Chapter 4 #2
Keiko gestured for Ryuichi to select one of the horses.
Choosing a beautiful white stallion, he mounted the horse with Koichi’s help while Haruki and his shadow picked out their own animal companions. It really bothered him that Ryuichi-kage pulled himself up into the saddle with such ease.
So that’s where all my competence went . . .
Did Ryuichi-kage have to be so dang competent at everything? It’d make him feel better if the beast would at least trip once in a while.
But no, leave it to his shadow to keep all the good traits and dump the bad ones on Ryuichi.
Isn’t that backward?
Shadows were the keepers of all things bad. They were the often-ignored part of a person where they stored their worst fears and deepest, darkest secrets.
Apparently, it was also where Ryuichi stored all his competence. Pretty sure my common sense is there too.
That would explain why it was missing most of the time.
Haruki took a long, dramatic breath. Then she actually smiled—a terrifying thing for the Empress of Grim. “Thank the divine kami, we are back! I’ve missed this realm more than I’d ever imagined. Just smell that sweet, precious air!”
Ryuichi didn’t smell any difference, except maybe it was a little musty.
His shadow snorted. “I didn’t miss it. They treated me terribly when I was here last.”
Ryuichi couldn’t argue with that. Their father did try to kill him when he discovered Masaru’s deception. That’s not something you can remember fondly.
Haruki glared at his shadow. “You never showed my lord the proper respect.”
Ryuichi-kage gave her a droll stare that said he didn’t care for her censure. “He’s my father, not my lord.”
“That only makes your disrespect worse.” She took the reins and steered her horse away from Ryuichi’s shadow.
Koichi mounted a black stallion and interrupted the tension by clearing his throat. “I’m with Ryuichi-kage on this one. I most definitely didn’t enjoy my time here. I’m just glad we don’t have anyone trying to chase and kill us.”
For the moment, at least. They had just barely survived breaching the gate.
Ryuichi-kage smirked. “That being said, we do have worthy opponents to fight in this realm. I find the yōkai much better matches than humans. Humans are weak and smelly.”
“Agreed,” Haruki said.
Ryuichi moved his horse closer to Masaru. “Is it a good sign that Haruki and my shadow are in agreement?”
“No. Be afraid, boy. Be very afraid.”
Haruki began singing: “I know this is all a trap to get me back. All hail my love lord. He’s the best with a sword. He’ll fight and you’ll lose. And in my own bed, I’ll snooze.”
Masaru closed his eyes, summoning his powers. A burst of light flew up from his hands, revealing a bow and arrow that he held like a soldier. He aimed an arrow at Haruki, and she immediately stopped singing.
But Ryuichi knew two could play at that game.
Just as he expected, Keiko nodded and called upon her own magic. She narrowed her gaze at Masaru’s arrow and made it vanish, one particle at a time.
“You can’t do that, Masaru,” Keiko scolded him. “She’s still a deity, and we’re supposed to protect them.”
“I don’t need my reputation or honor restored. I was happy living as a blackened ronin. Maybe it’s time I return to it.” Masaru started to load another arrow into his bow.
“Masaru!” Keiko clapped her hands together and disarmed him before he could do anything foolish. The bow and arrow flew into her hand at lightning speed. She shook the bow in his direction. “Do better!”
Six arrows shot up from the quiver on Masaru’s back as if standing at attention. He narrowed his white eyes on her. “You’re tempting fate, kitsune.”
“Get him, Keiko,” Haruki urged. “Teach him manners!”
Keiko sneered at her. “My lady, you need to stop talking.”
“She needs to never sing again.” Masaru yanked his horse away from them.
Ryuichi almost felt bad for Masaru. At one time, he’d been Keiko’s partner. Until he joined Ryukage and others who’d turned against their kami masters.
It was only his loyalty to Ryuichi’s mother that had pulled Masaru from the darkness, back to the right side of things. Even so, he still carried a lot of those darker traits within him.
Haruki preened. “The Ryukage misses me. I know he’ll give me your head as a present if I ask, Masaru.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Ryuichi’s shadow moved to ride beside his aunt. “In my dealings with my father, he didn’t strike me as the sentimental type. More the slaughter-my-underlings kind of being. And you were definitely an underling to him.”
Her nostrils flared with anger. “How dare you! I am a goddess!”
Let her have her delusions. They’re harmless, Ryuichi projected his thoughts to his shadow. This wasn’t something he did often, because it made him more vulnerable to manipulation. But in the spirit realm, he figured he should try and bond with his shadow.
Maybe it would help him discover a way they could reunite again.
“Don’t be so sure,” Ryuichi-kage argued out loud.
“Sure about what?” Haruki asked.
Ryuichi-kage laughed as he nudged his horse forward.
Ryuichi let out a sigh of exhaustion. This was going to be a hard journey if they kept arguing the whole way and he had to constantly play peacemaker. Personally, he’d rather be in charge of a herd of angry toddlers.
At least then he’d be able to bribe them for good behavior with rice cakes.
This group?
Only bloodshed placated most of them, and for a select few, he was a little afraid the blood they might want was his.
This is my life.
Sadly, not the one he’d dreamed of living.
As far back as he could remember, Ryuichi wanted to be a warrior. Even so, he wondered from time to time what it would have been like had he been born some wealthy merchant’s son.
To have multiple servants bring him all the finest drinks from across Japan.
A snap of his fingers, and he could eat like an emperor. Be doted on by everyone around him and treated like a real pampered lord.
You could have had that glamorous life with your father. The Ryukage had offered his son everything and more. Of course, the servants would have been yōkai. That could have been even more fun. There was nothing more exciting than yōkai waiting on you, especially when they had to cater to you.
All he would have had to do was betray the world.
And all his friends.
But he refused to buy his comfort at the price of seeing others suffer. And nothing would convince him to change his position.
Especially not Ryukage.
Ryuichi made a promise to himself. When he faced his father again, he would be at his strongest. Even if he hadn’t mastered his powers, Ryuichi was committed to his principles and his determination to fix what he had broken.
He would not be swayed. He would not be tricked.
Just as Ryuichi was getting to the height of his inner pep talk, a tree reached out unexpectedly and snatched a bird from the sky.
Ryuichi gasped. “What was that?”
The tengu barely glanced at the carnage of the bird being eaten by branches. “Things in the nether realm aren’t always friendly. Stick close lest you become a meal for something that doesn’t realize it should worship you, young master.”
“Duly noted.”
Ryuichi glanced around, marveling at how surprisingly calm and peaceful it was. The winding paths and mountain peaks on the horizon reminded him of the human world. It was as if the spirit realm was created by someone holding a mirror up to Japan and duplicating it.
Could all of this be a ruse to lull him into a false sense of security?
Was there some predator watching them, right now, ready to pounce?
He swallowed hard and put a wary hand on his sword.
Glancing about, Ryuichi searched for any sign of treachery.
Nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
Which made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
Everything usually turned to chaos when things were normal.