“Kisaki!” Shitoro shouted in a panic.
Kisaki, however, was in no position to respond, as all the air was knocked out of her from the impact. She lay with her back upon the cool grass, pinned down by the bear.
She waited for it to start pummeling her with its massive fists or maybe use its teeth against her, but it lay still. After a moment, she realized no attack was forthcoming. She still held the handle of the bat in her hands, but now it was slick and wet as something dripped down it and onto her.
Kisaki remembered what had happened in her vision and realized the same thing had just occurred. She’d impaled the bear demon through the chest with the wooden shaft. In the space of only a few moments she’d witnessed, not one, but two deaths, the latter by her own hand.
It was a sobering thought for one who had sought to do nothing more than make a few friends.
“Kisaki!” Shitoro cried again. “My lady!”
Tamiko and Stephen joined in, just barely audible over the sound of the keening wail, louder and closer now.
Though Kisaki didn’t know what these cops would do once they arrived, Stephen had used them as a threat against her and Tamiko, making her suspect that perhaps it would be unwise to confront them.
She shifted, managed to get her hands up, and gave a shove with all her strength. Heavy as it was, she was amazed when she managed to roll the bear off of her with relative ease. Its body gave no resistance, being little more than dead meat.
“My lady,” Shitoro cried out upon seeing her.
“Oh my God,” Tamiko said, reaching her. She stared at Kisaki with a wide-eyed glare. “We need to get you some help.”
“It is merely a scratch,” Kisaki replied, but then looked down upon herself and realized the source of the confusion. She was soaked in the bear demon’s blood.
“A scratch? You...”
“It’s not mine.” She gestured down at the corpse.
“Holy shit,” Stephen said. “What the hell is that thing?”
“A youkai, obviously,” Shitoro spat from where he still kept the hawk demon pinned to the ground. “Are you okay, Mistress Kisaki?” She nodded gratefully to him. “Good. Then let us dispatch this last one and we can...”
“No.”
“What?”
“Let it go, Shitoro.”
“I don’t understand. These brutes came here to kill us ... to kill you.”
Kisaki was having trouble forming the words, or perhaps she just didn’t want to say them aloud. That cold logic had dissipated as soon as the battle ended. Whatever bloodlust she had felt was gone along with it. Realization that at least two lives had been snuffed out as a result of their fight sank in.
When reading tales of war from a scroll, it was easy to dismiss such things. But experiencing it herself, taking a life, that was a far different thing. It was ... not something to be undertaken lightly, she now realized.
It had been an unfortunate necessity, though. She understood that the bear had every intention of doing the same to her, or worse. But necessary or not, this wasn’t something she felt should be celebrated.
A hand fell on her shoulder. Stephen’s. She reached up and took hold of it, grateful for his comfort.
“I must insist...”
“That’s enough, Shitoro,” Kisaki snapped, hearing an authority in her voice she hadn’t known before. If anything, it sounded more like her mother’s than her own. “I said let it go. This battle is over.”
Shitoro looked at her askew for a moment, but then did as he was told. He backed off a step, allowing the hawk to regain its feet.
The smaller youkai, bloodied from his claws but alive, looked uncertainly between them all for a moment.
“Go,” Kisaki said, “and tell whoever sent you that we aren’t the easy prey it assumes we are. We have no quarrel with your master, but will give your people no quarter either.”
The hawk squawked once, though whether in obedience or defiance, Kisaki didn’t know. Then it took to the skies and flew off.
“What about the others?” Shitoro asked. “I think those wolves...”
“Are merely stunned,” Kisaki said. “But I believe the fight has been taken out of them.”
“I hate to break this up,” Stephen interrupted, “but those sirens are getting awfully close and what happened here is ... kinda weird.”
“Yeah.” Tamiko nodded. “I don’t know how the police in America handle these things but, well, look at you, Kisaki.”
Stephen stepped back, noting all the blood. “Agreed. I just fired my dad’s gun and you look like you stepped out of a slaughterhouse. This probably isn’t the smartest course of action, but maybe we should be somewhere else when they get here.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“What will they do to those demons?” Tamiko asked after they’d put a few blocks between them and Stephen’s house.
“I’m more worried about what my parents will do to me once they find out,” he said.
Kisaki noted that he’d stuffed the weapon into his jacket as best he could, but it was a poor job at concealment. Regardless, it was still better than how she looked.
“Young mistress,” Shitoro said, changing the topic. “Again you showed great prowess in battle, prowess that you should not have. The first time, against the humans, I thought it might be nothing more than dumb luck against an inferior species. But against youkai? Do you have an explanation?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“I...”
“Spit it out, child.” Whatever authority she’d wielded with him earlier was apparently forgotten. He was now firmly acting as her guardian again.
Kisaki wasn’t sure how much she should say. Though Shitoro knew a great deal more than her, he’d been at a loss for her newfound abilities. She was afraid that anything more out of the ordinary would just double his resolve to lock her back up in her mother’s chambers again. Then again, his current resolve on doing so was already pretty adamant.
She considered how he’d placed himself in harm’s way for her. If anything, she owed him, all of them, an explanation. “It’s hard to say, but before both fights, I ... I’m not sure ... saw a vision of sorts. After that, it was like my body knew exactly what to do.”
“A vision?” Shitoro asked. “Of what?”
“It was different both times, and I’m still not sure what it was about.”
He glanced up at her, narrowing his eyes. “We need to discuss this.”
“First we need to find a safe place, preferably somewhere I can wash off and find new garments to wear.” He opened his mouth to respond, but she said, “I’m serious.”
“Very well. But I believe I can help on that second issue.” He began to glow, then changed back to his tiger-humanoid form.
“Isn’t that a little dangerous out here in the open?” Stephen asked.
“You’re carrying a big gun, Kisaki is drenched in blood, and the police are probably right now arresting a group of werewolves,” Tamiko said. “At this point, I’m not too worried about the cat in a dress.”
“Tiger,” Shitoro muttered, gesturing with his hands. “And these are my royal robes.”
“What are you doing?” Kisaki asked.
“You would know if you’d paid greater attention in your conjuring studies.” Kisaki sighed painfully, to which he added, “Sorry, my lady, but merely stating the obvious. Stand back, humans.”
“What are you going to do?” Tamiko asked.
“A subtle bit of magic, meant to make my mistress here stand out a bit less than she currently does. Are you ready, Lady Kisaki?”
She nodded, curious to see what Shitoro had in mind. Perhaps a glamour to disguise her until such time as...
A waterfall seemingly appeared above her. The heavens opened up and drenched her to the bone in the space of a second. The water itself was freezing cold and hit her so hard that it drove her to her knees. She opened her mouth to protest and found it filled before she could say a word.
Just when she was certain she’d either drown or be crushed, it ended. She stood back up on rubbery legs, shivering from head to toe.
“Whoa. Instant Niagara Falls,” Stephen said, letting out a whistle of appreciation.
Tamiko turned to the tiger demon. “I thought you said it was subtle.”
“Subtlety is in the eye of the beholder,” Shitoro replied smugly.
“What was that?!” Kisaki cried.
“As I said, a simple conjuring. You look much more inconspicuous now. You’re welcome.”
Kisaki looked down at herself. Soaked though she might be, he was right. The majority of the blood had been washed away. However, she couldn’t help but think there were better workings of magic to accomplish the same thing. Considering the look upon his face, she thought it likely this was a form of not particularly subtle revenge for all the trouble she’d caused.
“Are you okay?” Stephen asked her.
“She’ll be fine,” Shitoro replied. “The sun is out and it’s a warm day.”
Kisaki glared sidelong down at the little demon. “Remind me to never let you draw me a bath.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“We have to think of something,” Stephen said, stuffing the shotgun into the hastily dug hole and covering it with leaves. Kisaki had since learned its purpose. As she suspected, it was a weapon capable of spewing death from a distance, much like a bow and arrow, but with far more devastating results.
Tamiko turned and looked around. “I’m open to suggestion.” Fortunately, the small park they’d retreated to on the outskirts of town was still empty.
“You guys have it easy,” he replied. “Nobody knows who you are. I live here, though. People know my face. I mean, that’s my house. They’re going to have questions.”
“Including how a girl kicked the butts of a bunch of werewolves?” Tamiko asked.
“Yeah, that might be one of them. But that’s not the half of it. I mean, it’s broad daylight. If this were a dark and stormy night, people could explain it away as a shared hallucination or maybe a drug trip. Heck, those wolf guys sorta looked like people. But the rest...”
“The bear and the hawk?” Kisaki offered.
“Yeah. No way is that not making the evening news. I have no flipping idea how we’re going to explain how Cartersville suddenly became the X-Files.” At the two girls’ bewildered expressions, he added, “It’s an old TV show, about some people who investigate strange happenings. Don’t worry about it.”
“Another of your American colloquialisms?”
“Exactly.”
“I do not see why this is a bad thing,” Shitoro said dismissively. “In the past, humans and youkai were well aware of each other. If anything, humans were once smart enough to know to respect their betters.”
Tamiko folded her arms in front of her chest. “Betters?”
“Of course. No offense to you or your race, but you have to admit you would have been helpless against that group we faced, and they were little more than ragamuffins.”
“I seem to have done all right against one of them,” Stephen said.
“With my warning,” Shitoro countered.
“We can argue who’s the superior species at another time,” Tamiko said. “The ones who rule this planet or the ones who need a flea bath, but the truth remains. Some strange stuff just happened, and I doubt the people who saw us are going to forget it easily.”
Stephen nodded. “Agreed. This is a small town. People know each other and they talk. If it were one person, the police might just write it off as them being drunk, but I saw doors opening all up and down the block. That and it sounded like every cop in the county was responding to the war being waged on my front lawn.”
“What are you implying?” Kisaki asked.
“I hate to say it, but I think the cat’s out of the bag.” He stopped as Shitoro glared up at him. “Not you, relax. What I mean is if we run, they’re going to catch us. So maybe we don’t even try.”
“You think we should turn ourselves in?” Tamiko asked. “And do what? Confess?”
“Quite the opposite,” Stephen said. “We’re both human and Kisaki looks as human as either of us. If we walk in with a tiger demon by our side, it’s going to look strange, but if we walk in with a cat.” He held up the first two fingers on both of his hands in quotation marks. “Then maybe we can claim to have been as weirded out as everyone else. I don’t think anyone will blame us for running from all of that.”
“That sounds like it has potential,” Tamiko said. “Basically, we play dumb.” She turned to Shitoro after a moment of silence. “Come on, aren’t you going to tell me that’s something I excel at?”
“That goes without saying,” he replied without any real aplomb, staring off into the distance as if looking for something.
“What is it, Shitoro?” Kisaki asked. “You’re being unusually unopinionated.”
“You’re right, mistress,” he replied, scratching his chin with one paw. “I’ve been thinking.”
“About?”
He turned to Stephen. “You may wish to rethink hiding your weapon.”
“I can’t just walk into town, much less the police station, carrying it. I don’t know if you get the news where you two are from, but people tend to get shot for much less.”
“Getting shot is no worse than being mauled to death. I can assure you of that.”
“What do you mean?” Kisaki asked.
“Think about it. Those youkai who attacked us. They did not do so of their own accord. They were sent.”
“That bear guy seemed to be in charge,” Stephen said.
Shitoro waved a hand at him dismissively. “I have known ursine youkai and they are little more than foot soldiers, brute force labor. He would have probably led those others to a mound of garbage if someone hadn’t given him specific directions.”
“So you’re saying there’s more of them?” Tamiko asked.
“More yes, but also worse. Ursine are not particularly intelligent, but they’re strong and stubborn. They won’t follow the commands of those they deem weaker than themselves. Thus, it stands to reason there is another demon out there, and I fear it is far more powerful. Worse, it knows what happened.”
“How so?”
“It was me,” Kisaki said. “The hawk. I let it go.”
Shitoro nodded. “Alas, I am afraid that is true. There is no doubt that hawk fled back to its master.” He reached up and took hold of one of Kisaki’s hands. “Mercy is an admirable trait, my lady. It truly is. I know well the value of it. However, it is also a luxury and must be doled out accordingly. There are times when a leader wishes to give it, but cannot because their kindness would be returned with malice enough to bring them ruin. I am sorry to say, but I believe this is one such time.”
Kisaki turned away and looked up at the sky. She hadn’t wanted anyone else to die this day, but if what Shitoro said was true, then in doing so, she’d placed her friends in even greater danger.
She couldn’t allow that.
“Tell me, Shitoro,” she said, remembering what the bear had told her. “How long do we have until Ichitiro strikes?”