were easily the same size as Scary Max-sensei. And then the three of them were past, and the guards turned their attention to the next group. She heard Keiko let out a sigh of relief behind her and turned to give her a serious look. "Stick with us, Keiko-chan! This place is dangerous; I wish you hadn't wanted to come..."

"It's fine," Keiko said as she clung to the backpack she had carried along. "I'm prepared for this; you should be careful," she said, her tone more solemn than Haru could recall ever hearing it.

"She's right, you know," Youko said cheerfully as she looked at everyone and everything, seemingly trying to take it all in at once. "This is a dangerous place; I know I taught you a lot about youkai, but you still need to be careful...I don't want you getting challenged to a duel because you did something stupid. Duels should be over important stuff."

Haru looked from Youko to Keiko and back, a little concerned. "...what do you mean?"

Keiko and Youko looked at each other, and then back at Haru. "Just be careful, please," Keiko said.

Youko nodded. "Just stick with me and you'll be fine. Now come on! I want to see what everyone's been up to since I got in trouble!"

---

Natsumi looked around, deeply interested. Youkai were everywhere; she didn't know what she had expected, but this...this definitely hadn't been it. Almost all of the youkai looked like human beings with animal ears and sometimes a tail poking out from under a shirt or skirt; some had patches of fur or feathers instead of hair, while others had long claws rather than fingernails. Noticeably large canines, almost fangs, were common, poking out between the lips. Almost all had animal ears poking up from the top of their heads. She noticed Kotarou tended to roll his eyes at those displaying such features, however, and couldn't help but compare the strangers' appearances to his.

The only physical clue that Kotarou wasn't a human were his ears, which he had long ago learned to hide. He seemed to wear his humanity with a kind of smirking pride that left her wondering if he was, in spite of the lack of fangs, claws, and other animalistic features, showing off by showing that he didn't need to show such things to show off. Somehow, it was just so him that it made her smile as she walked along, hand in hand with him. The fact that most of the youkai in their way took one look and quickly moved out of the way only enhanced the effect; she was almost giggling like a schoolgirl by the time trouble struck.

"Hey, you no good mangy lapdog, what the hell're you doin' bringin' a human here?"

Natsumi felt the muscles in Kotarou's arm go tense and let go of his hand to give him space to move in. No longer one to stand back and let someone else do all the hard work, Natsumi moved behind Kotarou, standing back to back as she quickly scanned the crowd of youkai, trying to see if any might be waiting for a chance to attack from behind. She needn't have bothered; though there were several who obviously sneered at the idea of someone bringing a mere human to their festival, there was very little aggression present...rather, curiosity and a little fear, when they realized what was happening...it wasn't at all what she had expected after the stories she had heard over the years.

"Natsumi, I want you to stay back," Kotarou said, his voice low and cold.

"Okay," she replied.

"D-don't worry, I'll make sure she's safe," a vendor said nervously, motioning for Natsumi to come to his stall, where she could hide behind a short wall if necessary. She caught several whispers along the lines of "It's him!" and "I want to see!" as she stepped back out of the way.

Now that a space had been created, she could see the first speaker clearly, and no wonder: he was huge. He was at least seven feet tall, sporting a huge mane, tail, fangs, claws...the whole works. He sneered at her and opened his mouth to speak.

"Shut up," Kotarou said. Natsumi was surprised to see he didn't need to make any threats; he simply spoke, and something in his voice, something dangerous and, she thought with a thrill, wild, sent many of the youkai present cowering back. Even the big one who had insulted Kotarou cringed back for a moment. He looked around, saw the other youkai around him looking at him, and bared his teeth, letting out a low growl as he glared at Kotarou.

"You stinking little-"

"I said shut up," Kotarou said, not even bothering to raise his voice.

"You'd better listen to him," another youkai, evidently one of the big guy's friends, said. "Don't you know? He's the one that-"

"I don't care care who he is! I'm gonna rip up his scraggly mangy hide and feed it to the rats!" he bellowed, all full of wounded pride with a raging undercurrent of fear pushing him onward.

Natsumi watched the big guy, all big muscle and sinew, stalk toward Kotarou, looking thin and handsome in his jeans and black jacket, ready to jump in and help Kotarou if it looked necessary.

It wasn't necessary.

Kotarou was standing there one instant and the next, he was standing behind the big youkai, his hands in his pockets and looking rather irritated, while the big guy stood in place, his eyes wide and unseeing, before collapsing to his knees, spitting out a spatter of blood as he clutched at his stomach, and falling over onto his side.

Kotarou strolled toward Natsumi, his hands in his pockets, and looked down at her, his expression closed off, almost, Natsumi thought, as if he was worried she would be afraid of him. Her! Afraid of him! She smiled gently at him, pleased at the brief look of surprise that flitted over his face and was hidden again in an instant, and slipped her arm through his. Kotarou grinned crookedly at her, clearly relieved that she hadn't run off screaming, and the two of them walked on.

---

"Aaaahhh~ this feels good," Youko said, holding her arms above her head and puffing her chest out as she arched her back, stretching. Haru glanced back at the silvery-white fox ears that had popped up on Youko's head.

"How do you do that?" Haru asked.

Youko glanced at her, smiling brightly. "Hmm? Do what?"

"The ears," Keiko said, peering at the fore-mentioned anatomical structures.

"Oh," Youko said, waving her hand as if to say it was no big deal. "It's something all youkai can do."

"Oh..." Haru said, looking at Youko's tail. It was big and fluffy...she kind of wanted to touch it. "Same with the tail?" she asked.

Youko looked at her, hesitated and, Keiko thought, started to blush before quickly turning around. "Yep, same with the tail. Hey, let's go see the-"

"If all youkai can do it," Keiko said thoughtfully, interrupting Youko mid-sentence, "then what about you?" she asked, turning to Haru.

Haru's eyes widened and she held up her hands. "Hey, wait a minute, what do you mean?" she said, looking from Keiko's expression of scientific curiosity to Youko's suddenly sly grin and back.

"Yeah, that's right," Youko said. "I haven't seen your ears or tail at all. Come on, show 'em," she said, advancing on Haru as her grin widened. "All the girls do, see? Come on, show your tail, let it be free!" she said, leaping at Haru.

Haru narrowly slipped aside and zipped around behind Keiko, using her as a shield. "N-no! Besides, I don't know how!"

Youko paused in her attempt to to grab Haru, blinking. "...huh; I guess that'd be true. Okay then!" she said, standing up straight and pointing at Haru. "You need to practice! C'mere," she said, taking Keiko and Haru's hands as she looked around. "Okay, let's go over there."

---

Safely behind a storage building, Youko stood facing Haru while Keiko watched on from the side. "Okay! You're a youkai, but you've never-"

"Quarter youkai," Haru said sulkily.

"Doesn't matter," Youko said. "You're a youkai, so you can do it! C'mon, you've got ears, right? Just pop 'em out!"

Haru looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "What do you mean 'pop 'em out'? I don't know if I even have 'em!"

"Oh come on, of course you do," Youko said, as if there was no question whatsoever. "You've got power, therefore you have ears." The way she said it made it seem as if she was lecturing an idiot, and Haru bristled. "They're right there on top of your head, so just...pop 'em out."

Haru scowled, but closed her eyes and concentrated. Perhaps five seconds passed before she spoke.

"This is stupid."

"No it's not, it's important!" Youko said. "Now come on, concentrate! Once you do it the first time, it'll be easy."

Haru sighed and furrowed her brow in concentration. 'Come on Haru, let's get this over with. Concentrate, concentrate...come on ears. Ears, ears, ears...' She shut her eyes as tight as they could go, clenched her jaw, and concentrated as hard as she could. 'Ears...ears...ears...ears...ears...'

'...what exactly are you trying to do?' the other Haru asked in Haru's head.

'Quiet you,' Haru replied. 'I'm trying to make my ears pop out. Come on, ears. Ears...ears...ears...ears...'

The other Haru snorted in amusement and performed the mental equivalent of rolling over on her back. 'Oh be quiet; I'm trying to sleep here.'

'No, you be quiet,' Haru thought. 'I'm actually trying to do something here. Ears...ears...ears...'

'Oh for blood's sake,' the other Haru said. 'I'll do it.'

When it happened, it wasn't anything like Haru had imagined. A little bit of pressure grew in her head as if she had climbed up a tall hill, followed by the sensation of something popping up through her hair, and suddenly her sense of hearing was greatly magnified. She was so startled she jerked back half a step and tripped over her own feet.

Youko pulled her back up one-handed, grinning hugely all the while.

Haru looked from Youko to Keiko and back as she dusted off the back of her shorts. "Did it work?"

Keiko abruptly looked away, an unfamiliar expression on her face.

"It worked, didn't it? Is something wrong? There's something wrong, isn't there?" Haru asked, gently probing the new ears on top of her head. She was surprised to discover just how sensitive they were to the touch; they twitched away from her fingers as if they had a mind of their own.

"Snrk!"

Haru glared at Youko, who was trying and failing to hold back laughter. "What? What's so funny?"

Youko took one look at her face, looked up at her ears, and burst out laughing. "Oh wow! Ha! Hey Keiko, you ever see anything like that? It's great!"

Haru turned her attention to Keiko, who was desperately trying to hide her laughter by turning away and clapping her hands over her mouth. "What's wrong with them? What is it?"

"Oh all right," Youko said, reaching up to flick one of Haru's ears. "They're huge."

Haru blinked as she tried to cover her ears with her hands to protect them from Youko. "...what?"

Youko smiled brightly at her. "Your ears. They're really, really big."

"...really?" Haru asked. "Is that bad...?" she asked, trying to push them down.

Youko burst into laughter again, prompting another glare from Haru. When she recovered, she went on. "No, it's actually really good. See, you know what human boys like?" she asked, gesturing from her own, rather ample chest to Haru's near-flat example.

Haru stiffened, feeling rather offended, but nodded. "Yes..."

"Well," Youko said, grinning hugely. "It's the same with youkai boys and that," she said, pointing at Haru's ears.

Haru just gaped at her for a moment before rushing over to the side of the storage building to look at her reflection in one of the dirty windows. Her ears really were big...bigger than Youko's, even; they were easily ten inches from their wide base to their narrow tips. She had never even considered such a thing before...she heard the other Haru laughing in her head, and scowled.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad; you'll just have to beat the boys off with a stick," Youko said, grinning hugely. Haru rolled her eyes, but Youko interrupted her before she could speak. "It's probably for the best that you don't bring out your tail; judging by those ears of yours, your tail'd probably drive everybody crazy!" Youko said, devolving into a fit of laughter that almost had her rolling on the ground.

Haru rolled her eyes again and sighed, her ears twitching.

---

"Are you sure this is the way you should do this?"

Masashi stiffened as he checked his hair one last time in a small hand mirror and whirled to face the other youkai. "I don't want to hear anything like that from someone who couldn't even beat a human in a fight," he said, his voice dripping with disdain.

Rex shrugged, clearly unimpressed. "Just saying, is all. And besides, that wasn't a fight; it was a regulated tournament match; a match. You know, where they have rules?" he said, cocking an eyebrow and looking at Masashi as if he was an idiot. "In a real fight, it would've been over in two seconds."

"Tch." Masashi huffed as he checked his reflection again and made sure his ceremonial outfit was perfect. "Just be ready in case something happens," he said, taking up the two ceremonial items, the mirror that he had stolen from the Silver Fox tribe's storage building and the long, curved, jewel-encrusted sword that he had stolen from the Shinmeiryu in Kyoto just days before. The mirror was the sacred Yata no Kagami, the so-called 'Eight Hand Mirror', once belonging to Amaterasu herself, and long since used in the ceremony by which a youkai was crowned king, a ritual the humans of Japan had shamelessly copied using their own pale imitations of the real thing. The sword was the equally sacred Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the 'Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven', though the uninitiated had taken to calling it the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, the 'Grass Cutting Sword', sometimes shortened further still to 'Grasscutter'. At least...he thought it was. Thus far, he had used the Yata no Kagami to travel between Mundus Magicus and Mundus Vetus quite often; the mirror was overflowing with power, all but glowing with some mysterious inner light that left no doubt in the mind of anyone who saw it as to what it truly was. The sword, however...

No matter what Masashi tried, the sword refused to respond. He had searched far and wide for instructions on its use, but such information was jealously guarded by Rydan Draos, the current Steward of the Youkai in Absence of the King; the youkai was a legend in his own time, and Masashi referred to him by his full title even in his own thoughts. He pulled the sword from its sheath and again inspected the blade. While he was no swordsmith, he thought it was a beautiful weapon; he had no doubt that such a treasure was far, far beyond the skill any mere human smith...the very thought was appalling. It was the most regal of the swords secreted away in the secret inner armory hidden deep underground in the very center of the Shinmeiryu complex in Kyoto, where it had been placed after the death of the last Youkai King centuries ago. He kept telling himself he had no doubt it was the real thing: a sword fit for a king, the king. And he would learn to use it, too; he had been practicing, and had already mastered the swings and thrusts required to use such a blade...all that remained was learning how to use it's hidden powers as the Youkai King.

He had killed for this blade, and he would have no problem killing again.

The only thing missing was, of course, the Yasakani no Magatama, a jewel no doubt of supreme beauty, the last of the three sacred relics that any prospective Youkai King must gather to be deemed worthy of the title, though any youkai holding at least one of the relics could formally announce his intentions, as Masashi planned to do today at this, the most sacred of festivals for the youkai. As for the jewel, it had last been seen in the possession of the last Youkai King, that bitch Youko's mother, back before her death; its current whereabouts were unknown, though some suggested that it had been hidden away, perhaps with the sword. Masashi didn't know for sure, but he sure hadn't seen anything like the jewel when he had been raiding the Shinmeiryu's secret vaults. Of course, there hadn't been much time to check...he didn't care to think about how close he had been to death at the hands of the Aoyama sisters, the two most highly skilled members of that order, outstripping even the leader Eishun Konoe and his daughter.

He shook his head to clear it and quickly checked his reflection again, taking care to straighten a few hairs that had fallen out of place.

"If you're done making sure you look pretty, it's time to go see your supporters," Rex said dryly; he tossed back a plastic cup full of room temperature sake and promptly wrinkled his nose at the taste. "This shit is weak,' he said.

Masashi performed an elaborate shrug, turning this way and that as he checked his clothing one final time in the mirror that he had had set up for just this purpose. "That is the most you can expect of human efforts, I suppose. Come; we have a proclamation to make. And be sure to look suitably imposing, will you? I have no wish to fight the unwashed hordes while they try to steal my relics," he said, using the Yata no Kagami itself to check if his ponytail was fanning out properly.

"Yeah yeah," Rex said, picking up the long, wicked-looking sword he preferred as both a weapon and a focus object for his power. He pulled it halfway out of its sheath, checked the edge, and thrust it back in before strapping it to his back, the hilt within easy reach. He checked the load in the ancient pistol on his hip, a great magical artifact in its own right, and patted his various hidden knives and other items to ensure they remained where he could get to them in a hurry. "I'm ready; you?" he asked.

Masashi nodded slightly and moved to stand by the door. "We shouldn't keep them waiting."

---

"Okay, I know where we're going first," Youko said, looking at the colorful folding map she had taken from an information booth.

"Where's that?" Haru asked, still a bit miffed about the whole thing with her ears. Keiko walked along between Youko and Haru, trying to take everything in.

Youko held the map out so Haru and Keiko could see. "See? Up here at this big fountain."

Haru peered at the writing. "What, 'Power Testing Center'...? What's that for?" she asked.

Youko cocked an eyebrow. "That'd be testing your power, hence 'Power Testing Center'." Haru glared at her, and she grinned in response. "Come on, it won't be that bad. It's something that needs to be done, anyway; you won't find any adult youkai who hasn't had their power tested."

Haru bit her lip as she looked down at the map. "Is that alright...? I mean, I'm not really a youkai, I'm only a quarter-"

"It's fine," Youko said, waving off her protests. "Besides, it's really close. We just go this way..." she said, leading the way.

---

Haru followed along, aggravated but curious, as Youko led the way out to the large fountain. Haru's eyes widened as she took in all the youkai walking around. It took her a moment to realize that the vast majority of them were really quite young; most seemed to be her own age. There were only a few adults present.

When Haru finally tore her attention away and turned back to her friends, she realized Youko and Keiko were both just standing there, looking around as if searching for something.

"I think that is the line...?" Keiko said hesitantly.

Youko and Haru looked where she was pointing; sure enough, an extremely sloppy line was slowly moving forward.

"Nevon Bayle of the Gold Fox Tribe!" an amplified voice shouted. "Three Hundred Forty Five!"

Haru looked around in confusion as a chorus of "Ooh!" and "Ah!" broke out among the youkai standing around. She turned to Youko, and was a little surprised to see her smiling slightly, her eyes seeming to stare at something far, far away. "What was that?" she asked.

Youko turned her attention back to the present and looked at her. "Power testing. That Nevon kid from the Gold Fox Tribe's a three forty-five; that's actually really good...now come on, let's get you in line."

Haru didn't protest as Youko shoved her into the line. A moment later, someone handed her a piece of paper and a pencil. "What's this for...?" she asked, looking around for Youko and Keiko, who were nowhere to be found. "Youko? Keiko...?"

The cat girl with the bright smile standing in line in front of her turned around to look at her and lit up. "It's for where you write your information!" she said, holding hers up for Haru to see. "See? You put your name here, and your tribe here, and your sponsor here. See?" she asked again.

Haru looked at the girl's paper. It took her a moment to decipher the cat girl's sloppy handwriting, but she puzzled it out easily enough. "'Name: Yagi Ryoko, Affiliation: Cat Tribe, Sponsor: Yagi Kichirou, my big brother'," she read aloud. "Huh..."

The girl cocked her head to the side curiously, still smiling brightly. "You look confused...?"

"Well..." Haru said absently, looking around for Youko and Keiko as the line inched forward, the same amplified voice announcing names, tribes, and power levels. She frowned when she couldn't spot either one of them.

"Hey, are you okay? You seem nice, like Kichirou-nii, and your ears are really really big and pretty; I don't want you to be feeling bad..." the cat girl said, obviously concerned. "Do you need some water?"

Haru shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. Um...what if I don't have a...a tribe? Or a sponsor?"

Ryoko's eyes went huge, and Haru thought for a moment she had somehow insulted the girl. "Oh! You're a stray!" she said, as if that explained everything.

"...a stray?" Haru asked. She couldn't help but feel a little offended by the terminology. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Ryoko said as pleasantly at ever, "it means you don't have a tribe! It makes things harder later on, but for now it doesn't matter," she said, nodding to herself. "You really need a sponsor though; who brought you here?"

Haru blinked at the cat girl staring back at her, utterly guileless. "Um...her name's Youko; Miyoshi Youko."

"Okay! Then write her name there," Ryoko said, pointing. "And put 'un a fill ee ayted' there."

By the time Haru finished filling out her paperwork, the line had moved quite far and she found herself and Ryoko standing near the stage, a wooden structure six feet tall which had been built next to a line of trees; an awning had been stretched above it to keep the summer sun off, and from what she could see, there were five testing stations, each consisting of a raised podium with a blueish white ball of some sort placed on top; she watched as the next group moved to their places and waited for the tester, a familiar woman with long black hair whom Haru had seen around Mahora, to give the go ahead.

"Begin the test," the long haired woman said, and the five young youkai standing on the stage placed their hands on the balls, which promptly lit up, some glowing more brightly than others. Another woman standing at the head of the line let the next five in to wait beside the stage and the line moved forward again. The tester announced the highest power level of the group, and then sent them down the steps on the far side of the stage where, Haru could see, a lot of older youkai stood, no doubt to pick up their children after testing.

Things went smoothly for perhaps fifteen minutes before a sudden shout startled Haru back to reality from the sleepy daze she had let herself drift into.

"Aah!" Ryoko let out a startled gasp; Haru gave her a confused look before realizing Ryoko had probably been dozing on her feet as well. A murmur ran through the crowd as one of the young youkai at the far end of the stage began shouting angrily. The woman who had been standing at the head of the line told the next group to stay where they were, and climbed up onto the stage.

Haru craned her neck to see what was going on, and spotted the tester, still smiling, trying to calm down an outraged young youkai. She couldn't hear what the tester was saying, but the youkai's voice cut sharply through the murmuring of the crowds.

"I don't care! This isn't right! There's no way I'm only a hundred and five! First you say that bastard Nevon Bayle's a three forty five, and now this? You're lying...! How dare you lie about me? Don't you know whom I am? I'm going to get my father to punish you!"

Haru frowned. 'What a brat...!' she thought in disgust. 'And trying to use his dad as a threat...'

The young youkai had continued. "And besides, you're just a filthy human anyway; I bet you just don't like—eep!" He yelped as a very angry black haired woman with a sideways ponytail appeared directly in front of him, a hand on the hilt of her sword.

Haru blinked. One moment, the woman had been on this end of the stage, and then the young youkai had insulted the tester...oh. Oh! The young youkai quickly backed off at the sudden threat of death by dismemberment, and the sword woman was about to return to her position at the head of the line when the tester held up her microphone.

"Since our integrity and equipment has been called into question, please allow us a moment to perform a test run!" she said. Then, turning to the sword woman, "Secchan?"

The sword woman sighed and nodded, and headed for the first testing station. Haru blinked, surprised, as the tester announced the results. "Sakurazaki Setsuna, Crow Tribe, one thousand six hundred twenty five!"

"Oooh!" Ryoko said in glee as an awed murmuring ran over the crowd, her eyes glittering. "That's so high...! Sakurazaki-sama is amazing, right, right?" she asked, turning back to Haru, who nodded, dumbstruck. Setsuna's level, confirmed by all five testing stations, was far, far above even Nevon's level, which had been the highest she had heard announced thus far.

With the angry young youkai dealt with and the exactness of the testing stations confirmed, things ran smoothly again for another ten minutes before the five young youkai in front of Haru were called up on stage. "Good luck!" she said to Ryoko, who turned around and gave her a bright grin and a peace sign before standing in front of her testing station. A moment later, the results were in.

"Yagi Ryoko, Cat Tribe, Six hundred twenty five!" the tester said excitedly. Ryoko just stood there, stunned, and had to be led off of the stage to the other side, where another cat youkai, evidently her brother, stood on a pair of crutches, waiting for her.

When it was finally time for Haru's group to go forward, the sword woman smiled at her.

"Good luck Endo-san."

Haru turned to look at her, eyes wide, but the four youkai behind her gave her impatient looks and she moved up onto the stage and went to the far testing station, where she stood, waiting. She shot a quick glance out over the crowd, but didn't see Youko or Keiko anywhere...it was a little nerve-wracking.

"Is everyone ready?" the tester, Haru recalled her name was Konoe...something, asked. Everyone nodded. "Start!"

Haru peered at the ball for a moment and hesitantly reached out. She paused when she felt the power pouring off of it, almost like static electricity, and shot a quick look at the other test takers, all of whom had their hands on the ball in front of them. Haru looked back at the ball, tried to ignore the nervousness she was feeling, and put both hands on it. She immediately received a jolt and almost jerked away, but it didn't repeat.

The ball was quite strange, Haru decided. It was full of power, for one thing, power she could feel probing throughout her body as she touched it, but...it was growing uncomfortably warm and bright under her hands. The crowd started to murmur again, but Haru barely heard them; the ball had moved past uncomfortably warm and straight into hot. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, and shot a frantic glance at the other youkai being tested, none of whom appeared to be feeling the slightest discomfort. Haru was really sweating by this point. She looked at the tester helplessly, but she was looking at one of the other youkai. The heat finally grew unbearable and Haru began to whimper.

"Look out!"

The next thing she knew, someone had tackled her around the middle, throwing her over the edge of the stage and driving the air from her lungs. The person held her down flat against the ground, shielding her body with their own as an explosion rocked the stage and several youkai screamed.

"Are you okay?" a familiar voice asked.

Haru forced her eyes open to look up into the concerned face of the sword woman, Sakurazaki Setsuna. She blinked once, twice, and then shot to her feet, looking around wildly. "What happened? Was it...was it..."

"You overloaded the testing station," Setsuna said, pointing back at the smoldering wreckage of Testing Station Number One.

Haru spotted the tester, Konoe Konoka, still standing on the stage, finally releasing the magical shield she had created to protect the other four youkai being tested.

"Is she okay?" Konoka asked.

"She's fine," Setsuna replied as she helped Haru back up on stage. She looked at the ruined testing station and back to Haru. "Those things max out at around two thousand. From what I saw, you're probably around twenty five hundred or so...congratulations, Endo-san; you're the strongest I've ever seen for one so young."

"Ah...th-thank you," Haru replied, her heart racing as her eyes met Setsuna's. There was something in the other woman's gaze...excitement at Haru's level, anticipation, possibly an urge to cross swords at some point in the future; it took Haru a moment to figure it out, but the most surprising thing was the almost complete lack of surprise in the other woman's eyes, as if she had already known how much power Haru had. Konoka announced her estimated level and Setsuna led her back down the stairs and left her there; Youko and Keiko arrived a moment later to find her still dazed.

"Are you alright?" Keiko asked, taking Haru's hand and leading her over to a bench in the shade of a large tree. "We heard that explosion...what happened?"

Haru absently wiped some dirt and twigs from the bench and collapsed on to it. "The testing station I was using exploded..." Now that the excitement had passed, the adrenalin she hadn't even been aware of was winding down and she was finally starting to realize just what had happened. Her hands were shaking and her ears were trying to lay flat on her head.

"Exploded? Are you okay?" Keiko asked, hovering over her like a concerned mother.

"So, what did they say?" Youko asked, grinning so wide and with such a wicked gleam in her eyes that all it took from Haru, even in her addled state, was one look to know the fox girl already knew exactly what had happened and was very pleased about it.

Haru blinked at Youko, turned from her knowing smirk to Keiko's concerned look, and let out a deep breath. "They said the testing stations could handle any rating up to two thousand..."

"And?" Youko asked, grinning.

"It shouldn't have just exploded like that," Keiko said, frowning as she pondered the event. "Not unless it was overloaded far beyond its limits..."

"Girl knows what she's talking about," Youko said, her grin widening further still.

"Sakurazaki-san said my level was probably around t-twenty five hundred," Haru said reluctantly. "I...I didn't mean to make it blow up! Am I going to be in trouble...?" she asked, eyes wide in sudden realization at what she had done as she looked frantically from Youko to Keiko and back.

Youko burst into laughter, prompting Keiko to give her a concerned look.

"It's not funny!" Haru wailed. "I don't have any money, there's no way I can pay them back for something like that!"

It took several moments for the last of Youko's guffaws to work itself out.

"Look," Youko said, slapping Haru on the shoulder when she had recovered. "They're prepared for things like that. See? They're already setting up a replacement," she said, pointing up at the stage, on which several workers were indeed adjusting a newly installed testing station.

"...oh..."

"Yeah, see? No problem. Now, on to the next one!" Youko said, grabbing Haru's hand and jerking her off the bench.

"Wha...! Wait!"

---

"Hey, did you hear? Some kid just broke one of the power testing stations!" a young dog youkai said to his friend.

Kotarou's ears twitched as he walked past the pair. He was curious; it wasn't every day that someone overloaded a power testing station, especially since it was usually just kids testing on them. Hell, it wasn't even every year. It might happen once every other festival, in fact...ten to twenty years apart, or evern more. He wanted to stop and ask for more information, but with Natsumi latched onto his arm...

He smirked at the thought. He liked Natsumi latched onto his arm. The only thing better would be to walk with his arm around her as she cuddled into his side, but even he found that idea to be a little too embarrassing in a public place like this, with so many people watching. Maybe in a mostly deserted park somewhere, or... 'Oh who am I kidding, I'm still embarrassed even showing this much,' he thought, trying hard to fight back the embarrassed blush that would utterly destroy his hard earned badass reputation among the youkai. Natsumi would probably take it the wrong way too, and he didn't want that if he could help it. Natsumi was just so small and thin and cute and he liked the way she looked up at him and the way she felt walking next to him and... 'Whoa whoa, come on, calm down dogboy. This is not what you should be thinking about right now. Come on, think about that idiot you beat earlier. The one who said the word "human" like it was a swear. The one who insulted Natsumi. The one who-' He was startled out of his thoughts when Natsumi's grip on his arm shifted. His eyes shot to her face and her suddenly sharp eyes, and then back to the insane sword lady who had been following them; only an idiot would miss the way she had surreptitiously slipped forward to close most of the gap between them. She appeared to be looking straight ahead, but Kotarou had no doubt anyone who tried to sneak up on her would get four feet of solid light through the stomach.

"What is it?" Kotarou said just loudly enough for Natsumi to hear.

"Where is it?" Natsumi asked just loudly enough for Kotarou to hear as her eyes scanned the crowds.

Both of them paused and looked at each other.

"Huh?"

"What?"

They blinked at each other.

"But you-"

"I thought-"

"You first."

"You first."

"No, you."

"No, you..."

Natsumi and Kotarou stopped talking and just looked at each other for a moment.

"Now what's going-"

"Kotarou-kun, you-"

"Gah! Dammit!" Kotarou said.

"While I hate to interrupt your comedy routine, I'm afraid I must ask: Where is the danger?" Linda Cale asked in a quiet tone as she stood idly nearby, appearing to be nothing more than a bored tourist, if an odd one with her white hair and pale skin.

"What happened?" Kotarou asked.

Natsumi paused, tilting her head to the side slightly as she looked up at him. "You growled, so I thought..."

Kotarou blinked once, twice. "...huh?"

"You growled," Natsumi said again.

"I growled," Kotarou said.

Natsumi nodded.

"...huh. I was just thinking about that jerk earlier, and the way he was talking about you..." Kotarou said, trailing off and training his gaze on a nearby pebble as he became embarrassed.

Natsumi looked away too, suddenly shy. "I didn't like the way he was talking about you either..."

Linda rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh as she reached up to massage her forehead. "This is going to be a long day..."

---

Masashi waited until the applause had died down among his small crowd of followers, his expression radiating confidence spiced with just the right amount of arrogance, as was expected of any member of the Gold Fox Tribe with his ambitions. He was a youkai who was going places, and the big Red Fox Tribe brute standing behind him and to the right, looking as dangerous as a nesting dragon, would ensure no one would try to stop him; his other bodyguards, strategically placed around the stage, were all but invisible...all the better to stab someone in the back should they try to cause trouble.

"And finally I would like to extend my thanks to the Bayle family, without whose generous assistance I would never have made it this far," Masashi said, gesturing to several of the youkai standing behind him on the stage. He waited until the applause died, then stepped up to the edge of the small stage and slowly looked over his crowd of supporters, all full blooded youkai, all Gold Fox Tribe. Most were adults, many were quite powerful as youkai went, all were from large, powerful families. "I promise you," he said, his expression full of all the serious solemnity anyone could ever want in their meal ticket, "you have not made a mistake in supporting me. I will take the title of King of the Youkai, I will take my rightful place in history, and the Gold Fox Tribe will be returned to its proper position at the top!"

When the lengthy applause finally died down, he thanked his supporters again and climbed down from the stage, Rex right behind him, and made his way through his supporters, taking the time to speak a few words with anyone who wanted to talk, to a small building nearby, where he paused to make sure his his hair ad clothing were still perfect. Inside, he found his real supporters, his important supporters, seated around a table. One of them, the head of the Bayle family, stood up.

"Masashi."

Masashi bowed respectfully to the elder. "Elder Bayle." He looked at each of them in turn. "Elder Bruce; Elder Sayer; Elder Knell; Elder Clare. I thank you all for coming here today-"

"Drop it; we aren't that rabble out there," Elder Sayer said, not unkindly.

Masashi bowed; if the 'rabble' he had just spoken to could be considered the nobility, these could be justifiably called the elite of the elite, the real holders of power among the Gold Fox Tribe. The rabble would do what these five youkai told them to do; nevertheless, it was always wise to make the plebeians love you if you wanted to be king...this was something Masashi had learned long ago. Many a powerful king had been toppled because his people didn't love him.

"Is he trustworthy?" Elder Bruce asked, looking at Rex with a measuring eye. To his credit, Rex merely raised an eyebrow and met the other youkai's stare without flinching, something even Masashi couldn't manage.

"He is trustworthy, Elder Bruce," Masashi said, a little miffed at the way the older youkai had questioned his decision. Masashi would remember; when he was king, Elder Bruce might find himself in a difficult situation, trying to explain his love for human girls, such as the one he kept at that house he secretly owned near Ariadne.

Elder Bruce gave him a measuring look, obviously unaware of the knowledge Masashi held, and nodded. "Very well."

"Come, take a seat, Masashi," Elder Bayle said, gesturing to the only empty seat at the table. "We have much to discuss before your official announcement."

Masashi bowed. "Of course." He sat down carefully, making sure his ceremonial clothing wouldn't become unduly creased as he did so. They did have much to discuss before he made the official announcement before the Steward of the Youkai in the Absence of the King; Masashi's intentions were the worst-kept secret in the entire Gold Fox Tribe, and already troublemakers had started to appear. They had much to plan for...suppressing the rowdier element, removing those who would deny him, silencing others even among his own tribe who would object to Masashi announcing his intentions to become king...

"Yes, we have much to discuss indeed."

---

"Uwhaa~aahn." Youko stretched as she yawned. Keiko stood beside her, the much shorter human girl doing her best to not attract undue attention—and widely succeeding—while they waited for Haru to exit the tent.

"Does it normally take this long?" Keiko asked as she eyed the line of young youkai waiting for their turn.

Youko shrugged. "Sometimes; it depends on how hard it is to cast her fortune. She's not exactly an easy case..."

"Because she's only part youkai?" Keiko asked, looking up at Youko, who grinned brightly at her and ruffled her hair.

"That's right. The human parts tend to muddle things up; that's what my mom always told me." Youko immediately fell silent, as if realizing she had said something she hadn't wanted to.

Keiko took a moment to smooth her hair out and peered up at her. "You never talk about your m—"

"Ah! There she is! Hey Haru! Haru!" Youko called out, cutting off Keiko and waving her arms to get Haru's attention. Haru looked up, spotted the two of them, and waved.

A moment later Haru trotted up, looking rather puzzled as her ears twitched. Several boys nearby stared. "Hey guys..."

"So how did it go?" Youko asked. Keiko nodded energetically, or at least as energetically as Youko had ever seen her nod; it wasn't very impressive.

"Well..." Haru said, trailing off as she screwed up her face in concentration as she tried to recall everything that had happened. "The lady in the tent dropped some bones on a table, made a face, and then picked 'em up and poured some candle wax into a big bowl of water. After that she frowned again and made me drink some tea and looked at the cup, then she took out a Ouija board but nothing happened, and then she looked at the palm of my hand and her eyebrows went up like this," Haru said, using her fingers to push her eyebrows up enough to make Keiko grin.

"And what happened after that?" Youko asked, her own grin suggesting she knew something she wasn't telling.

"Well...then she asked me for my birth date, and when I gave it to her it looked like her eyes were about to pop out. Then she laid out a buncha tarot cards real fast and started flipping 'em."

"And?" Youko said, edging in closer.

"Well..." Haru said, frowning in puzzlement as she cocked her head to the side, her gaze distant as she tried to recall every detail. "She said a bunch of stuff like 'Dear Lord' and 'By my mother's eyes' and things like that. Then she looked at me like she was scared of me and gave me what she called the 'Blessing of the World', and pretty much kicked me out. Weird, huh?"

Youko's grin had widened to a ridiculous extent. "The 'Blessing of the World', huh? Nice! You did real good, Haru-chan~" she said, flinging her arms around the other girl.

Haru yelped when Youko's arms went around her; she yelped even louder when the taller girl began spinning her around, laughing. "Hey! What are you doing? Stop it!"

"Ha ha ha! This is great! Perfect!" Youko said. "Even better than I thought! It's like...it's like it's fate!" she said, finally setting Haru back on her feet. She grabbed Haru's shoulders to steady her and grinned wide. "You did real good, Haru. Come on, I'll buy us all some lunch!"

"So what does all of that mean?" Keiko asked as she eyed Youko.

Youko glanced down at her, grinning toothily. "Heh, you've just got to wait and see, Keiko-chan!"

---

"I want you to get with the Black Fox Tribe elders and arrange a meeting later today after my speech," Masashi said to one of the Gold Fox Tribe youkai following along behind him.

"Yes, Masashi-sama."

"You should speak with the head of the Red Fox Tribe and see if you can sway him to my cause," he said to another. Arrange a meeting this evening if necessary, but keep in mind that I have been invited to a feast by one of the major families."

"I understand, Masashi-sama," that one said as he rushed off to do so.

"That leaves..." Masashi said to himself as he tried to recall what else needed to be done before his announcement. While he didn't put much faith into what the Black and Red Fox Tribes could do for him, he wasn't foolish enough to ignore them, not when he was planning to attempt the official abolishment of the Silver Fox Tribe... "Perhaps I should attempt to use the Cat Tribe?" he wondered aloud to Rex, who stalked along beside him.

"They'd make for useful cannon fodder at least," Rex replied without animosity; the Cat Tribe was well known among youkai to be as useless as it was numerous. There were occasional powerful cat youkai, but for the most part they were a disgraced tribe, the mere remnants of one of the first tribes, long ago fallen into ruin. The Cat Tribe had a reputation for laziness and independence that had never done it any good; individuals ran the gamut from bloodthirsty warriors to useless morons who slept in the sun all day and curled up in a corner somewhere all night. How half of them didn't manage to starve themselves to death through sheer laziness was a question Masashi had pondered from time to time before finally giving it up due to his realization that the tribe as a whole really was useless. The only use for members of the cat tribe, he had decided, was as a harem.

"The dog tribe's pretty good," Rex said idly. "I've been hearing stories about this new guy that's made a name for himself the last couple a' years-"

Masashi curled his lip. Filthy dogs were no better than the Wolf Tribe, and far less organized. "No."

Rex shrugged. "The Crow Tribe?"

Masashi paused, and Rex walked along another few steps before turning around to look at him.

"The Crow Tribe..." Masashi said thoughtfully. Now the Crow Tribe, there was at tribe that knew how to get things done...! Why hadn't he thought of them before? He even had one of them working for him as a bodyguard...! Of course, that had been on Rex's suggestion, but still... Swaying them to his side wouldn't be easy. They were fiercely independent, even to the point of their leader calling himself a king... preposterous, of course; the only real king among youkai was the Youkai King. Nevertheless, the Crow Tribe would be a powerful ally. Now, it was just a matter of finding their representative at the festival and arranging a meeting with their so-called 'king'...

"You...!"

Masashi's mind instantly shot back to the present, already growling as he realized who had just spoken. "Youko...!" he snarled.

There, not ten feet away, stood Miyoshi Youko, arrogantly called Youko Ninetales though she had at most three, the one youkai he hated above all others, the daughter of the former Youkai King who had died centuries ago, the one who had a claim on the position he alone deserved...! "I'll kill you!" he snarled as he jumped at her.

Youko moved to meet him but a look of surprise flickered across her face and then something slammed into Masashi's side. The next thing he knew, he was lying against a tree, shaking his head to clear it. 'What...?' he wondered as he looked over toward the path where he had been standing, twenty feet away. He gaped. Rex was holding a young youkai girl—no, not a youkai, a filthy hanyou, a half-youkai though she had truly magnificent ears—up in the air by the back of her neck while she flailed around, trying to hit him and failing miserably due to her shorter reach.

"Put me down!" the filthy hanyou wailed.

Youko looked over at Masashi. "Tell your hired goon to back off," she snapped.

Masashi took his time climbing to his feet and removing the grass and other debris from his ceremonial clothing before he deigned to turn his attention back to Rex and the girl, who had apparently settled for crossing her arms and scowling at him as she hung in the air. He nodded to Rex, who promptly dropped the girl, who squawked as she hit the road on her butt.

"Hello Masashi," Youko almost spat the name as he approached the roadside. The filthy hanyou girl had already stood up and was glaring at him, but seemed content to hide behind Youko.

"Youko," Masashi replied, sneering.

"Nice dress; I'm sure it would have been all the rage among the geishas a hundred years ago," Youko replied.

Masashi bit his tongue to keep from snarling again. How dare she insult his ceremonial robes...! But there was no point in trading barbs with the bitch standing before him; he knew well she could go on for hours. "Get out of my way," he growled.

Youko's eyes widened in mock surprise. "Oh my! I am so, so, so sorry, I didn't realize it was king panties-in-a-twist himself! By all means, we will move out of your way, oh lord of shit and king of all that crawls in the sewers!" she said in mock solemnity, accompanied by a sweeping bow that left his eyebrow twitching.

Masashi snarled at her again; he couldn't help it. Youko had always been infuriating; it was why he had gone through the trouble of framing her for various crimes in Kyoto and gotten her locked away to rot in jail for a few centuries. He grinned nastily to himself. "I can see your time in that cell hasn't helped your humility, though you do seem content to hang around with the, how should I say, lower sort of alley dweller," he said, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at her, sparing a disdainful glance at the filthy hanyou standing beside her and the short girl—

Wait. Wait just a minute.

He sneered in disgust at the thing he saw hiding behind Youko.

Oh hell no.

He turned back to Youko. "Why," he asked, his voice carefully level, "did you bring a human to our sacred festival?" he said, his gaze meeting Youko's. This went beyond petty insults, beyond mere mockery; this was important.

Youko's expression changed and he had to fight back a sudden urge to run. In an instant, her expression had gone hard and distant and somehow regal, an expression he remembered seeing on the face of her mother, the most recent Youkai King, centuries ago when he was still a kid himself. He had seen it once before; the recipient had left the area minus an arm.

"A human? I see a friend," Youko replied as she put her arm around the short human girl's shoulders, something in her voice sending shivers down Masashi's spine. No matter what he might say aloud, Youko definitely had the makings of a ruler, and though he hid it and hid it well, it terrified him.

He turned his attention on to the other one, the brat with the beautiful ears who had attacked him from the side; he had an idea... He fixed her with a glare and couldn't help but curl his lip in a sneer when her eyes widened and she shrunk back a little. "And you...!"

"What about her?" Youko asked, her voice deceptively calm.

Masashi shot a nervous glance at her. 'That bitch Youko...! She needs to be knocked down a few pegs, and what better way than to humiliate one of her followers?' he thought to himself. "She attacked me without provocation at our sacred festival! I am perfectly within my rights to demand satisfaction!" He glared at Haru again. "You!"

Haru looked up at him, her eyes wide. "M-me?"

"Yes, you! I challenge you to a duel!" Masashi favored her with a particularly disdainful glare. "Are you too frightened? Then bow down and swear fealty to me." He smirked as he spoke; the filthy half-breed wouldn't have the nerve to fight, not against one as great as he...! Even if she did choose to fight, he wouldn't stain his hands with such a low being; Rex would be happy to oblige.

Haru just stood there, gaping at Masashi in disbelief, then whirled to face Youko. "W-w-what do I do?!"

Youko turned that regal expression on Haru, and she flinched back. "You did attack him unprovoked; he has the right to challenge you to a duel. The question you should be asking is this: what do you want to do? Are you willing to fight to stay here with the rest of us, or do you want to become his slave for the rest of your life? The decision is yours and yours alone, Haru; take your time deciding."

Haru looked from Youko to Keiko and back over to Masashi and the youkai grouped around behind him. "I...I don't want to bow down to you," Haru said timidly. "You're...you're just a bully. I-I accept your challenge!"

Masashi grinned like the cat that ate the canary as he looked back at Youko. "Very well. However, as I am currently engaged in a very important enterprise, I am afraid I must appoint a substitute to take my place." The whole time he spoke, he kept his gaze locked with Youko's. "In fact Youko, I believe you and my substitute have already met, some time ago. You were playmates, I believe. Rex?" he said, turning away from Youko's carefully schooled expression to look at his bodyguard.

Rex took a couple of steps forward to stand before Youko. He towered over her, his strong physique dwarfing her own semi-athletic figure, tall as she was. "Hello Youko; it's been a while."

Youko looked up to meet his eyes. "Hello Rex; I almost didn't recognize you...you've come a long way from that little red headed kid who always tried to steal my yukata. What are you doing with him? He doesn't even realize what you're really like, does he?" she asked, the corner of her mouth quirking upward.

Rex smirked back at her and shrugged. "Doesn't matter; money is money, and he's entertaining at least. Wanna fight? I think you'd put up a better one than the kid," he said, jerking his thumb back at Haru.

Youko's slight smile widened a little further. "You might be surprised...but no, it's her fight. Now come on, let's go to the dueling site. It's over by the woods to the east, right?"

"I am afraid I must-" Masashi started to say.

"Yeah. You guys ready?" Rex asked.

"Always," Youko replied, her smile widening a little more.

"I am afraid I must be going," Masashi said loudly, repeating himself. "Make this quick, Rex. I require your presence at my next speech."

Rex glanced back at Masashi as he turned and stalked away followed by the group of fox youkai attending him, cocked an eyebrow, and turned back to Youko. "Let's go."

---

The dueling grounds were simply a large patch of grass cordoned off in a circle with a magic barrier put in place to keep wild youkai energies from having too large an affect on the surrounding area if a duel got out of hand.

When the group arrived, several youkai were finishing the cleanup after the last duel. Haru took one look at the bloody, mangled, yet still breathing winner of the previous duel as he was carted away on a makeshift stretcher, and stuck close to Youko.

"W-what should I do?" Haru asked, her ears flattening down on her head as she clung to Youko's shirt sleeve.

Youko grinned down at her. "Well, you accepted the challenge, so you have to go through with the duel."

"But-"

"Hmm...I'd say strike first and go all out. Rex isn't someone you can take lightly," Youko said absently as she watched one of the workers in the dueling ring pick up something that looked suspiciously like an arm. "He never was."

Haru looked from the arm guy back up to Youko, her face pale. "C-can you ask him to...to go easy? I mean-"

"Nope~" Youko replied, smiling. "Just change into your animal form and have at him!" Youko paused, looking out at the fighting ring. "If you don't, he'll rip your spine out," she added as an aside.

Haru barely had time to digest that before the workers announced that they were ready for the next duel. Rex stepped right in and moved to take his place on the north end of the field and stood there waiting. The next thing she knew, Haru was being pushed into the dueling ring.

"N...no...! Youko-san! H-how could you? I'm not ready for this! I'm not ready at all! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

"Then don't die, okay?" Youko said, grinning at her. "Just change into your animal form and blast him with everything you've got."

Youko gave her one last shove to get her completely into the dueling ring, and then the barrier went up, preventing anyone from entering or leaving until the duel was over.

"Nooo...!" Haru wailed.

---

Haru stood nervously across from Rex in the dueling ring. 'OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod I don't wanna die!'

'Tch; quit being a baby,' the other Haru said, inside Haru's head. 'It's just a fight; beat him down and be done with it.'

'Easy for you to say,' Haru thought frantically. 'You aren't about to get pounded into paste by some big scary guy twice your size...!' She tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she looked at Rex, but it wouldn't budge.

'Idiot,' the other Haru replied, and fell silent.

Haru looked from Rex to the bench set up outside for those who wanted to watch duels could sit. There were several people seated there, but she spotted Youko and Keiko easily; Keiko sat with her arms crossed, sending nervous glances up at Youko beside her. Youko, for her part, looked as if one of her friends was just going for a stroll in the park rather than a duel where she might end up maimed or even dead.

'Don't look to them for help; this is between you and the red guy over ther,' the other Haru said.

Haru ignored her as she looked nervously at Rex again. "S-so how do we do this?"

Rex cocked an eyebrow as if surprised she had asked such a question. "Usually we'd just go at it as soon as the barrier was in place; but since it looks like you're new to this I figured I'd give you a minute to collect yourself...'course, it's already been a minute, hasn't it?" he said, then knelt down and shifted into something else and leaped at her.

'Oh! He's amazing! Just as expected of a red fox,' the other Haru said inside her head.

Haru let out a tinny scream and scrambled aside as the huge red beast that had been Rex lunged at her. Easily twenty feet from nose to tail, it looked only slightly vulpine; covered in battle scars and fur the color of blood, long whips of flame crackling along its spine, it gave off a real feeling of menace, a predator in the purest sense of the word. Its teeth were razor sharp, its body long and lean, its eyes the color of blood and focused directly on her. It took a step forward, and she took a step back. Haru shot another frantic look at her friends, but though Keiko looked horrified, Youko just cocked an eyebrow as she looked at her as if to say 'Well? What are you going to do now?'

'Come on you idiot, change. He won't go easy on you,' the other Haru said. 'I don't know about you, but I'm not quite ready to die yet.'

Come on, change. We can't fight like this.

It took a moment for Haru to realize the deep voice resonating through her head belonged to the creature before her. When she did, she almost screamed again; having the other Haru in her head was one thing, but a total stranger...? That was something altogether different.

'Change! Now!' the other Haru said, a tinge of panic in her tone.

Change form! NOW! Rex demanded as he lunged forward.

Haru screamed, and transformed.

---

Keiko had seen Haru show her other form before; she had watched her change into it, in fact. While the experience was certainly unpleasant to look at, Keiko had only ever seen it once before Rex transformed. For Rex, it was a simple, smooth, and most of all, quick process; when Keiko had seen Haru do it the first time, it had looked painful, or at the very least clunky and intensely unpleasant. This time, though...one instant Haru was standing there in front of a charging monster, and then she was replaced by a gigantic white-furred creature twice the size of Rex in his animal form and even though she sat on the other side of the magic-blocking barrier alongside Youko, Keiko could feel the power radiating off of Haru making the tiny hairs on her arm rise. As for what Haru had turned into...

The first thing Keiko noticed was that, this time, Haru's animal form was different. Whether due to Youko's training or some other factor of which Keiko was unaware, Haru's animal form had become significantly larger, more real, and the orange markings on her head and shoulders had expanded, gaining length and thickness and branching off where they had simply been curving lines before. Her tail had gained volume in a tremendous way as well; it hung behind her like a small cloud, whipping around like the tail of a cat as she moved, whirling to face Rex as he moved.

And, for the first time, Keiko realized Rex was hesitating.

"He~eh."

Keiko looked up at Youko and the huge grin she had on her face. For once, her eyes were open all the way in excitement, clearly showing the odd shade of blue that she normally kept hidden. Youko looked down at her, all but laughing in her enthusiasm.

"Isn't she amazing, Keiko-chan? I don't think I've ever seen anything so...so..."

Keiko knew exactly what Youko was talking about. Seeing Haru in this form, with her gleaming white fur the color of snow, the smoothness of her movement, the sensation of sheer physical power, not to mention the static-y sensation all over Keiko's skin caused by Haru's other power leaking past even the high class barrier before her...

"...beautiful..." Keiko looked back up at Youko. "She's beautiful...she's just...beautiful," she said, unable to come up with anything more fitting for what she was feeling. In her human form, Haru was rather plain; not unattractive, nevertheless she was one of those poor girls who had to work hard just to get up to 'noticeably cute'. Far too athletic, she had no curves to speak of and probably never would; she was not one of those lucky girls for whom genetics had done much as far as physical beauty went. But this...

Keiko stared at the graceful creature before her. This...this was far and away one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen; she almost wanted to cry out in indignation when Rex finally made his move and darted around, trying to circle around and get Haru in the side.

And then, Haru got angry.

---

'You idiot! He's coming, DO SOMETHING!' the other Haru screamed.

Haru watched, shocked, as Rex, barely half her size now that she had changed form, darted around and under her, ripping at her side as he went. Blood flew and Haru screamed, the sound turning into an agonized roar in her now animal jaws.

The other Haru screamed in sync with her, and went wild in her head, slamming against the bars of her cage in a manic attempt to get out and get at the thing that had hurt her.

Haru whirled on Rex, snarling, caught a glimpse of Keiko, horrified as she covered her mouth with her hands, Youko seated beside her, a carefully blank expression on her face, and something snapped. She took a careful step back to open some space between herself and Rex as he tried to circle around for another go. What he had done hurt; it was more painful than any injury Haru had ever had, in fact...what it wasn't, however, was crippling. It hurt bad. Haru...Haru was furious.

Rex realized what was coming, but even the immense burst of power he put out was obliterated by the suddenly crushing aura Haru produced. That wave of power rolled out like a tsunami, crushing everything under its weight and almost immediately filling up the space inside the barrier. Rex struggled to stay on his feet.

---

Outside the barrier, every youkai within a quarter mile felt sick to their stomachs, and many of those nearer the barrier collapsed, unable to withstand such a concentration of power. Keiko, utterly unaffected as a human, gave a startled look at Youko when she let out a wheeze and clutched the edge of the bench with all her strength in an attempt to remain upright.

"Heh...she's really strong," Youko said, her eyes wide open as she watched Haru in the dueling ring. "She's even stronger than I thought...! I can't wait to see..."

Keiko looked at the taller girl nervously as she trailed off mid-sentence, her face pale.

"Ooh, looks like you were right, Secchan."

"Urgh...yes, I thought it was her..."

Keiko turned her attention to the newcomers, the two women she saw occasionally around Mahora, more often with Negi-sensei, and most recently at the power testing area. The human woman, Keiko was fairly certain her name was Konoka or Kanaka or something like it, peered into the dueling ring with real interest.

"Oooh, look Secchan! Isn't she beautiful?"

'Secchan', however, looked quite sick to her stomach, though she still seemed better off than just about every other youkai nearby. Whether that was due to the fact that she had just arrived or the fact that she had a stronger constitution than the others was something Keiko didn't know. Something she did know, and now that Konoka and 'Secchan' had arrived, something she could do something about, was Youko, who was struggling fiercely in a losing battle to remain upright. "Please, stop Haru-san!" Keiko pleaded. "Youko-san and everyone...it's hurting them!"

Konoka smiled at her. "Okay! Now..." she said, turning her attention back to Haru as she screwed up her face in concentration. Keiko thought it made her look a little cute; 'Secchan' just took a seat on the bench next to Youko, already suffering badly from the effects of Haru's powerful aura. "I'd say this calls for a 'Power Dispelling Sword', wouldn't you, Secchan?" Konoka said, smiling pleasantly at her companion, who looked absolutely miserable, though not yet at the level of Youko, who had gone positively green.

"Mark two," 'Secchan' offered from her place on the bench.

"Yep! You're right again Secchan! A 'Mark Two' it is!" Konoka replied. She took a fast-draw stance Keiko recalled seeing in the Rurouni Kenshin manga she had found in the library, gave one final look at 'Secchan', who nodded, and drew the fancy katana she wore at her hip in a flash and held it high in the air, the blade pointed down.

"Secret Technique: Power Dispelling Sword Mark Two!" Konoka shouted as she thrust the sword down into the ground, burying half the blade and sending out a swirling burst of power that even Keiko, normal human that she was, could feel.

The effect was immediate: Youko let out a startled grunt and fell over, and it was all 'Secchan' could do to keep from collapsing on top of her. The magic barrier wavered and then shattered, but the youkai energy trapped inside, visible to Keiko only as a thin fog, didn't have a chance to cause any mischief; it was disrupted an instant after the barrier went down, dissipating with an iridescent burst, revealing Haru, still in her beast form, still standing on shaky legs, and Rex, still in his beast form, barely half the size of Haru, his flames guttering out, flattened out on the ground.

"Urk," Konoka said. As Konoka's companion wasn't in any condition to help her up, Keiko helped her to her feet; Konoka left the sword half-buried in the ground. "Thank you," she said, using Keiko's shoulder to steady herself. "I'm still not used to using the Mark Two," she said woozily. "I think I put too much power into it." Keiko helped her cross the short distance to 'Secchan' and Youko, both of whom had managed to gather themselves enough to at least sit up straight.

"Ugh, I hate that one," Youko said woozily. 'Secchan' nodded, apparently not trusting herself to speak.

"I'm sorry," Konoka said as she sat down beside them, clearly exhausted. "But it was necessary; the duel was getting out of hand. She watched Haru in the dueling ring as she transformed from her beast form back into her human form and staggered. Rex transformed a moment later and pushed himself up on his hands and knees. Haru took a step or two toward him to help, but hesitated. A second or two passed before she moved to close the remaining distance and helped pull him upright; Konoka nodded in approval.

"She's amazing, isn't she?" Youko asked.

Konoka nodded. "Yes, she is; I don't think I've ever felt anyone stronger. Secchan? Oh," she said, turning to Keiko. "I don't think we've been properly introduced! I'm Konoe Konoka, and this is my best friend Sakurazaki Setsuna; we're both from the Shinmeiryu, and Negi-kun's former students. Nice to meet you!" she said, smiling cutely.

Keiko smiled back hesitantly. "S-Suzuki Keiko...Negi-sensei is my homeroom teacher."

Setsuna spoke up. "Nice to meet you, Suzuki-san."

"You...you can call me Keiko, if you would like to..." Keiko said shyly. She hadn't noticed it at first, but the way Setsuna and Konoka interacted was a little...well...suspicious. It was just a stray thought, but she thought they might be...might be...l-l-l-lovers...! She had to fight back a blush and the urge to fidget at the thought.

"As far as youkai go, I've never met one stronger," Setsuna said, leaning against Konoka for support, trying to hide her own blush. "She seems almost completely untrained though... She might be able to catch up with the rest of us if she can learn to control that power."

Youko grinned crookedly as she sat up a little straighter. "She has 'The Blessing of the World', you know." The way she said it led Keiko to wonder just how important such a thing might be. Setsuna's surprised expression made her wonder even more.

"Certainly a worthy ally for Negi-sensei," Setsuna muttered, clearly impressed.

"Yep!" Konoka replied as she helped Setsuna up. Keiko did the same for Youko. "Let's go make sure they're alright!"

---

"That was a big one," Kotarou said idly as he walked along hand in hand with Natsumi.

"Hmm?" Natsumi asked, looking up at Kotarou. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah; just a big fight over that way," Kotarou replied, pointing in the direction the burst of power had come from. "Pretty strong."

"Really? I didn't feel anything," Natsumi said. "Any idea what it was?"

"Eh...felt like that kid in Negi's class; what's-er-name, Haru? Yeah, something like that."

They walked along in companionable silence for a moment.

"Wait, what?!" Natsumi said, aghast.

---

"I can't believe it; I haven't had to drop a bounty in eight years, not since that fiasco with the Crow Tribe," Morrison Blight, Black Fox Tribe bounty hunter, mercenary, and odd jobs man, said to his younger brother as the two walked along on their way to deliver the bad news to Masashi.

"Ugh, don't remind me. Who'd've thought that stupid cat was under the protection of the future head of the Konoe family?" Onyx said, recalling the look in the Konoe heiress's eyes the previous day.

---

"Yagi Ryoko-chan and her brother? They asked for my help, so they're under my protection; you know?" Konoka said, her blade gleaming in the sunlight as it rested lightly against Onyx's neck, sharp enough to draw a thin red line across his skin with the slightest motion. His brother Morrison was in a similar situation with the Konoe heiress's half-crow girlfriend a few feet away.

"...I-I gotcha..." Onyx managed to say as a sweatdrop slipped down the side of his face. His gaze flickered over to where Yagi Kichirou, still trying to recover from the wounds he had received during Masashi's escape from the Shinmeiryu compound in Kyoto, cowered against a wall; the two of them had lost track of Ryoko once she had escaped from that alley earlier in the day with that human girl. The blade shifted against his throat and he cut off a yelp; it would be all too easy to cut his own throat doing something like that...literally. "I understand..."

"That's great!" Konoka said, smiling cutely, the razor sharp blade of her sword not wavering in the least.

---

Onyx shivered at the memory. "You know what?"

"What?" Morrison said, humoring his brother.

"I think I'd rather risk going up against that big Red Fox Tribe bruiser Masashi's got working for him than that Konoe Konoka; she's one scary chick."

Morrison nodded, and the two fell into a brooding silence as they walked along. This wouldn't end with just an apology...Masashi was a vindictive bastard; there was no way he would just let the matter drop. The entire reason he wanted the Yagi siblings brought to him was because they hadn't been able to live up to his expectations; from what little the Blight brothers had been able to dig up, the Yagi siblings and Masashi had been beaten by a bunch of human girls and captured by the Shinmeiryu. Once in custody, they had agreed to work in the compound in exchange for protection and, having lost their previous home with the murder of their master, a place to live. Naturally, Masashi had been enraged and took it out on Kichirou, who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, during his escape from his cell in the compound; Kichirou had been forced to flee to Mahora with his sister and had nearly died of his injuries before being found by mages, probably part of the local magic association. From there, the two had dropped out of sight until Onyx and Morrison, following their trail, had stumbled across evidence that they were still in the city just a few days before.

And then they had met Konoka and Setsuna for the second time since their arrival in Mahora, and this time they had both been deadly serious. A little bit of backstory on the Yagi siblings, and Onyx had developed a headache out of frustration; he couldn't turn them over to Masashi, not after hearing about what the two had been through. He hadn't even needed to look at Morrison to know he felt the same way. Morrison might put up a good 'cold bastard' act, but he was as soft hearted as a person could be.

"He's supposed to be making another one of those speeches or something right now, right?" Onyx asked.

"Yeah," Morrison said, scowling as he thought about how best to get his point across to the prospective youkai king.

"So, what...we're going to wait 'til he's done?"

"That's the plan."

"Huh..." Onyx said as he considered the ease with which Masashi had always won people over. "...this might get ugly."

"Yeah," Morrison said again as the stage came in sight, Masashi standing tall upon it, and for once his Red Fox Tribe bodyguard wasn't with him; instead, he stood up on the stage alone but for several official-looking stooges from the Gold Fox Tribe seated behind him, and several bodyguards positioned on the ground around the stage. He had never really noticed them before...he supposed it was a result of the fact that the Red Fox Tribe bruiser attracted so much attention just by standing there that the others just sort of...faded into the background.

The crowd was quite large; a mix of various tribes, though the majority were from the fox tribes. There were even a few half youkai and, if he wasn't mistaken, at least one human in the back. He frowned; that was strange, especially for one of Masashi's speeches...the bastard hated everyone who wasn't a youkai, and Morrison was quite sure he secretly hated most of them as well. Masashi was the sort who thrived on hatred; it was what drove him on, kept him going when his all-important pride had been damaged.

"Damn," Onyx said softly.

"Yeah," Morrison said a third time. They would have to wait until the speech was over and the crowd was pumped up. If things went sour, it could get ugly, quick. "Come on, let's get this over with."

---

"So, what did you think?" Kotarou asked as Masashi finished his speech and the crowd began to separate into bunches or wander off in twos and threes. He made sure to keep Natsumi's hand in his; Masashi was notoriously anti-human, as were many of those he used to fill out the crowds when local attendance was looking sparse.

"...he makes me feel a little nervous," Natsumi said.

Kotarou raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her. While he had known her for years, he couldn't recall ever hearing her actually say such a thing. She worried all the time, usually about what Kotarou thought were stupid, ridiculous things, but the way she had said it was different.

"I agree."

He sighed as he glanced over at Linda Cale, who stood against a wall nearby. The strange woman had an irritating habit of being right there when you least expected it; he supposed he would get used to it eventually...it kept him on his toes, anyway. "You too, huh?" Kotarou said for lack of anything better.

Linda nodded. "A charismatic young leader looking to build a reputation and a rabid following of moronic zealots devoted to the idea that they alone are worthy of standing on the top of the heap...need I go on? It would be best to just assassinate him and get it over with."

Kotarou gaped at the woman's casual suggestion of cold blooded murder. He hadn't known her long and, looking back on how they met, he probably shouldn't have been surprised, but still...whoa.

"We will not be assassinating anyone," Natsumi said, doing her best to glare at Linda. It came across as a sort of determined pout; Kotarou thought it was cute. Only one person could make her really glare, and that Stratos bastard wasn't around at the moment.

Linda bowed her head in acknowledgment. "Of course, Murakami."

"Huh...look at those two," Kotarou said. The others looked in the direction he had indicated, where two members of the Black Fox Tribe were walking toward Masashi, who was speaking with several of his supporters with his bodyguards standing around. Everything from the stiff-backed way they were walking to the way the shorter one's hand stayed near the hilt of his sword indicated that they expected trouble; Kotarou thought they were probably right.

"It looks like they're about to pick a fight," Linda said, echoing his own thoughts.

"Yeah..." Kotarou looked at Natsumi and Linda. "Wanna kinda ease on over there and watch? Who knows, someone might need some help."

"I will follow Murakami," Linda said.

Natsumi looked from Kotarou to Linda and back to where the two fox youkai were approaching Masashi, and nodded. "Okay."

---

"Be careful. At the first sign of trouble, blast his bodyguards," Morrison said quietly to his younger brother.

"Gotcha. Why not Masashi though?"

"He won't expect it," Morrison replied as he eased his sword in its scabbard for a quicker draw. "If this turns ugly, he'll expect you to go after him since he knows I can't do anything with magic. When he takes his attention off of me, I'll gut him. But only if this turns ugly, understand?"

"Yeah, gotcha," Onyx said, eyeing Masashi's supporters on one side and his three bodyguards on the other. Strangely enough, one of them was from the Crow Tribe; he hadn't known Masashi would accept anyone who wasn't part of the fox tribes. In any case, he didn't see the big one from the Red Fox Tribe, and that was definitely for the best. "What about the supporters?" Onyx asked.

"We'll just have to wait and see; they're just low ranking members of the big families. I'll take care of them if they start to cause trouble," Morrison said. They were getting close now. In fact, Masashi had spotted them, and his expression had changed to a subtle frown. "No more talking; I'll take care of this."

"Gotcha," Onyx replied as they approached.

The two of them stopped ten feet away from Masashi, looking like the common mercenaries they were in their patchwork armor and clothing, especially compared to the fine figure Masashi appeared to be, draped in his ceremonial garb, hair and clothing meticulously arranged.

"Masashi!" Morrison said, more harshly than he had intended. Two of the bodyguards stepped forward, but Masashi raised his hand and they stopped.

"Yes?" Masashi asked, his voice, tone, and expression creating a carefully practiced image of good natured curiosity belied only by the coldness in his eyes.

Masashi began to sweat. Already, with two words, the situation had been turned completely against them. And then there was that third bodyguard, the one from the Crow Tribe, who had remained in her place while the other two stepped forward. Something about her just screamed at him to stay out of her way; he had a feeling she was incredibly dangerous, perhaps as much as the big bruiser from the Red Fox Tribe whose inexplicable absence had made him nervous as soon as he noticed it. In any case, one thing was clear: to get out of this alive and in one piece, he would have to be very, very careful. Putting up a brave, businesslike front that he admitted to himself probably didn't fool anybody, he began.

"Masashi, I am sorry, but my brother and I must withdraw from our agreement to capture the Yagi siblings." His mouth went dry at the brief expression of absolute rage that flashed across Masashi's face, so quickly replaced by that same inquisitive look that Morrison almost doubted he had even actually seen it...almost.

"Oh? And why is that?" Masashi asked. The Crow Tribe woman made a very slight grin, and Morrison realized he was starting to fidget and took a deep breath to calm himself. It felt as if his heart was about to beat out of his chest.

Masashi took a deep breath. This wouldn't be pretty... "We have discovered that the two are under the protection of the Konoe clan."

Masashi's face went through a flurry of emotions: disbelief, rage, frustration, back to a rage more furious than before, and then finally to stubborn pride. He took a moment to collect himself, his fists clenched so tightly they went white, and turned all the ferocity he could muster in his gaze on Morrison. "You find out some human clan is protecting the Yagis, and you simply...give up? Are you truly so...so pathetic as to abandon your duty because of a few humans?!"

"These aren't just 'a few humans'," Morrison said, butting in and cutting off Masashi before he could go off on a rant. "They are the Konoe clan. They run the Shinmeiryu, who specialize in killing us. You never told us-"

"SILENCE!" Masashi roared, his face screwed up in a rage. "You have humiliated all of the fox tribes...! You do not deserve to live! EXECUTE THEM!"

Morrison, desperate to survive, drew his sword, attempting to disembowel Masashi in a single smooth motion, but the Crow Tribe bodyguard was right there. Her own sword knocked Morrison's aside, and then he let out a cry as a blast of fire sent him flying. He hit the ground hard and rolled with it, coming up a crouch. The Crow woman had come right after him however, and he barely managed to get his sword up in time to deflect a blow that would have decapitated him with ease. Another blast of fire missed him by the tiniest of margins, and he dove to the side to put the Crow woman between him and Masashi, who quickly turned his attention to Onyx, who had, as instructed, focused on the two Fox Tribe bodyguards when the fighting broke out. The Crow woman's sword nearly gutted him, however, and he was forced to focus his attention back on her.

"You're good, but you're no match for me," she said as she shifted her stance while he scrambled to his feet.

Morrison had no doubt she was correct; his sword skills were the product of years of experience out in the field. He had never undergone any real training beyond the life or death experience one received in battle, and though it was good enough to keep him alive on the road and in any fight he had ever been a part of before this, he knew he was no swordmaster, not like this Crow Tribe woman. All he could do was hold out as long as possible and hope she made a mistake he could take advantage of. He was dimly aware of people screaming and magic flying left, right, and center, and knew others were joining in the fight; there was no telling who was on what side, or even if the newcomers understand the danger of the situation. There was no time for contemplation however; the Crow woman was after him again.

Morrison did the best he could; he blocked, parried, dodged, and did everything he could to throw the Crow woman off balance, even a last-ditch attempt to blind her with an explosion of light, all his meager skills and power in magic would allow, but it was no use and he made a mistake. Perhaps she had drawn him into overextending on his swing, perhaps he was just too exhausted by the burst of extreme violence and his attempt at magic, but he was slow drawing his blade back to a defensive position and the woman knocked it from his hand with a deft flick of her sword and sent it flying. She jabbed him in the thigh and he let out a cry, dropping to the ground as his leg would no longer support his weight, and watched in horror as she locked eyes with him and raised her sword for a decapitating blow.

The blow never fell, as a woman in white dove in front of him, holding a sword of her own, she blocked the blow and shoved the Crow woman back, off balance, and Morrison scrambled for where his sword lay in the dust ten feet away. He snatched it up and tried to stand, but let out another cry when his leg again failed to hold his weight and he went down in the dirt. The jolt of pain from his second fall kicked his brain back into gear and he looked for his brother; he spotted him a moment later, a young human woman dragging him back from from the fighting. He was beaten and bloody and his side was smoking from where some of Masashi's fire had hit him, but he was alive. Recalling who had ordered him dead, his eyes darted back and forth, trying to locate Masashi; a moment later, he did, just as a stranger from the Dog Tribe punched him hard in the gut, lifting him a good three feet off the ground, and then drove a fist down into his back in a sledgehammer blow, driving him to the ground. Something about the sight made Morrison grin in spite of the burning agony in his leg.

A woman's agonized scream dragged his attention away from Masashi writhing in the dirt to the strange white haired woman who had saved his life; he gasped as the Crow woman ran her through with her sword. The pale woman spat blood all over, but grabbed the Crow woman's sword-hand before she could pull her blade out and yanked her closer, letting out a cry as she drove the sword further through her, but letting the Crow woman have it with a tremendous roundhouse blow to the chin that rocked her head back and made her stagger. The pale woman did it again and a third time, but the Crow woman blocked the next attempt, only to receive a headbutt to the face that broke her nose and left the lower half of her face a bloody mess for her troubles. She let go of the sword and staggered back, leaving her wide open, but that must have been the pale woman's limit, as she staggered back herself and collapsed to the ground, clutching at the sword sticking through her.

"EVERYONE STOP!" the shout came with a wave of power that knocked everyone who was still standing off their feet and sent those at the edges running for their lives.

Morrison looked up at the two figures descending out of the sky and couldn't help but stare. "They're...they're angels..."

Setsuna lowered herself and Konoka to the ground and quickly took in the situation. "Konoka! Injured!"

"Right!" Konoka said. "Kotarou! Restrain everyone! Natsumi and I will take care of the injured!"

"Got it!" Kotarou said as he scrambled to his feet and punched Masashi again, this time in the chin, before he could launch any fire magic at the others, and rendered him unconscious with a swift blow to the back of the head. He did it a little harder than was strictly necessary, but as far as he was concerned, the bastard deserved it after making such a scene, especially at such an important event for the youkai.

"White wings... You...!" the Crow woman hissed, and then launched herself at Setsuna's back. For her part, Setsuna reacted instantly, drawing her sword as she turned, and quickly flipping it when she saw her attacker was unarmed. She struck her in the side hard with the back of her sword, and the Crow woman let out a cry; another strike to the head knocked her sprawling the dirt, temporarily silenced.

"What happened?" Setsuna said, suddenly standing over him, sword in hand, the feathers on her white wings rustling in the breeze.

Morrison looked up at her, tried to speak, and everything faded.

---

"Whoa, what happened here?" Youko said in surprise as she surveyed the ruined speech grounds with dirt churned up and random splotches of blood and burn marks, with the injured lying in rows nearby, attended to by a handful of youkai. She quickly spotted Konoka and Setsuna nearby, talking to several others.

"This looks dangerous..." Haru said, nervous. Keiko nodded beside her, clinging to her hand.

"C'mon, let's see what's going on," Youko said as she trotted over to where the small crowd was talking.

---

"So here I am again, finding you and your brother in the center of a fight," Konoka said, sounding disappointed after a round or two of healing magic as she looked up at Morrison Blight.

He looked away, grimacing. "I just came to tell him we wouldn't go after the Yagis anymore," he said defensively. "He tried to have us killed."

Konoka looked up at him for a long, long moment, and finally nodded. "Okay, I believe you. But that doesn't mean it's okay to fight at the festival! Consider yourself to be on probation," she said firmly, shaking her finger at him. "I don't want to have to break up another fight, okay?"

Morrison looked away awkwardly. Getting dressed down by the future head of the Konoe family was one thing; getting dressed down when that future head was an incredibly cute and attractive woman was something else altogether, and, unlike Masashi, Morrison had no problems with humans. "I understand." He noticed a trio of newcomers heading in his general direction and frowned; he looked back over at Konoka. "Didn't you guys have this area locked down...?"

Konoka looked from him to the small group, and smiled. "Mmhmm! But they're okay. Remember what I said! I want you and your brother to be good!" she said, making a cutely serious expression.

"R...right..."

Konoka smiled wide at him and bounced away toward the three that had just arrived. Morrison watched her go for a moment...she knew exactly how to walk; was she doing it on purpose...? He didn't know, but it made his heart race.

"Ehem," someone said nearby, clearing their throat.

Morrison jerked as he felt an icy cold glare digging into the back of his head and quickly looked away from the enchanting Konoe heiress.

"That's better," Setsuna said from behind him.

---

"Youko-chan!" Konoka said as she bounced up and hugged Youko.

"Er...eheh...hello again, Konoka," Youko said, intensely aware of Setsuna's sudden glare burrowing through into the back of her skull. Konoka had to be doing it on purpose...! She quickly extracted herself from Konoka's grasp and stood well back. "Yeah...I'm really not doing this on purpose, you know."

Konoka smiled at Keiko and Haru. "Hello again!"

"Er...hello again," Haru said.

"Nice to see you again..." Keiko said, unable to look at Konoka for more than a few seconds; she didn't know how to react to the pretty woman...Konoka shined far too brightly for her.

"Masashi claims he's innocent," Kotarou said, a sour look on his face as he trotted up. "His bodyguards and two dozen members of the fox tribes say the same thing."

A bit of the shine went out of Konoka's smile as she turned to look over at said member of the Gold Fox Tribe, fussing over his ceremonial robes while half a dozen others did their best to dust him off and make him presentable. "Is that so?"

"He also 'demands satisfaction' for something about trying to ruin his image...or something," Kotarou said, rolling his eyes. He looked at Youko, Haru, and Keiko. "Miyoshi Youko, wasn't it?" he asked, holding out his hand. His eyes drifted over to Haru's ears and he stared for a moment.

Youko smiled at him as she took his hand, drawing his attention back to her. "Inugami Kotarou; I've heard of you." She looked past him to where Natsumi was helping a rather stiff looking pale woman with white hair walk along. "Keep her safe. Masashi isn't one to forget something like that. Good luck~!" she said, waving as she turned to take Haru and Keiko's hands and lead them away.

"So that's Miyoshi Youko, huh...?" Kotarou said to himself, cocking his head to the side as he watched her go.

"Hmm~? You don't have a crush on her, do you?" Konoka said, grinning at him.

"W-what?! No! Of course not!"

"Well I should hope not; Natsumi's crazy about you, you know," Konoka said in a matter-of-fact manner as she turned to watch Youko go while Kotarou spluttered nonsensical words. 'She knows how to walk, that's for sure,' she thought, grinning, as she memorized every nuance of Youko's swaying motion to use against Setsuna later.

---

"So where are we going now?" Haru asked as Youko led the way.

"We're going to something that's pretty cool," Youko replied, picking up the pace just far enough that Keiko could still keep up without running.

"Pretty cool...?" Haru asked.

"Yep! You'll just have to wait and see~"

---

The field she led them to was wide open, with a series of long benches in the middle, a raised platform on one end with a tarp set up as a roof, and crowds of young youkai milling around all over while older youkai, Haru assumed they were parents, stood in little bunches around the back edge of the field.

"...what's this?" Haru asked, mystified.

Youko grinned at her. "Hee~ It's just a ceremony," she said, looking down at her. "Here, this number tells you where to sit," she said, handing over a slip of paper with Haru's name, sponsor, 'No Tribe', estimated power level, and what was apparently Haru's seat number printed on it. "Go on and find your seat; we'll be waiting for you," she said, glancing down at Keiko, who, much to Haru's chagrin, seemed to know exactly what was going on; the girl couldn't stop grinning at her.

"Don't worry about us," Keiko said. "We'll find you when it's over!"

The two of them darted away into the crowd and Haru quickly lost sight of them as a new influx of youkai appeared, forcing her to get out of the way or get trampled. She looked down at the piece of paper again, frowning as she looked at what she assumed was a seat number. It was a two-part number, consisting of a letter and a number; her confusion cleared somewhat when she realized the long benches were each assigned a letter, and she soon found the seat she had been assigned.

Haru sat down on the bench and looked around at the other young youkai talking excitedly as they clustered in small groups; whatever was going on, it seemed to be important to them...

'I don't know anyone here...' she thought, a little embarrassed. It didn't help that the boys all kept staring at her ears; she wanted to hide them again, but she didn't know how. Soon she had other things to worry about, however, as a small group ascended the stage and the other young youkai all rushed to their seats and she found herself pinned between a rather large boy from one of the fox tribes on one side, and a tall, skinny one that looked like he was probably from some weasel tribe or something on the other. Unfortunately, both kept looking at her ears.

Soon, however, the people up on the stage sat down except for one rather old youkai built like a bodybuilder. He stepped up to a podium and arranged some papers for a moment. When he spoke, the sudden deep booming of his voice made Haru jump; the two boys seated beside her immediately offered assistance, but she quickly waved them off and settled in to listen to the man's speech.

It didn't make much sense in Haru's opinion, but she admitted that was likely because she knew so little of youkai culture. The speaker, a youkai apparently of some import, was called Rydan Draos. 'He's got a really weird name, but then again, that's foreigners for you, I guess...' Haru thought as he went on in his startlingly deep voice for fifteen or twenty minutes about the past and what the future held. Haru let herself zone out, uncomfortably aware of the attention of the two boys beside her; it made her a little nervous...was this the sort of thing the pretty girls at school always had to deal with? At the very least, she could count herself luckier than they were: she could hide her ears at any time; they were stuck with what they had all the time.

The man up on stage called up several other old youkai one by one, each of whom made a short speech while the crowd of young youkai became more and more unruly. Haru was on the verge of falling asleep in her chair, nervous or not, when the old man stepped back up to the podium.

"Name your blessings when you are called!" Rydan Draos said, his magically amplified voice overwhelming even the noisiest of young youkai.

The crowd instantly stopped shifting and murmuring, and Haru was puzzled as she listened as each youkai was called in turn and announced their blessing. Most were things like 'The Blessing of the Pen' or 'The Blessing of the Plow'; she was quite sure she even heard a 'Blessing of the Broom' or two in there...nothing to compare with her own 'Blessing of the World', which she had received in the fortune teller's tent.

The ceremony continued on and on, and she listened for familiar names as they were called out in what seemed to be random order; the fox tribe boy on her left had the 'Blessing of the String', and the weasel boy on her right had the 'Blessing of the Bard', while she had yet to be called. When it was called, she thought the name of Nevon Bayle seemed familiar to her—and when he stood up she just knew she had seen that beret he was wearing somewhere before—but she couldn't quite recall where she had heard or seen him before. Nevertheless, his 'Blessing of the Sea' caused an excited murmur to break out, and she could have sworn she heard someone saying something to the effect that he would be a real important youkai one day.

"Yagi Ryoko," Rydan called and, from the far end of Haru's row, she heard that familiar, chirpy voice as Ryoko replied.

"Blessing of the Forest!"

Much like Nevon's previous 'Blessing of the Sea', that caused another rippling murmur to flow through the crowd. Then for a while there were more simple sounding blessings like 'Blessing of the Coin' and 'Blessing of the Wand', until Haru's name was finally called and she stood up.

Haru swept her eyes over the young youkai seated in neat rows, the crowds of watching youkai who had already gone through this ceremony or were still too young, and finally rested on the man standing up on stage, Rydan Draos, the current steward of the youkai. She opened her mouth, and spoke.

"The Blessing of the World."

Dead silence swept over the youkai as all eyes turned to her. Haru had never liked being the center of attention, but even someone who did would have felt uncomfortable under the weight of all those stares. The silence stretched on and she shot a quick, nervous look at those who sat around her, but their eyes were all wide as they stared at her, as if they'd just witnessed something they hadn't ever thought possible.

Haru quickly sat down.

---

"He~eh, that went well," Youko said, grinning from ear to ear after the ceremony when the trio had been reunited.

"The Blessing of the Sea and the Blessing of the Forest too!" Keiko said, taking a notebook out of the backpack she had been carrying all day. She thumbed through it for a moment before finding the page she was looking for. "All that's missing are the Blessing of Steel and the Blessing of the Flame; I read that those blessings are very rare, reserved for the greatest heroes in youkai history," she said excitedly, peering up at Haru's face.

"Eh...what?" Haru asked, blinking stupidly. "Say what? Heroes? A hero? Me? No way! I'm not a hero, I'm just... I'm just me," she said, holding up her hands.

Youko smirked. "Of course, and that's all you have to worry about right now. Just keep up your training and you won't have to worry about anything," she said, grinning crookedly.

"Look," Keiko said sharply, nodding at the stage. Something in her tone caught Youko and Haru's attention, and they looked up at the stage to see none other than Masashi, his ceremonial garb a little rough now after the altercation earlier, ascend to the podium.

"That son of a—" Youko began.

"My dear brothers and sisters," Masashi began, his amplified voice reeking of eloquence and kindness.

"Brothers and sisters my ass," Youko muttered under her breath.

They listened to Masashi blab away for a few minutes before Youko had had enough. "You know what? I'm gonna go up there and give him a piece of my mind," she said. "Come on Haru, Keiko; stick with me."

The trio had made it halfway to the stage before Masashi finally got to the point of his speech. "And so, my dear, dear friends, I am happy to announce my candidacy for the title of Youkai King!"

The crowd erupted in excitement; they were watching history in the making. It had been well over a hundred years since the last time someone had announced their candidacy for the highest title among the youkai; it had been more than three hundred years since the last Youkai King had ruled.

Rydan Draos, Steward of the Youkai in the Absence of the King, stepped forward and asked the first of the traditional questions. "How do you prove your worth?"

Masashi turned to face him. "I possess two of the sacred items," he said as two assistants carried a box up onto the stage and opened it.

Rydan spoke again. "Name the first."

Masashi knelt down and removed the first item from the box, a large, polished metal mirror over two feet across . "I present the sacred mirror, Yata no Kagami," he said, holding it high above his head so the crowd could see it as it gleamed in the sunlight. The crowd broke out into 'ooh's and 'aah's as he presented the mirror to Rydan for inspection.

After inspecting it, Rydan returned the mirror. "This is indeed the sacred mirror, Yata no Kagami. Very well. Name the second."

Masashi knelt down again and removed an elaborately decorated katana in an equally fancy sheath from the box and, with a flourish, drew the blade and held it high so it, too, caught and reflected the sunlight. "I present the ancient sword, Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven!" He sheathed the blade and held it out to Rydan, who took it, drew the elegantly made katana just far enough to get a look at the blade, and shoved it back into the sheath. He thrust it back into Masashi's hands.

"This...is not the ancient sword, Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi."

---

It took everything he had, but Masashi took the sword and swallowed his denials before he could speak them. It had to be the sword! It just had to be...! It didn't make any sense! The only other swords in that storage room were plain things, ugly in their simplicity. None of them appeared as such a sacred relic must! They were...they were...

His composure cracked at the sudden sound of a slow clap from beside the stage.

With a tremendous effort of will, Masashi gathered himself and turned to see who was mocking him in such a public manner. When he spotted that familiar smirk, those blue eyes, that silvery-white hair, he barely managed to suppress the growl rising in his throat.

Miyoshi Youko, the daughter of the previous Youkai King, stood there beside the stage, grinning up at him, that mongrel half breed and the human brat hiding behind her. "Nice going Masashi; were you trying to pull one over on the Steward?"

"No," Masashi ground out, clenching his teeth to avoid saying something in anger that might come back to haunt him.

"Oh no, even you wouldn't be that stupid," she said, vaulting up onto the stage with ease.

Enough was enough; Youko had caused him too much embarrassment already. "Remove yourself from this stage, at once!" he bellowed.

"Who are you, Masashi, to issue orders in my presence?"

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled at the soft sound of the unbelievably deep voice. He turned hastily back to Rydan and bowed his head. "My apologies, Steward, I had forgotten myself in my anger. But please understand, Miyoshi Youko has-"

"She has just as much right to stand here, on this stage, as you do," Rydan replied, cutting him off firmly. He turned to Youko. "Well?"

Youko smiled brightly at Rydan, then looked out at the crowd, shifting in confusion as they wondered what was going on, who this newcomer was. She looked out at them, all confidence and life, and spoke. "The previous Youkai King, Miyoshi Kenshi, was my mother. I hereby claim my right by blood to seek the title of Youkai King!"

The crowd erupted in excitement; two candidates for the title of Youkai King, each with a solid claim, had announced their intentions here, at the most sacred of festivals, on the same day, on the same stage...! Only rarely had such a thing happened in the past, and never in living memory; this was history in the making.

"No...no!" Masashi growled out, his face red, his fists clenched and shaking with rage.

Youko looked back at him, her eyes mere slits, showing only the faintest bit of blue, unreadable and somehow terrifying as she spoke quietly enough for Masashi alone to hear. "Now now Masashi, be quiet. You brought this on yourself; are you prepared to face the consequences?"

"You-!" he began.

"You brought this to the next level, little boy," Youko said, interrupting him again. "It's been three hundred years, and I haven't forgotten what you did; I hope you can keep up."

Masashi was left speechless, clenching his teeth as he watched the woman who had become his enemy. 'Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch BITCH...! She'll be no concubine of mine, no! That's too GOOD for her...! I'll see her dragged through the mud! Ripped up and fed to the rats! I'll put her head up on a spike! I'll kill her myself, the fucking bitch! As soon as I'm king, she is dead! Dead!'

---

Omake

"Yoshida," the substitute math teacher, a rather bored looking man who called himself Sutain-sensei and normally taught economics in St. Ursula High School said as he checked attendance.

"Here."

"Poe-su-su-mu."

"She's still not back yet. And it's pronounced 'Pah-sum', sensei," Taro said.

"Kara."

"Here. And that's my given name, teacher. My family name is 'Stride'.

"Endo."

…

"Endo."

…

"Endo."

"Um...she's sick," Kagami offered. 'I can't let anyone know she's skipping school...!' "Her, um, cousin's...brother's...uncle's girlfriend saw her pass out over at Agatha's last night. It sounds pretty serious..."

"Oh. Thank you, Mochizuki."

"Er...not a problem."

---

Author's Notes: Yeah...this one's a lot longer than I thought it would be when I started writing it. Twenty thousand words and forty pages, give or take a few. In any case, this chapter sets up one of the more important plotlines that will be featured in the future, involving Youko, Haru, Keiko, and everyone's favorite heiress and shy half-youkai duo. I hope you enjoy it! Next up: something dark.