Samurai Son (27 page)

Windcatcher shrugged.
 
And if I did, what difference would it make?

“I would know,” Akira said.
 
“I would understand that the training is important.
 
But why train me?
 
You’re a Tengu.
 
There are other Tengu around here.
 
I’ve seen them.
 
They could destroy a demon, just as I have.”

Can we?
 
The Tengu preened his feathers.

“Can’t you?”

It is this reason that I think you need to train with something far more powerful.
 
I think you need a greater weapon.
 
With that, a long sword materialized in his hands.
 
It was curved like the katana but was much larger.
 
By the look of it, Akira would need two hands to wield it.
 
It had a longer hilt and its pommel was embellished with silver dragons and Tengu.
 
Its scabbard was silver and black like the scales of a dragon.

“A no-dachi?” Akira breathed.
 
He immediately thought of Windstorm wielding such a weapon against him.
 
“You’re giving me a no-dachi?”

If you train and prove yourself, we will give this no-dachi to you.
 
But until then, you must train with us.
 
Only then can we be certain that you will use this weapon the way it must be used.

Akira looked at the sword.
 
Despite everything he had said, despite the fact he wanted to end this brutal training, despite his anger at having his mother taken away from him, he wanted the sword and was willing to train to get it.
 
Something about the sword resonated deep within him; something unexplainable drew him to it.
 
He knew that the sword had been forged for him; whether it was by the Tengu, he couldn’t tell.
 
But he knew deep inside that he had to wield it.

Akira took a deep breath.
 
Windcatcher watched him closely.
 
“All right,” he said.
 
“You win.
 
I’ll train.”

Chapter Fifty-Five

Kasumi reached the forest when she turned and looked back at the Tengu who stood between her and the demon.
 
Instead of running, he had turned to face the oni as it bore down on him.
 
A wave of nausea from demon-sickness assailed her, and her gorge began to rise.
 
The Tengu shouted something in words that sounded like the wind through the trees, and Kasumi saw the wind kami hasten to him.
 
The wind grew and attacked the demon in a terrible storm.

Kasumi turned to run and stumbled over her great paws.
 
Her mouth foamed and she drooled as a terrible headache started behind her ears and pounded ferociously.
 
She couldn’t do anything except drag herself to her feet and stumble deeper into the forest.

The forest’s cool darkness gave her some solace, and as her feet splashed through a small stream, she bent down and lapped the water.
 
She let the cool, sweet water flow across her muzzle and wash the foam from it.
 
She continued through the forest, oblivious to her surroundings.
 
Eventually she stopped and with a final effort, changed into a small cat once more.
 
She found a bit of deadfall and, hoping it would conceal her enough, crawled under it.
 
With that, Kasumi sank into unconsciousness.

#

Tenko milled around his hut impatiently.
 
The Neko samurai had disappeared again and he was worried, despite himself.
 
She had obviously slipped out sometime before dawn, but it was growing dark again, and the shadows lengthened.

Kasumi had not talked about the shadow demon that followed her, but Tenko knew the stench of oni when he smelled it.
 
The demons had obviously marked the girl, but why?
 
Perhaps it was something to do with the mission she wouldn’t talk about.

He couldn’t understand why Ikumi and Akira were so important to her.
 
She displayed none of the moony tendencies a teenage girl would show when talking about the boy.
 
In fact, her behavior was so warrior-like, it impressed him.
 
She had been raised as a samurai warrior, not a court lady or even a courtesan.
 
He suspected that the Neko had much to do with that.

So what was Naotaka Kasumi Neko’s purpose for being there?
 
What would bring a powerful Neko to Tsuitori?
 
And why would Kasumi be interested in Ikumi’s son?

He went to the back door and gathered a few pieces of wood to start the fire for cooking.
 
The girl can take care of herself,
he thought but did not quite believe it.
 
Kitsune had a fundamental understanding on the nuances of how things worked, especially when it came to magic.
 
She is a tora, after all,
he reminded himself, but it gave no comfort.
 
Instead, he brought the wood inside and threw it on top of the smoldering embers.
 
He then picked up a jar of herbs and poured some of the contents into his quaking hands.

The herbs smelled faintly of ginger and lilac as he threw them into the fire.
 
“Show me the girl,” he whispered as the flames caught the dry herbs.
 
The smoke entwined as it curled its way through the hole in the roof.
 
The flames danced, changing from lilac to red then orange.
 
Deep within the smoke and the flames, the forest appeared.
 
Curled up beneath some fallen logs, a small tawny cat lay.
 
The cat opened its foam-covered mouth in labored breath, her tail lashing violently, and her limbs stiff.
 
Her paws flexed and tightened, showing each claw then retracting them.

Tenko frowned as the vision faded.
 
He knew the signs of demon-sickness when he saw it.
 
He shook his head.
 
The girl could be anywhere.
 
He would have to search for her in kitsune form and figure a way to bring her back.

He shed his clothing and opened the door before changing form and heading into the forest.

As a fox, Tenko’s senses were better than average, and he quickly picked up Kasumi’s scent along the ground.
 
The trail took him southeast, toward the port where the storm had struck earlier.
 
As he picked his way among the pines and bamboo, he caught a whiff of something that made him quaver.
 
He smelled the stench of oni on the wind.

Why am I searching for this girl when it is obvious the demons have marked her?
he asked himself.
 
The girl thought him not much more than a foolish old man.
 
The greater kami often thought little of the smaller kami.
 
He ought to just leave her—wherever she was—to meet her fate with the demons.
 
But part of him could not allow that.
 
She was a Neko, true, the daughter of demon slayers.
 
There weren’t many Neko left; the fact she was half human was a testament to that sad fact.
 
What’s more, if he didn’t find her soon with the oncoming night, she would die of demon poisoning, or perhaps the demon would finish her.

Tenko continued to look for Kasumi in the forest surrounding the harbor town.
 
The trees grew dark, and still he looked for her.
 
The sun had long since passed the hills to the west, and the stars began to shine above when at last he caught a fresh whiff of cat after all the other trails had faded.
 
He crossed a stream and came to deadfall where at last he saw Kasumi’s unconscious cat form.

Tenko nudged her still body.
 
Had he arrived too late?
 
She slowly took a shallow breath then another.
 
Tenko turned into a human and gently picked up the little cat’s body.
 
She was light and cold in his hands as he slowly made his way back to his hut.

Once inside his hut, Tenko laid her down by the smoldering fire and slipped on his clothing.
 
He then added more wood to the fire and stoked it carefully to warm her.
 
He put a pot of water over the fire and added herbs to it.
 
Then, sitting down on the ground beside her, he took a cloth, dipped it into the water, and gently wiped the foam from her lips.
 
He murmured the healing incantations he had learned from the priests of Kuan Yin.

Kasumi stiffened and cried out.
 
Tenko frowned.
 
The demon-sickness was terrible and would soon take her life if he didn’t find a way to stop it.
 
He closed his eyes and spoke the incantation yet again.
 
Kasumi screamed, raking her paws against the air.

Tenko shook his head.
 
He could do nothing for her.
 
Her only chance for life lay with the very people who exiled him so many years before.
 
He gathered her in a threadbare blanket and left the hut.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Tenko stood outside the Kuan Yin temple.
 
He held the little cat wrapped in a blanket gently in his arms as he stared at the massive red gate that marked the entrance to the temple.
 
He looked down at the little cat, who had stiffened from demon poison, and ran his fingers through her cold fur.
 
If he didn’t bring her to the priests of Kuan Yin, she would die.

“Tenko?”

The voice made the kitsune turn around.
 
Tenko was old but nowhere near as ancient as the man who stood before him.
 
The bald priest bent over a staff, his gray beard twisting like a rope down to his belt.
 
His well-worn and plain clothing was brown, in the custom of the priest.
 
His dark eyes rested on the bundle in Tenko’s hands.
 
“Tenko, what are you doing here?
 
I thought it was clear that you were not to enter Kuan Yin’s shrine again.”

“Satoshi,” Tenko said softly.
 
“I come to you not for myself, but for another.
 
It is an urgent mission; I would not violate the law had it not been for this.”

Satoshi frowned.
 
“What do you have?”

Tenko unwrapped the cat.
 
“This is—”

Satoshi backed away.
 
“This creature has been tainted by demons.”

“I know,” the kitsune whispered.
 
“Her name is Naotaka Kasumi Neko.
 
She is a member of the Neko.
 
Can you help her?”

Satoshi frowned.
 
“I don’t know, Tenko.
 
The cat’s fate may be in Kuan Yin’s hands.”

“Could you bring her to the temple and ask the goddess?”

“I cannot…but you can.”

Tenko frowned.
 
“I can’t….”

Satoshi shook his head.
 
“Then she will die.”
 
The priest turned to walk away.

Tenko looked down at the cat then back at the priest.
 
“Wait.”

Satoshi stopped.

“I’ll do it.
 
Not because I am sorry for what I have done, but because this Neko needs my help.”

Satoshi turned around and raised an eyebrow.
 
“You would ask Kuan Yin for help?”

Tenko nodded and bowed.
 
“If you would lead me to her.”

#

Tenko carried the bundle with the cat safely ensconced within it.
 
He followed Satoshi, stepping slowly through the courtyard surrounding the temple.
 
He didn’t need to look to the left or right to know the other priests and monks were staring at him.
 
He knew that they could see him for what he truly was beneath his human guise.

“Satoshi!”
 
A monk of maybe forty years or so stepped forward.
 
Next to the older monk, he looked very young.
 
“Why is that creature here?”

Satoshi smiled.
 
“This is Tenko.
 
He is here to see Kuan Yin and ask for her help.”

The monk stared at the kitsune.
 
“But he is—”

“I know what he is,” the priest said.
 
“Kuan Yin will see him.”

They walked up the steps.
 
Satoshi stopped just outside the entrance to the shrine and turned to Tenko.
 
“You must go on from here, my tricky kitsune,” he said.
 
“Kuan Yin will be expecting you.”

“You will not enter?”
 
Tenko felt panic well up inside of him.

“This is not my request.”
 
He bowed at Tenko.

Tenko gave a hesitant bow back and then stepped inside.

The temple was dark, its only light from the oil lamps lit along the walls and the standing lamps where the statue of Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy, stood.
 
The air tasted of smoke and incense; the heady perfume of sandalwood and cedar filled the kitsune’s nostrils.
 
He blinked, his eyes watering from the smoke as he stepped forward.

Why am I here?
he asked himself.
 
Why is this Neko special?
 
He couldn’t explain why he must save Kasumi, only that he must.
 
He had a feeling she was destined for greater things than transcended even the kitsune’s need for deceit and trickery.

He looked around the temple.
 
It was much as he remembered it.
 
The murals were faded from years of soot and grime, the floors lacked their luster, and even the statue of Kuan Yin was no longer white, but it was essentially unchanged.
 
As he walked forward, he unwrapped the cat and laid her before the statue.

Kuan Yin,
he whispered.
 
This Neko is special.
 
Her name is Naotaka Kasumi Neko.
 
Demons have poisoned her.

As he mindspoke, a small breeze blew through the shrine, and he sensed a presence.
 
Tenko turned and saw a woman with an ageless face of great beauty in a white kimono standing beside him.
 
Tenko took a step backward and bowed low.

At that moment, his human form disappeared, and he became a fox with ten tails.
 
He lowered his head to the goddess.

“Tenko,” Kuan Yin said.
 
“Why have you come to my temple, trickster?
 
Are you planning on making more mischief?”

No, great one,
Tenko said.
 
I have not come to make trouble.
 
I have come to beseech your aid.

Much to his chagrin, the goddess laughed.
 
“You seek my aid, kitsune?”

I humbly beg…

“Why?”

Tenko looked down at the cat’s body, unable to come up with the proper words to explain her importance.
 
He looked up at the goddess.
 
I don’t understand it, but I believe that this one will be important in the fight against the demons.

“You wish me to heal her?”
 
Kuan Yin knelt down beside the little cat.
 
“She is a brave thing.”

Yes, she is,
Tenko said.

“She doesn’t like you much.”
 
Kuan Yin touched the cat’s fur and petted her gently.
 
“You will not change her opinion of you.”

Her opinion doesn’t matter.
 
She can change into a big tiger; few Neko have that ability anymore.

“She is also half human,” the goddess said.
 
“She is especially vulnerable to demons because she is not full Neko.”

Will you heal her?

“What price will you pay?”

Tenko looked down at the cat.
 
Is she the one who was prophesized?

The goddess smiled and shook her head.
 
“I do not know.
 
I don’t believe anyone knows.”

If she is, then it would be worth saving her, wouldn’t it?
 
The kitsune looked up at the goddess.
 
I am an old fox, lady; I do not know what price I could pay.

“What about your tails?”

Tenko drew in a quick breath.
 
You want my tails?

“Yes,” she said.

Lady, the tails are my rank, my status among kitsune.

“I know.”
 
Kuan Yin smiled.
 
“Without your tails, you would be an ordinary kitsune again.”

Less than that!
 
Without a tail, I would be powerless.
 
Tenko drew in a breath.
 
How about one tail?
 
One tail would be plenty for you.

“One tail?
 
That seems so little,” said the goddess.
 
“I will tell you what I will do.
 
Give me your tail, trickster, and I will take the cat with me and keep her alive.
 
Come back here next week, and we will talk about her progress.”

Tenko frowned.
 
He didn’t like Kuan Yin’s proposition, but he could do nothing to the goddess.
 
He turned and grasped one of the tails in his paws and yanked.
 
Sharp pain stabbed through his backside as he separated the tail from the others.
 
He laid the tail at her feet.

Kuan Yin picked up the tail then drew the cat into her arms.

Next week?
he asked.

“Next week at the same time,” she said.
 
“Do not be late.”

With that, she disappeared in a puff of perfumed smoke.
 
Tenko turned back into a man, gathered his clothes, and put them on.
 
He wondered what else the goddess would want from him.

#

For the next several days, each morning, the sun woke Akira from the bed he had made from pine boughs.
 
He would find food waiting for him, and after that, the Tengu would come to train him.
 
Most of the time it was Windcatcher, but sometimes it would be other Tengu.
 
If he had thought Windcatcher was aloof, the other Tengu seemed doubly so.
 
Three days after he had promised Windcatcher he would train as a Tengu to defeat oni, a strange Tengu appeared after he had eaten breakfast.
 
He was a large creature with dark brown plumage and several scars that crisscrossed his chest.

Stormhammer,
the Tengu said.
 
Here is your bokken.
 
He held out a dark wooden stick.

Akira had just finished his green tea.
 
He stood up.
 
“I have a bokken.”

Use mindspeak.

“Why?
 
You understand me well enough.”
 
Akira pulled out his own bokken.
 
“See?
 
I have one already.”

The Tengu looked unimpressed.
 
Get in your ready stance.

“Aren’t you going to tell me who you are and what I’m going to learn?”

The Tengu blinked at him.
 
Get in your ready stance.
 
We will begin the drills.
 
Follow my lead.

With that, the Tengu stepped and made a low cut, followed by a block and a final cut.
 
Akira followed the Tengu the best he could, but he was clumsy by comparison.

Again,
the Tengu said.

Hour after hour, the Tengu forced him to train until the sun crept toward afternoon.
 
Akira was hungry and thirsty, but he did not complain.
 
He wanted the no-dachi, and he wanted to be able to slay demons.
 
After Akira performed the movements the Tengu taught him, the creature nodded once and disappeared.
 
Food and drink appeared on a stone not far from him.