Chapter 16: The Girl in the Tattered Dress, or Observations of a Gatekeeper

The human ducked away from the fourth blow Tobi had aimed at her, and cut into his leg. He hissed behind his bandages, and scratched at her back, leaving long claw marks against bare skin and causing the human girl to hiss between her teeth. She jumped away from another blow, and Tobi swatted the katana – a simple, unimpressive thing obviously crafted solely for dojo-practice purposes – from her grip, only for her to grab it with her other hand before tossing it back.

How long had this fight gone, now? Tobi liked to think that it had been at least a few minutes, when reality dictated it to be about two minutes, tops. The woman – Iris, wasn't it? – somehow got behind him and cut his back, and Tobi seized up from the pain. It was enough – the human knocked him to the ground on his stomach, and planted her sword into the ground right next to his head, and he felt a foot next to his new wound.

"I…" The girl was panting between words, "I win… Gatekeeper." She pulled the sword from the ground, and returned it to its sheath as she stepped off of him. Tobi waited several moments, anticipation of a final blow wracking every fiber of his being.

The final blow was never struck.

"Well?" Tobi pushed himself partially off the ground, and looked at the woman, who had her arms folded across her chest and was looking at him expectantly. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"You…" Tobi would have blinked, if he had eyelids. "You spared my life."

"Well, yeah," She responded, moving her hands to her hips as she shifted her weight to one side, "You said you'd help me if I beat you. And you seem a whole lot smarter than some of the other demons I've run into, so you've got that going. Now," she held a hand out, and Tobi took it, allowing her to pull him up, "Are you going to help me get out of here or what?"

There was, for a moment, a feeling of shock – she, a human girl and a strong one at that, had spared his life. A human, whose kind reviled his with a fear he did not understand, had spared him, a powerful demon, and was proposing an alliance, however temporary. The word "yes" was almost spoken before reality slapped him in the face, and if he could facially express regret, Tobi would have.

"Well, good woman," Tobi said, and the arch of her eyebrow indicated that the woman –IRIS, he should remember her name – caught the nervousness in his tone, "While I am quite grateful that you have spared me, and while I know and fully wish to tell you where the exit is…" he gestured to his wrist, "I can't."

Iris's eyes flickered to his wrist, and it looked as though she noticed the cuffs on his wrists for the first time. Her brow creased as she observed the silver armbands, inscribed with various symbols that he couldn't read but knew bound him to the Hawk.

"…Don't tell me," Iris said after a moment of looking at them, "That I have to kill whatever demon is in charge around here before you can help me."

"That is exactly – wait," Tobi responded, an idea quickly piecing itself together in his mind. "While I can't help you get out of here… I can help you find Hitofuki…" His gaze took in her numerous injuries, some he'd inflicted her while others looked days old, "Along with some medicine for those cuts of yours."

"What about yours?" She gestured to his leg, where torn bandages hung from an invisible knee. Tobi glanced down, and nodded.

"That can be dealt with." he responded, and allowed the fiber bandages to retreat from around the nonexistent body until he was a prayer slip again. "Easy. And if I'm going to help you, this form will be more inconspicuous anyway. Now, good woman, do you accept my offer?"

Iris seemed to ponder it for a moment, rolling the idea in her mind for a while before nodding. "Lead the way," she said, "but try anything funny and I'll blow my nose with you."

"Right this way," Tobi said, and He floated further into the cave, and feeling a bit of excitement when he heard her footsteps behind him. Then, something occurred to him. He glanced back at Iris.

"You only have one sleeve… may I ask what happened to the other?" Iris scowled.

"Waka…"