1996, Postwar Era
Okinawa Prefecture,
Masaki Shrine, Japan
The crow was waiting for him when he stepped outside.
"Don't even think about it." Tenchi warned as the creature eyed him. "You swoop me and I drop it, everything inside might get ruined." He clutched the package from his luggage to his chest tightly. "Besides, its shrink wrapped. You aren't getting anything unless I give it to you."
The crow cawed in aggravation, and in the quiet of night, Tenchi could hear the hiss of tree branches and what he guessed was the crow's murder. The youth rarely saw owls this far up in the shrine, and wouldn't have been far from the truth in his guess that the local murder-and their more supernatural brethren-had chased them all off.
Grumbling to himself, the youth waited for his eyes to adjust to the night's natural illumination, the moon a quarter full and shrinking, before proceeding out into the main shrine area. Cricket sang in the gentle summer night, and fireflies shined like stars against a universe of black forest. The air was still and humid, but cooled significantly from the heat of noon.
For a moment, Tenchi stood where he was, observing his surroundings even as the crow yelled at him.
He'd forgotten this.
How had he forgotten this? This peace? This…gentleness?
The teen drew in a deep breath and tasted green life, moisture, and damp soil. Somewhere far off-far, far off-came the screech of an owl echoing through the mountains.
A sensation of gentle elation overcame him.
I forgot how much I missed this. No city lights, no pollution, no disturbances, no people. Just…quiet. He was unaware of the gentle smile on his face, and had he been, would have denied it to anyone watching.
A high pitched howl-almost like a scream-made him jump. Fox. He thought, and looked back to the shrine with its two kitsune guardians. Grandpa said that his mother had insisted he place them there, way back when Tenchi was still just a newborn. He'd never seen the shrine without them, and even now they brought a sense of reassurance to the young man.
Wonder if I'll see any kitsune tonight. He thought, then turned and proceeded down the steps, counting down from one hundred and eight in his head. Near the sixty-ninth step was a small animal trail catering off to the right that went unobserved by most visitors. He took it now, slipping off the main trail and into the underbrush, slapping idly at mosquitoes as the forest canopy enveloped the moon over his head. His light growing limited, the lad carefully picked his way through the underbrush, mindful of where he stepped lest he catch his foot in a root or twist an ankle in a hidden hole. Yet the trail was well used, and outside of the occasional large rock, Tenchi safely navigated the trail the three-quarters mile to The Cave.
At one point he spied something white and shiny dart out in front of him in the underbrush, but it was gone before he could identify it. At another point, he almost took a wrong trail, one that started with a small spiderweb but which gradually grew worse as the webs increased in size and strength. It was another fox scream-one which almost sounded like "No!"-that turned him away from the trail and back onto the right path.
And so it was, close to ten in the evening, that Tenchi Masaki stepped out of the forest and in front of a demon's prison.
He stared at it, the moon's light illuminating the outcrop of rock which formed the cave's roof. A small staircase of six steps led the way into the blackness of the cave, and though it was slight, the youth could just make out the red tinge of the rusting iron gate barring him from inside.
A tree branch moved above him, and Tenchi looked up.
The crow stared down at him. Others were gathering on the cave's stone outcrop above.
"Been waiting all day for this, haven't you." Tenchi accused, and with a sigh moved towards the cave.
He felt like he was being watched.
Probably because I am. He thought. Approaching the steps, the teen bowed. "Good evening." He announced, "I've returned from Naha City and brought some gifts with me. May I climb the steps and present them to you?" He straightened and paused, ears perked up and listening carefully. The forest was quiet outside of the insects and nocturnal wildlife. Dolt, you know that isn't how this works. Shut yourself up. He thought.
With some effort, the lad closed his eyes and took several long and soothing breaths. With each breath, he quieted his mind, quited his internal voice, and when the chatter of his brain was dialed down to zero, listened.
"Welcome back." He heard.
Tenchi Masaki opened his eyes to another world.
Tiny green kodama spirits floated and bobbed around him like fireflies, their voices high, childlike songs as they drifted to, through, and around him. While some of the crows were still present, many had changed, their forms now a mixture of tiny koppa tengu as small as his hand, flitting around like black sparrows, and the greater Karasu tengu who sat perched on the stone outcrop, staring down at him from expressionless raptor faces. A Jurogumo sat nestled between an outcrop of two boulders near the far side of the cave, already spinning a new web as she watched him with eight, hungry eyes from a beautiful maiden's face. A pack of ookami, their fur white with age with large wreaths of prayer beads around their neck, rested next to her, looking at the boy with bored interest before returning their fixation to the spider woman. A kitsune with a silver coat and nine luxurious tails sat in front of the gate, watching him with a fox's smile, and on the other side, a smaller, seven-tailed kitsune laid, its coat still its original tawny brown.
And between them, propped up against the rusted gate, sat a spectral woman with warm, glowing golden eyes. She smiled down at him, revealing elongated canines from beneath a mane of spiky hair. It looked silver in the night's light, but his memories of day sightings always told him it was a hue closer to turquoise or cyan.
He bowed formally to her. "Hello Ryoko-sama."
The smile dropped from the apparition's face. "How many times have I told you to drop the formality bullshit?"
And Tenchi smiled cheekily. "I can't help it," He said, "I was alway taught to respect my elders."
"Oh, I'll 'elder' you, Asshole." She gestured him forward, though there was no hostility in her actions. "C'mere you little shrimp. Show your great and powerful 'elder' what you brought her from the city."
A large, ear-splitting smile spread across his face, and he found a similar expression returned by the demon of the cave. The youth approached, climbing the old, worn down steps and slipping between the two kitsune-a mated pair who'd been together for as long as Tenchi could remember. He presented the box on the top step, fished out the key to his house from his back pocket, and used it to slice through the shrink wrap before opening the box. Inside were three smaller packages, which Tenchi withdrew individually. "Yagi-niku." He introduced, opening the cardboard and revealing several packages of gold, black kanji scrawled atop them in thick cursive. The company script labeled the golden plastic from top to bottom, and Tenchi opened one of them up carefully. "A play on words- 'yagi'-goat-and 'yakiniku', or grilled meat. I was allowed to order it either raw or cooked and, well…" He shrugged. "I didn't think it'd survive the trip if it was raw." He opened the package, and a scent wafted out of seasoned meat. Carefully, the young man withdrew it and placed it on top of the box it was contained in, then opened the remaining golden packages and presented them as well.
The silver kitsune's nose twitched, and his mate licked its maw.
"Wait your turn." Ryoko warned.
With a huff, the seven tailed kitsune dropped its head, eying the meat portions in interest.
Tenchi ignored them, withdrawing the next item. This was a simple plastic tray with a transparent top. Both kitsune perked up immediately and began to yip, drawing the attention of the others. "Inari-zushi with seasonal veggies." Tenchi had to raise his voice over the excited fox screams to be heard. "And yes, we all know who its for." The two kitsune began to rise, but Ryoko was faster, reaching forward and grabbing both kitsune's muzzles and clamping them closed. Her grip was like a vice, and though the youkai struggled, they could not loosen her hold on them.
"You both don't settle down I'll send you off to the Princess for her entertainment." She warned, nodding in the direction of the Jurogumo. Muffled yips escaped the animals maws, but gradually, they ceased their struggling, lying down once more with equal sighs.
Tenchi watched on in amusement, even as Ryoko sent him an irritated look. "What else, Troublemaker?" She demanded.
The lad smirked. "Aw, come on." He drawled, "Is that anyway to treat the one who brought you…" He trailed off, having saved the best for last and now revealing it to the spirit with dramatic flare.
The demon's expression lit up with joy. "Booze!" She howled, and around her the the murder of koppa and karasu screamed as well.
Tenchi held the ceramic bottle up with a large and victorious smile. "Awamori." He stated, "Local Okinawa special."
"How and when?" Ryoko demanded, planting an elbow on one knee and resting her chin in her hand, leaning forward to admire the bottle with keen interest. "Last I heard, you wouldn't be able to drink until you were close to graduating your third year." She inspected the bottle carefully, making no effort to touch it. "That bottle looks fancy too. How much did you spend on that?"
Tenchi shook his head. "Nope." He stated. "Trade secret. I don't give and tell."
The apparition scowled. "I find out you're doing petty crime or getting in with Yakuza, I'm kicking your ass." She remarked. "You're mother was exceptionally clear about that."
"On my mother's honor, I swear it was obtained through legal means." Tenchi replied, then smirked. "What, you don't trust me? You, the great and terrible Devil Caller Ryoko, Scourge of the Galaxy, horrible Space Pirate Extraodinare, doesn't believe that the youngest Masaki got alcohol through legal tender?"
The demon snorted. "I know who raised your mother." She stated. "And who keeps giving you bad advice."
"Bad advice or the best advice?" Tenchi asked, removing the two complimentary sake cups which came with the bottle and placing them next to the food. Then he popped the cork off the ceramic bottle and gave an experimental sniff.
He gagged.
"They…weren't joking when they said this was half-alcohol." The boy wheezed, holding the bottle away from him as he fought of a sneeze. Gaining control of himself once more, the youth carefully poured to cups of sake out, corked the bottle again, and placed it and the residual boxes off to one side. "That is rank." On his right, the nine-tailed kitsune leaned over, sniffed the cups, and sneezed.
"Oy, no sneezing on the booze!" The demon exclaimed with dismay. "You can't handle the liquor, go find something else!"
The kitsune looked at her with unamused gold eyes, which it rolled in a manner more reminiscent of a human than an animal. His mate looked on in disinterest, eying the inari-zushi with a predator's focus.
Ignoring the squabbling spirits, Tenchi rose to his feet, clapped his hands, and prayed over the small offering. He didn't know why he had to pray every time, but he knew that it was the main contributer allowing the offering to reach whatever spiritual plane Ryoko and the other youkai primarily resided on.
The prayer finished, Tenchi stepped back, a silent signal that the offerings were ready to be consumed. He watched in silence, the sight having always fascinated him no matter how often he watched it. Ryoko, the unofficial lord-lady?-of the territory for the past seven hundred years, stepped forth, taking one of the cups-or rather its astral contents-and bringing it to her lips. Though the physical cup did not move, Tenchi was keenly aware of the semi-transparent ceramic cup that was now in the demon's hands, and watched as she sipped from it.
She became a bit more tangible, and to Tenchi it was as if the essence of the awamori helped solidify her. She left the other cup untouched-something about 'less is more' as a spirit-and instead took four pieces of the yaginiku and two pieces of the inari-zushi, eating their translucent essence with careful, unbridled enjoyment. The translucence faded further, and Tenchi could almost see what she was like before her imprisonment by his ancestor. A woman of eternal youth and exotic beauty, with feline golden eyes and gravity defying hair more at home in a Kabuki performance than a demon's prison.
Her fill taken, the woman carefully moved around the offerings, signaling to the two kitsune-the two temple guardians whom the statues in the shrine were modeled after-that it was their turn. While there appetite was more voracious-and savage-their main focus was on the inari-zushi, and outside of them each trying one piece of the goat, left what remained for the others.
The tengu were next, Ryoko's eyes and ears outside of her prison. The obnoxious crow which had continuously heckled Tenchi earlier that evening, a Karasu Tengu named Hiji, approached first. The tengu wore a uniform of all black, the color matching his wings and leaving him a dark miasma shape against the night's poor lighting. A matching headress hid the creature's beaked features from Tenchi-he'd never seen the tengu without it-and the youkai carried a bronze shakujou Buddhist staff in his left hand. He took the second cup of awamori, the drink disappearing under his headdress, and two strips of the yaginiku before leaving what remained for the murder.
Tenchi didn't bother to see what the others took. Ryoko was approaching him. "C'mere, Momotaro." She murmured, and Tenchi stepped forward, opening his arms and embracing the woman. He felt a solid, warm body against his, smelled alcohol and spice, moisture and the cold earth, and smiled into the hug.
Ryoko embraced him tightly, and for a long moment they stayed that way, entwined in each others arms, rocking gently in the joy of the True Reunion they had both been working towards. "Missed you."
"Missed you too, Demon Lord." Tenchi heard a harsh laugh from Ryoko, and the woman held him at shoulder's length, looking him up and down with an affectionate smile.
"You grew an inch."
Tenchi's eyes widened. "I did?"
"Yep." The woman tousled his hair. "Come sit with me so I don't drain my energy too fast."
The two moved to the large boulder that rested besides the cave entrance, and Tenchi looked up as the swooping of wings reached his ears. Hiji, in all his dark glory, had come to perch atop the rock, the shakujou staff resting against his shoulder. Though Tenchi couldn't see the tengu's face, he knew the creature was watching him. While Ryoko never acknowledged it, the bird man had a thing for the demon, and got touchy whenever Tenchi was around.
The two took a seat at the base of the boulder, and Tenchi found himself beset by the silver kitsune, who trotted up to him and gave him a hard head butt, laughing its fox-laugh all the while. A moment later and the creature became a young man, his image almost akin to Ryoko if the demon had a twin brother, dressed in a summer Yukata decorated with plum blossoms and koi. His eyes remained vulpine, however, his hair pure silver and not quite as spiky, his ears more pointed than Ryoko's, and his face vaguely fox-like as he grinned out at the world with a coy smile.
The vulpine spirit ruffled his hair in a manner identical to Ryoko's. "Long time no see, Tenchi." The offerings made it easier for the kitsune to use its own unique magic to transform-a draining process that was used more often in times of desperation or danger rather than for joy or celebration. This was a rare occasion.
"Good to see you to, Kokonotsu." Tenchi said. "Still taking advantage of tourists?"
"And on occasion scaring the crap out of the Priest." The silver fox, Kokonotsu, replied. His smaller mate, yet incapable of the magic reserves needed to transform, Nanatsu, curled up in the disguised fox's lap, resting her head on Tenchi's knee in a silent plea for attention.
"Its hilarious." Ryoko said. "Your grandpa is just far enough away that he doesn't see the finer details. He panics, goes racing after Kokonotsu, then comes racing back to here to make sure I haven't escaped."
"At this rate he might actually start believing your stories that kitsune are real." Kokonotsu said.
Tenchi smiled, gently offering a hand to Nanatsu. She licked the fingers and leaned forward, giggling a fox's grunt as her seven tails wriggled like mad. "Listen, its good that you guys are having fun, but please go a little easier on him." The youth came to his grandfather's defense. "He's old and I'd really like it if he didn't…you know, have a heart attack, fall down the mountain…"
The Jorogumo passed, measuring Tenchi up with a side-long glance. She looked hungry.
"…fall into big ass spider web and getting eaten…" He added flatly.
Ryoko and Kokonotsu shared a look. "Maybe I do." Ryoko said.
"He's more spry than he lets on." Said Kokonotsu.
Nanatsu giggled, rolling onto her stomach, tails beating wildly against her mate. Kokonotsu grinned and scratched it, for a moment his own nine tails appearing from under the yukata as a strange ek ek ek laugh left his throat.
Ryoko sighed dramatically. "You still don't believe me then?"
"That my grandfather's an alien and you're from outer space?" Tenchi looked at the demon with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, but I'm still gonna need a bit more proof before I believe that one."
Kokonotsu fox-laughed with his mate. "I love this kid." He said.
The demon shook her head. "Of all the hills to die on, this is the one. Demons and youkai you're perfectly okay with, but the mere mention of aliens…"
Tenchi snorted. "You aren't a little green man from Mars."
"That's because the colony on Mars wiped out their planet's resources fifty-thousand years ago and colonized earth alongside you Terrains." Ryoko grumbled. "And they're gray, not green."
"Yeah, and lizard people run the local governments around the world." Tenchi rolled his eyes.
"Do they?" Ryoko leaned forward, staring at him in curiosity.
"No." Tenchi replied. "Anyways, lets change the subject." The youth fell silent, and his expression grew serious. "I'm getting you out of that cave this month, Ryoko."
Ryoko fell silent, observing him with carefully guarded golden eyes.
"I'm serious this time." Tenchi said, turning to face the demon more fully. "This is the year. Come hell or high water, you're going to be free before I return to the city."
"Tenchi…" Ryoko sounded tired.
"I'm serious!"
"As you were last year. And the year before that. And all the years prior."
Tenchi looked wounded. "You don't believe me?"
The demon woman sighed. "I believed you the first couple of years." She said. "Not any more."
"The first year I promised I was thirteen." Tenchi said. "I didn't know my end from my asshole."
"And now you're seventeen and nothing has changed." Ryoko countered. "Achika was eight when she gave me the same promise and followed a similar rouse."
Tenchi flinched. "You don't trust me then."
The demon eyed him. "Trust is subjective." She said. "Do I trust you to visit me in the summers? To provide me some offerings once a year that I may feel something other than the cold nothingness of my prison? Yes. Because you, like Achika, have proven that you will do that-that you will uphold that tradition year after year without fail, come rain or shine." She shook her head. "But do I trust you to have the skill-or the guts-needed to obtain the keys to this prison from your grandfather and set me free? No." She looked him in the eye. "Your actions speak louder than your words, Tenchi."
The two fell silent. Before them, kodama swayed with ease on the breeze, drifting like seedlings with no apparent direction, giggling whenever they collided with themselves, a tree, a tengu, or even the ookami guardians who kept an eye on the Jorogumo. The Jurogumo herself, the most dangerous creature in the forest sans Ryoko, approached the offerings with a combined mixture of grace and scorn, staring down at the items presented with an unimpressed gaze.
She was new to the area-a youkai Tenchi had never seen the previous year, and one whose presence seemed to darken the very atmosphere of the cave which housed the demon beside him. Up until now, no man-eaters had ever lived in the Masaki shrine. He wondered where she'd come from, and why she'd decided to settle down so close to the cave-it received almost no visitors minus Tenchi and his grandfather, and the Masaki Shrine itself was poor eats in terms of the excess wave of Humanity.
Beside him, Ryoko drew her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as she stared off into the distance. "I think," She started, "That your own trust is similar."
He looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"You trust me not to kill you." She said. "To look out for you whenever you come to the cave. To…entertain you after you present offerings with the youkai who keep company with me." She gestured to the creatures around him. "…But I do not believe you trust me enough to free me."
The words struck him like a slap to the face. "That's cold, Ryoko."
"Is it?" She asked, "It's what I've observed. A couple of times in the summer, I have your company. The rest of the time is with your grandfather, who has all manner of warnings to say about me." She shook her head. "You become the people you surround yourself with, Tenchi. I should know. And in a way…I suppose that is okay for me. I've accepted it."
"Accepted what?"
"That I will not taste freedom." The demon stated. "You are not the first to tell me that I would know such a thing. Nor Achika. It is a story I have heard repeatedly. 'Join me and I will free you. Save me and I will free you. Protect me and I will free you.'" She shook her head. "Yet never has anyone followed through with it."
The lad pursed his lips. "That isn't true." Yet even as he said the words, an infection of doubt rose in his breast. Was he taking advantage of Ryoko?
Neither his mother or him had ever made any progress towards freeing the demon. He'd seen his mom get into a heated argument with Grandpa Katsuhito once-and only once-about the demon in the cave, and the following summer had been the only time he'd not gone to the Masaki shrine to visit.
Mom had passed, leaving with him a duty to free Ryoko, and he had boasted to the demon at the tender age of thirteen that he'd do it, that he'd be fast and slick and sly, that he'd steal the keys from beneath his grandfather's nose and deliver the freedom Ryoko deserved himself.
And he'd spent that whole summer sweeping steps, swimming in the lake, and training with his grandfather.
The next summer had proved similar, heckled by Hiji, back then newly elevated to Karasu, who'd threatened to kidnap him for lying to the feline-eyed woman. He'd been chased up and down the one-hundred-and-eight steps three times in one day by the tengu, who would not let up until the youth had collapsed from exhaustion. He'd not worked up the courage to provide any offerings until his last week there, where he dimly remembered an excited-then disappointed-Ryoko listen to his excuses before fleeing again.
He could feel the tengu's glare in his back even now.
The following year had been the first year of highschool, and Tenchi had found himself so overwhelmed that outside of the stray visit to the cave, most of his focus had been on studying for the entrance exams-even his grandfather had laid off the training, instead taking the time to tutor the boy to help relive his stress. Last year had been similar, though Tenchi had gained the upper hand on his summer class work that time. He'd been able to visit the shrine more and speak with Ryoko but…
He grimaced.
Maybe Hiji was out to get him for a reason. Lesser tengu-the Koppa and Karasu-were sometimes the reincarnated spirits of wolves who'd lived a long, long life. Their loyalty, while hard to come by, was said to be fierce and legendary to whoever they gave it to. Ryoko's own story of how they'd met would have fed into that-having rescued the then-koppa tengu from a hungry pack of kamaitachi who'd chased him into the cave. Half of one wing had apparently been cut off, and the talons of his left hand had been sliced off and eaten by the wind sickle weasels. Apparently Ryoko's astral presence had pounced on two of the creatures and chased away the third, absorbing what spiritual bodies they had and then donating it to the tiny body who'd sought shelter in her cage. Hiji's left hand had never fully recovered, and where the other karasu tengu had talons, his left hand only had blackened nails. The bronze shakujou Buddhist staff was supposedly his way for making up for what he had lost-the kamaitachi didn't like the noise the staff made.
Even now the shakujou rings sang, a high pitched tune like ringing bells said to drive off wild animals. Tenchi wondered if Hiji was directing it towards him.
The youth sighed. "Ryoko…I think I get what your saying."
The demon glanced at him from the corner of one eye.
"And…I think you might…" He paused, then began again. "I think I've been making up excuses."
"We know you have." Kokonotsu, who had been quiet up until this now, butted in. Nanatsu, who'd curled up in her mate's lap, looked on in silent agreement and made a sharp gesture like a nod.
Tenchi winced.
Ryoko said nothing.
The teen sighed and tried again. "What I mean to say is…I want to promise you that I'll set you free, Ryoko. This summer. I promise you'll be free before I leave at the end of this summer."
"Or what?"
"What?" Tenchi looked at the woman in confusion.
"You promise or what?" She stated. "What is the consequence of you failing to uphold your promise?"
Tenchi stared, and with an irritated sigh, the demon rose to her feet. "It's easy to promise anything without ramifications." She said. "I could promise you'd have the moon tomorrow and not live up to it, and suffer nothing for it." She gestured to the low hanging orb, little more than a sliver in the sky. "I don't deal in promises-not anymore. So instead I'll make a deal with you, one to ensure you make good on your so-called promise." She looked down at him, and for the first time in many, many years, Tenchi Masaki felt very small, very weak and very, very vulnerable. He was a lone human surrounded by youkai of all manner of dispositions, and at the leader's rise they came to regard him with fresh, cold interest.
"Either free me from this cave by summer's end, or never return to the Masaki shrine." Ryoko stated.
Tenchi jumped to his feet. "What do you mean!?" He demanded.
"You heard me." Ryoko replied. "I have my freedom by summer's end, or you never step foot on this land again."
"I can't-you can't-" Tenchi sputtered.
Ryoko narrowed her eyes. "Oh, but I can." She said, and a cold wind blew. One which smelled of death, decay, and the putrid sent of rot. Her eyes flashed a bright, glowing red, and Tenchi felt cold. "I can, and if you should choose to break that promise and return, you will contend with the ones who you see here, and more." She said simply.
Tenchi swallowed dryly. "But then…you won't be freed from the cave."
"I know." Ryoko replied. "But your own failure would indicate I never had a chance to begin with." She flexed a hand, then stared down at it. "Besides…I'm learning new and creative ways of dealing with that issue. Ways that…don't require a physical body." She looked behind her at the cave, and Tenchi felt ice pierce his heart.
He was afraid.
"If my physical body is to lie wasted and contained to a tree and a sword, so be it. My astral body grows stronger by the day, as does my knowledge of the local spiritual energy of this world. Let Yosho hold the old dead shell for all I care. I'll find a new way to free myself, and I suppose, become a True Demon in body as well as in name."
"And then what will you do?" Tenchi asked.
"That remains to be seen." Ryoko said. "As I was once told though…'Proper action requires precise movement.'" She looked back at him. "If you're fortunate, perhaps you'll have died of old age before that ever comes to fruition. If you fail in your promise, of course."
"And…if I do? Succeed in my half?"
Ryoko shrugged. "Then I leave." She said simply.
"Leave and go where?"
"Back to the stars." Ryoko said simply. "With all my problems and all of your family's fears of what I might do to this planet. Maybe even take a couple kitsune and a tengu for company." She shrugged. "Either way, you and your family line here on Earth will no longer have to put up with me, and then you can open the shrine up as…who knows, a tourist attraction or something. Get married to some doting girl and have doting children who will grow up free of the responsibility placed on you by your supposed ancestor. The thing you'll have been bound to watch over will have long since fled."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." Ryoko agreed, "Unless…you want to join me in the stars."
Tenchi dropped his gaze, unable to meet her prying eyes.
The demon shrugged and turned away. "Head back to the Shrine, Tenchi." She said, her voice regaining some of its softness. "Its near midnight, and you'll have to contend with more than just me if you're out much later. Your grandfather will not be kind to you tomorrow on the plea of poor sleep."
"…Right." The youth studied the ground, his mind racing as it sought to digest everything Ryoko had just said. Demonic deals, punishment for promises unfulfilled, even an offer to the stars…The teen squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "I meant what I said, Ryoko." He announced, and when she looked over her shoulder at him, she met a steely gaze that reminded her of the lad's predecessor. "I accept your terms, and I promise you, you will have your freedom."
The demon smiled thinly. The smile didn't reach her eyes. "Talk is cheap, Tenchi. Your actions remain to be seen." She was growing translucent again, he saw, walking back towards the gate of the cave and being trailed by two foxes-small, single tailed, one tawny one and the other's whose coat had grown white with age.
The kodama and tengu were gone, though if Tenchi looked he could still spy the jorogumo, watching him from her web, her gaze calculating as she observed him. And then even she disappeared, slipping between the two boulders and out of sight.
All that remained was Hiji, who loomed over Tenchi from the boulder. He struck the stone with the butt end of his staff, causing the rings to sing. The tengu looked ready to launch himself at the lad, and acknowledging the warning, Tenchi turned and slipped back away towards the path leading up to the stairs, retreating from whence he came and fighting the urge to look behind him, half certain that what he'd see would be either Hiji or the jorogumo stalking after him.
Yet nothing came for him, nothing chased him, nothing followed after him. His return home was as quiet as his departure, and when he slept inside, he found his room unoccupied-the cat had made its bed with his grandfather, instead.
He didn't even remember his head hitting the pillow.
Ryoko looked over the forest that was her domain, drumming her fingers against her knees with a pensive expression.
The jorogumo slipped up the stone outcrop to join her. "You did well." She said.
Ryoko eyed her. "Did I?" She asked.
The spider woman, known to the locals as Princess Kachikobuchi, nodded, and on the other side of the pirate Hiji flew up to land beside her. "The boy's returned safely." He said.
Ryoko gave him a wane smile. "Thanks Hiji. I know you can't stand him, but I appreciate you looking out for him regardless."
Hiji nodded but said nothing.
Below them, within the small outcrop of the cave, Nanatsu yipped, peeking her head out just enough to see the demon's gold eyes. "You did really well." The brown kitsune encouraged, "Just like we rehearsed."
"I feel like I was too hard on him." Ryoko replied.
The kitsune laughed. "He is a kit who refuses to grow." She said. "Sometimes we must bare our fangs or nip to get the message across to lazy kits. They may not always understand at first, but it is important to their growth."
Beside her the jurogumo nodded in agreement. "Those who refuse to leave the eggsack will die." She said. "Sometimes you must be ruthless to encourage development."
"I scared him." The space pirate grumbled.
"He should be." Hiji countered. "You are one who must be respected. The boy forgets his place." He adjusted his grip on the staff.
The demon sighed. "I went too far."
The spiderwoman beside her raised one thin eyebrow. "Ryoko-sama, if there was one thing made apparent tonight, it was that you should have disciplined him sooner." She fell back, and two long, spindly leg moved the comb through her long black hair. "Had you not spoken to him as you had, he would be old and gray before he thought to release you, or worse, be on his deathbed as Achika, no heir and no way of granting you your freedom."
The pirate groaned. "I don't like it still." She grumbled. "I feel like I'm manipulating him, Kachi."
"For your freedom, which his mother promised and failed to deliver? Which he himself promises annually, with nothing to show for it?" The woman shook her head. "You are re-establishing boundaries."
"Which are important in any relationship!" Kokonotsu, out of sight but still very much present, called out.
"Agreed." Princess Kachi nodded. "Besides," She started, "Even if he fails, you can always-"
"Princess, don't start-"
"Capture him-"
"Princess…"
"Bind him in silk-"
"Kachi!"
"And then drain him of his life's essence as he lays smitten with you."
Ryoko smacked her forehead.
Hiji snickered.
Below them all, the foxes screamed with laughed.
"I hate this place so fucking much." Ryoko muttered.
The princess jorogumo smiled demurely at the demon. "We love you too, Ryoko-sama."
"I should have destroyed you all when I first had the opportunity." The pirate grumbled. "And stop calling me that!"
The spider woman smiled, leaning back and settling down on her abdomen, legs folding up tightly beneath her long kimono for warmth. "Do you believe he will follow through?"
"No." Ryoko admitted."He's too human. Like the Pirate Guilds-he'll say what he thinks will get him ahead. His mother was similar. Said what she could to get the help she needed, then failed to deliver on her side of the bargain."
Hiji glanced over at her. "Harsh." He murmured. While the tengu was no friend of the boy's, he had affectionate memories of the lad's mother. While neither were perfect-they were Human, as Ryoko said, the demon was being perhaps a little too hard on both of them.
Ryoko shrugged and leaned back, looking to the night sky. Some nights she dreamt of her sister, her ship, Ryo-oh-ki, the two them reunited once more, racing across the Earth's atmosphere like a raging comet. Sometimes a Jurain ship-the Funaho or some other Royal Jurain treeship-chasing after them. Sometimes the treeship went up in flames. Other times they did.
Sometimes she dreamt of Soja, a monstrous ship a quarter of the size of the planet she now inhabited, filled with relics from other worlds, lost knowledge stolen from extinct civilizations, and strange, esoteric practices whose meanings were never met for her-but which Kagato practiced with a strange and obsessive flourish.
Sometimes she dreamt of his reaching hand, coming down to crush her mind, ripping through the reptile brain and taking over the spinal cord, inhibiting her movements until she was but a puppet for his enjoyment.
Sometimes she tasted death. Usually others, but occasionally Ryo-oh-ki's. Rarer still her own.
The demon closed her eyes. Perhaps it was better if Tenchi failed his promise. She wasn't going to harm him or anything, maybe just scare him a bit when she inevitably got pissed off with him. But she didn't really have any grievances with the boy-she liked him actually, quite a bit. Yes, he was from Yosho's bastard blood line, but that Human bit of him was stronger than the Jurain, which she could more easily understand and even appreciate, from a Pirate perspective.
And if her body was left to lie here, there was no chance of Kagato finding her.
I can live out the rest of my existence as a spirit. She thought. I'm getting bolder in leaving my body for longer and farther every day-one day I'll reach a point where I just won't come back to it.
Would that mean she'd have effectively 'died'?
Win win. Jurai gets their vengeance on the great Space Pirate Ryoko, and Ryoko gets her final middle finger to Space Criminal Kagato.
Maybe some asshole musician would write a sonnet about it. The Balled of Yosho and the Pirate. Maybe they'd be from this backwater planet and she could metaphisically spit in their face.
She could feel the tree's roots groping for her once more, seeking to drag her back down.
"Bed time, Kids."
"That time has already arrived?" Kashi asked.
Ryoko nodded.
"Then I suppose I must depart as well."
"Remember, no killing the Masakis. At least for now." It was getting harder to focus. The youkai around her were growing blurry.
"I know. You have granted me grace here." Kashi's voice was fading in and out, like a radio frequency improperly tuned. It warbled, tinned, faded, came back into focus, and grew muffled. The pirate moaned, and could feel the prison of not just the cave, but her own physical body rock and groan with her. She was fading hard, she knew, and the impact back into her body was going to be nightmarish.
She fought it still, feeling Hiji reach out to her with his own hand, feeling his own energy slide into her astral form as he sought to stabilize her. "Don…" She mumbled, and felt her body pulse as physical nerve endings tingled once more. "Let me…" The world went dark, and then red as she found herself back inside her prison once more.
A howl, long and harsh and inhuman, echoed off the cave walls. One of agony. One of anger. One of despair.
And when the howl faded, the vocal chords-forever rotting and regenerating as the roots embedded within the chest cavity took their fill and fell still-grew raw from their cry, there was silence once more.
And with it, the gentle padding of two foxes.
Two tiny foxes-one brown, one silver-small enough to slip between the cell bars and through the gaps-formed by the ever-rampent and slow decay of water's passage- leading to the true prison within. Two tiny foxes, with vivid golden eyes that spoke of knowledge and wisdom divine, which laid on either side of the body, comforting the soul imprisoned within.
It was in such a way Ryoko slept-not at peace, but comforted by creatures not quite divine, not quite demonic, and certainly not mortal.
Comments of a Madwoman: Where spirits gather, men must pay their respect. For spirits talk of Man's actions, and when he seeks their aid, not all may be willing to extend the hand of friendship.