Part Two
Chapter Fourteen
We didn't believe her, obviously. Who would? Except Nendou who did, in fact, believe her. He even thought it made sense. Something about how Teruhashi-san is as beautiful as an angel, so if these girls are more beautiful (debatable in Yamato-san's case), then they could only be goddesses.
Yare, yare.
Shun came-to around that same time, but Kuboyasu still couldn't move. Whatever that girl did to him wasn't wearing off on its own. We went back and forth for a while, Yamato and her cousin trying to convince us that they weren't stark raving mad, with Teruhashi-san, Shun, Hairo, and Kuboyasu alternately demanding the truth to absolutely no success.
What, you want to know what was said? Yare, yare, isn't it obvious? It was the same things over and over.
"I'm telling the truth."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
"No, you're not."
"Am."
"Not."
"Am."
I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point.
Before anyone knew it, lunch was over and no one but Mera-san and that Kuwabara girl had eaten anything. I'm going to hear all about that later, aren't I? Yare, yare.
It's after the first bell, but we're still sitting here, both sides arguing back and forth. Both Teruhashi-san and Yamato-san look red enough to explode. Maybe they will, and we can forget about all of this and go home.
Yare, yare, Kuwabara-san is watching me—she has aura vision so she can tell where living beings are despite being blind—and I don't like that look in her eyes…
Yare, yare.
Cutting School
"Nadi-chan." Kuwabara's soft, ultra-feminine voice cut through the squabbling teens like a hot knife through warm butter. All the boys—except Kusuo—swallowed their tongues at her soft, sweet smile. "I don't think all this talking will get us anywhere. Why don't we just show them?"
Yamato turned an incredulous frown on her cousin. "You want to take them to the temple? Right now?"
"Mm-hm." Kuwabara's ruby eyes closed, enhancing the cuteness of her smile and eliciting another round of 'ng's. "We're already late for class, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Eh?" Hairo blinked and looked around as if that would somehow help him tell the time. "What do you mean? There's only been one bell—"
The final bell sounded like a death knell, and nearly everyone seemed to whither in disbelief.
Yare, yare.
"Unfortunately, we won't be able to take everyone." Kuwabara daintily filled her delicate, little china bowl with an assortment of pickles to compliment her white rice—Where is she getting this stuff from?—as she smiled up at everyone. "It would look very suspicious if an entire group of seniors, only a few of whom are known to associate on a regular basis, up and disappeared along with two new students. What would people say?"
"Ma, ma." Aiura rested her elbow on her drawn up knee, very nearly flashing everyone. Again. "It'll look like a bunch of seniors decided to start summer vacation early. What's suspicious about that?"
Yamato looked down her nose at Aiura in disgust. "We don't care what it looks like to your friends at school, we care what it looks like to the people watching you. You know, those Dark Reunion guys? All of you leave together and you may as well turn yourselves over right now; especially if they figure out you left with us."
Yumehara started, her grip tightening on Shun's neck until he gurgled foam and turned white. "Are you saying things will be worse if They know you're involved? Will we get h-hurt?"
Yamato gave Yumehara a pointed look before glancing down at Shun. "No more than what you're doing, but since I'm pretty sure that kid's dead, I'll let that speak for itself."
"Eh?" Yumehara looked down at Shun's pale face and rolled back eyes. "Wahh! Kaidoh-kun! I'm so, so sorry!"
"I think they have a point, you guys." Hairo turned to his friends with an imploring expression as he clenched his fists. "We don't know who these people are or what they're capable of. When the opponent has you thirty-love, you don't want to rush the net. You're only giving them the opportunity to slam."
No one speaks tennis but you, Hairo.
Yamato nodded, the interested gleam in her eye spiking with appreciation. "A tennis man, huh?" She fluttered her lashes at him. "Be still my heart."
…Yare, yare. As if this situation wasn't complicated enough.
"All right then!" Fire erupted in Hairo's eyes as he clenched his fists, either oblivious to Yamato's blatant flirtation or too uncertain to know how to react. Probably both. "First thing to do is decide who stays and who goes."
Every hand but Kusuo's shot up. "I'll go!" "—as I would be most interested in expanding my knowledge of the spiritual—"
"Blondie, I swear to my dad—"
"I'm sorry, everyone, but no." Kuwabara shook her head sadly, regaining everyone's attention with her soft-spoken apology. "I'm afraid it will have to be only those who are directly involved."
Everyone blinked and looked around. Teruhashi raised a hesitant hand. "I don't understand, aren't we all directly involved?"
"Sorry, Teruhashi." Yamato didn't sound sorry in the least. "You all got involved, but only five of you were involved from the beginning; whether you knew it or not."
Let me guess…
With a quick zig of her finger, Yamato pointed at Kaidoh, Nendou, Hairo, Kuboyasu, and Kusuo. "You, you, you, you, and you."
I knew it.
"The rest of you will just have to stay here and suck it up."
A flurry of protests rang out, centering around Teruhashi, Aiura, and Yumehara. All three girls tried to argue why they should be allowed to come along. Teruhashi and Aiura both played up their powers, even though Teruhashi had literally only learned of hers ten minutes ago, and Yumehara did her best to stay relevant by saying she could take really good notes, well half-way descent notes at least. Okay, so she wasn't very good with notes, but she could carry water or run errands or…She trailed off, poking her fingers together, and looked ready to burst into tears.
A hand dropped onto Yumehara's head, and she looked up to see Shun standing beside her, his face and voice serious as he stared Yamato down. "Don't worry, Yumehara-san. We'll be sure to come back safe and sound, and when we do, we'll have all the answers we'll need."
Yumehara blushed in awe, small tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes. "Kaidoh-kun…"
He smiled down at her. "So wait for us; okay, Yumehara-san?"
"Oh, Kaidoh-kun!" She clasped her hands beneath her chin. "I'll wait for you forever!"
He's not God, Yumehara-san.
"Well, it's fine for Chiyo-pipi to stay, she might get hurt otherwise, but there's no reason I can't go!"
"Or me!" Teruhashi leaned forward, one hand pressed earnestly to her breast. "If something's happening, then I want to be a part of it! You can't make me sit on the sidelines like some damsel in distress—!"
"Teruhashi-san." Kusuo met Teruhashi's indigo eyes with an unwavering stare. "If I'm late coming back, someone will need to pick up Yuuta from school."
Realization lanced through her as she pulled back, blinking wildly. She looked from Yamato and Kuwabara to Kusuo to the rest of their friends. Her eyes fell back on Kusuo, and she scowled. "You better be back in time. If not, you'll miss the train."
"Aa." Kusuo nodded once. "I'll be back."
"Eh? Train?" Aiura frowned. "Kusuo, what—?"
"Could you guys please work out your little love triangle on your own time? I mean, damn, talk about airing your dirty laundry."
Kusuo glared at Yamato, but she wasn't the least bit repentant as she shrugged and stood. She held out a hand to her cousin to help her rise gracefully to her feet.
"You charged enough for this, Natsu? It's further than you've cut before. Kazu-ji will kill me if you wear yourself out."
Kuwabara swatted playfully at Yamato's arm. "He will not, Nadi-chan, and you know it. Shizuru-oba-sama would string him up by his entrails from the eaves of the temple's omote-mon as a warning."
"Ng!" The boys all said, but for a completely different reason than before. Kusuo didn't blame them, he'd almost swallowed his own tongue at hearing something so vulgar come out of the sweet Kuwabara-chan's mouth.
Yare, yare. She's just like Teruhashi-san; pretty to her rotten little core. For some bizarre reason, that thought almost made Kusuo smile.
"Yare, yare." Yamato waved her cousin off, and Kusuo frowned at her theft of his signature phrase. "Go do what you need to. I'll make sure everyone's together for a quick jump."
"W-wait!" Shun looked like a deer caught in headlights as he stared at Yamato in pure horror. "You mean we're leaving now? As in, right now? As in, before school's over? As in, c-c-cut—?"
"Cutting school?" Yamato quirked an eyebrow. "Geez, kid, keep up. I didn't hit you that hard. But then, you are a little pansy-ass, aren't you?"
Shun gaffed indignantly.
"Don't worry Shun-kun." Yamato smiled her usual sweet, polite smile that was brimming with obvious evil intentions. "Yuu-ji will beat that right out of you."
#
It took some doing, but eventually, everyone but Kusuo and the other four guys hurried down to class with Teruhashi as their shield from being late. With Kuwabara gone, it should work just as well now as it ever did before, so Kusuo wasn't worried about repercussions. He and the guys had also armed Teruhashi with legitimate (-ish, in Kuboyasu's case) excuses for why they didn't come back to class.
Kuboyasu didn't look at all pleased despite being released from his invisible bonds. He kept shooting murderous glances at Yamato and muttering under his breath between bites of shredded chicken Mera had reluctantly parted with before going back to class. Yamato either didn't notice or didn't care as she stood behind her meditating cousin with her arms crossed and her hip popped. Kuwabara hadn't moved or spoken in almost five minutes, and it was beginning to wear on even Kusuo's nerves.
Was this all an elaborate hoax? Something those "Dark Reunion" characters came up with to mess with Kusuo and his friends even more? He supposed it was possible that someone had found out about his psychic powers and his subsequent sealing of said powers then decided to play an elaborate prank as a way of messing with Kusuo's now telepathy-free mind. But who would do something like that? It would take an absurd amount of coordination, money, forethought, planning, and obsession with Kusuo and his life to even contemplate such an undertaking. Who would go through all that trouble?
Kusuke. Kusuo scowled. That utter, fracking bastard.
Shooting his gaze about as subtly as possible, Kusuo tried to pinpoint where the camera's might be placed. No doubt Kusuke was having a grand-old laugh at Kusuo's expense. Well, he'd better enjoy that laugh while he had the chance, because when Kusuo next got ahold of him, he'll be laughing through a tube.
An electric crack followed by a warped 'shwoom' cut the deepening silence on the rooftop, and Kusuo jerked his attention back to Kuwabara. She was still kneeling, her red eyes closed, but she now had her hand wrapped around the shaft of what looked like a naginata. A shiny, golden naginata that sounded exactly like a lightsaber.
What?
"Holy shit!" Kuboyasu spun around and grasped Kusuo's uniform shirt in a tight fist as he gestured at the gold weapon with his other, flailing, hand. "Kusuo! Did you see that, man? It literally just appeared! The hell kind of shit is this mess?"
Kusuo shrugged and brushed off Kuboyasu's hand. Like I know.
"Please keep your distance, mina-san." Kuwabara's ruby eyes opened, but she stared sightlessly at the roof's parapet just ahead of her. "I'm still not very good with my jigen tou. I wouldn't want to cut off a limb by accident. That would be terrible."
As one, the boys stepped back. Kuboyasu even cupped himself out of reflex. Yamato rolled her eyes. "Unless that's the limb you lead with, I'm pretty sure you're all just fine there."
"Eh?" Kuwabara looked over and cocked her head. "Which limb, Nadi-chan?"
"Never you mind." She made a shooing motion. "Get cutting before you fall over."
Kuwabara nodded and faced forward again. She took a steeling breath and went up on one knee, shifting her naginata so it was diagonal across her body with the blade facing forward. In a quick, fluid stroke, she sliced through the air from the bottom right to the top left. It was a beautiful, well-practiced move, but that's not what held the guys' interest or awe. Hovering in the air, at the exact angle of her cut, was a tear of light just wide enough to show a completely different skyline from the one visible from the school roof.
Through the tear, Kusuo could make out a long, steep, seemingly unending case of stone stairs and the corner of a traditional, vermillion torii gate. Braided ropes, the kinds used by monks and mikos to create wards, were visible on two or three of the forest's enormous trees—trees that Kusuo knew wouldn't be found anywhere near Tokyo. Impossible as it seemed—impossible as it was—Kuwabara had somehow ripped a hole not just through the air but through space itself.
"Oi!" Yamato glared at the gaping boys. "You gonna stand there all day like a bunch of dumbasses?"
"I…what…" Hairo shook himself, his dropped jaw snapping shut. "What do we do?"
"And just when I thought you had promise too." Yamato let out a long-suffering sigh and held her hand out toward the hole in space. "It's a door, boys. You do know what to do with a door, right?"
"Oooh!" Nendou rubbed the back of his head with a riotous laugh. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place, lady?" He strode forward without concern. "I may not know what to do with a hole in the sky, but a door's a completely different thing! Didn't know doors came in ripped shapes like this one, but a door's a door, right?"
"Nendou!" Shun's hand shot out, as if he could grab the pseudo-punk and drag him back. Too late; Nendou stepped through the tear in the air and disappeared from view.
"Nendou!" Kuboyasu and Hairo rushed forward with Shun close behind. Kusuo forced himself to move slowly, deliberately—he didn't want either of these girls to think they'd gotten to him—but something inside insisted he hurry. Surely Nendou wasn't dead, though. There's no way these girls would be so stupid as to do something that would kill him with Kusuo and the others standing right there.
Nendou's face popped up in the gap between the tear in space making Shun scream like a little girl and both Kuboyasu and Hairo strike a fighting stance. Even Kusuo had locked up at the sudden appearance, especially considering the blood now running down Nendou's face.
"Careful, guys! That first step's a doozy!"
Yare, yare.
Yamato sighed and sent Kuwabara a flat stare. "This is the guy you're interested in."
Kuwabara beamed. "Isn't he cute?"
Grumbling, Yamato waved the boys closer to the tear. "Hurry up, you idiots. Natsu can't hold this all day, and you really don't want to be half-way through when it closes."
Shun stiffened. "Wh-what happens if—?"
Kuboyasu picked Shun up by the back of his shirt and passed him through the tear to Nendou. "Don't think about it, Shun. You'll only scare yourself."
Silently agreeing that Shun had a right to be uneasy, Kusuo waited for his chance to pass through the tear while Hairo hung back to help the two women. Fortunately, everyone passed through without incident with almost a full minute to spare before the tear seemed to knit itself back together starting at the corners until all that remained was an uninterrupted view of long, steep stairs, a sea of endless forest, and an unknown temple with a yakkyakumon style gate sealed off by heavy, wooden doors.
"Welcome to the Sanctuary." Kuwabara said as she and Yamato bowed formally. "We hope you enjoy your stay."
Creepy.
The front doors eased open behind the bowing girls, swinging outward, but no one was opening them.
Creepy.
Kusuo still wasn't convinced that this whole thing wasn't an elaborate hoax planned by his stupid brother. It seemed like the kind of stupidly elaborate thing he'd do.
"All right, enough of the polite shit." Yamato strode toward the gates, pausing only long enough to wave the five boys forward. "Come on; Kazu-ji and Yuki-ba will have food waiting."
Four of the boys shared an uncertain glance, and the unspoken lot fell on Hairo. He stifled a sigh and said, "How did they know to make food?"
Yamato grinned. "Because while my father may be the all-seeing Gatekeeper, Kazu-ji is Izanagi-O."
What?
"That's right." Her grin widened. "My uncle, Kuwabara Kazuma, is the father of the gods reborn."
