Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Koichi awoke in the middle of the night to the frantic beat of Haruki’s heart. It was still hidden away under his shirt, but he could feel the organ’s fast rhythm, right against his chest.
It was as if she were afraid.
He didn’t know what it meant, but he knew it wasn’t anything good.
“Haruki,” Koichi whispered. In the darkness of the boat’s cabin, he couldn’t really see anything or anyone. “Haruki, are you okay?”
When she didn’t respond, a shot of fear traveled through Koichi’s body.
Had Haru done something to harm her? Koichi hadn’t figured out what the wolf yōkai was doing with all that gunpowder, so who knew if she was somehow a part of his dubious plan.
Or was it much worse? Had Haruki done something to harm herself?
Koichi couldn’t waste another minute worrying, so he sneaked off to search for her. Everyone was still fast asleep, even the yōkai standing guard at the dock.
If Haruki had gone off on her own, she couldn’t have gone far. But if Haru had her in his clutches, who knew what awful discovery awaited him.
Koichi went back to the caves, since that was where he and Haruki had last spoken. He’d spent so long hauling gunpowder barrels in each of these winding passages that he knew the tunnel system intimately now. Unfortunately, she wasn’t down any of the tunnels.
The heart in his pouch was beating faster now. Something terrible was going to happen, he just knew it. He wanted to shout for her, but the last thing he needed was to draw attention to himself and get caught.
Suddenly, he heard her sobbing. It echoed through the cavern. A sad, hollow sound that made his pulse quicken.
Following her cries, he hoped Haru wasn’t torturing her.
He didn’t want to admit it, but if something happened to Haruki, he swore he’d bring this whole cave down upon whoever dared to hurt her.
The beating of her heart was only matched by the pace of his own.
The air became hot and humid. Was it always so miserable here? He didn’t remember it being like this.
Or was it the adrenaline pumping in his veins?
The hairs on the back of Koichi’s neck stood up just as they usually did on the eve of battle. He felt a warrior’s calmness taking over. He swore to every god above that he’d pulverize whoever or whatever had harmed her so hard that not a single piece of them would remain.
“Haruki!” he shouted, abandoning the pretense of stealth. He no longer cared if he was discovered.
Let them come for him, and they’d be sorry.
When Koichi finally found her, Haruki was hanging over a rock, crying uncontrollably. She motioned him away.
“Don’t look. Please. Just leave.” Her pretty face was puffy, red, and streaked with tears.
Koichi almost smiled in relief. She was alive and all in one piece!
Yet he could feel her heart beating faster than ever.
“Haruki. You scared me. Are you hurt?”
She couldn’t stop crying long enough to answer him.
From the looks of things, Haruki didn’t seem to be in any physical pain.
So that could only mean she was in emotional anguish.
What should he do? He had no idea how to comfort her.
I’m not meant for this. Perhaps I should go . . .
But how could he? Haruki was heartbroken. Only an animal would leave her alone in this state.
So Koichi sat down next to her.
“I asked you to leave.” Haruki pushed at him, trying to make him go. “You’re going to get yourself into so much trouble for leaving the ship.”
“I don’t care. I’m here for you, Haruki.” He pulled Haruki into a warm and gentle embrace. To his surprise, she didn’t resist. “There, there. I have you now.”
She drew a ragged breath before looking up at him with teary eyes. “I’m unlovable. Completely unlovable. No one will ever love me. How could they?”
“Not true at all,” Koichi said. “There are plenty of people who love you.”
Haruki leaned back and stared him down. “Like who? Name one.”
Koichi struggled to answer. He put his hand on Haruki’s concealed heart. It had started to slow down the moment he held her close to him. “Lots of people. Like . . .”
Me.
But that was something he’d never say out loud. He was sure she’d laugh in his face.
So he just froze and didn’t finish his sentence.
Haruki chuckled and pulled away from him. “That’s what I thought.” She covered her face as more tears threatened to roll down her cheeks. “I don’t know what to do. I thought giving my heart away would help. That I would feel less lonely. But this emptiness in my chest is just too much to bear.”
What should he say?
He was the kind of person to make problems, not solve them. And she was asking him for an answer he didn’t have.
Kokoro ni kizu. “Scar on the heart.” Koichi reached into the pouch under his shirt and pulled her heart out to show her.
“See, this is proof that you are loveable.” He pointed to a place where there was a scar on the organ.
“Only a person who feels as deeply as you could endure a wound as big as this one. You care about others, Haruki. So much that you push them away to protect yourself from grieving their loss.”
Haruki’s lower lip trembled. Koichi assumed that meant she knew he was being truthful.
“I don’t want to feel like this, Koichi. I want to be who I was.”
“Mean and nasty?”
She nodded. “I was better like that. Stronger.”
“No, you weren’t. Being cold and vicious all the time isn’t about strength. It’s about fear,” he said.
“Oh really? And what am I afraid of?”
“Not belonging. Not being accepted. But maybe people could get closer to you if you stopped trying to drive them away.”
“You stayed close to me,” Haruki said softly.
“Well, I didn’t have a choice.” He put her heart in her hand. “But I’m glad we were exiled together. After seeing your kindness, I’ve grown to care about you. A lot.”
“Really?” Haruki said, sniffling.
He nodded. “And I think you should put your heart where it belongs.”
When he started to hand it to her, she shook her head. “It already is where it belongs.”
“What?”
“In your hands. I’m giving it to you.”
Koichi didn’t know what to say. No one had ever given him their heart before.
Haruki returned her heart to his pouch. “You’re the only one I would ever trust it to.”
He couldn’t breathe at those words. He’d waited a lifetime to hear them, and they came from the last creature he’d ever expected.
Before he could stop himself, he closed his eyes and leaned forward to kiss Haruki.
“Well, well. What do we have here?”
That familiar voice made Koichi pull back instantly.
To his disgust, Haru stood over them with a devious smirk on his face. “Looks like I’m interrupting something.”
Yes, he was, and Koichi wanted to clobber him for it. But he restrained himself, considering that he didn’t have a weapon on him.
All he could do was glare at his heinous werewolf face.
“I hope this little date is worth the cruel punishment I have in store for you deserters,” Haru said menacingly.
Haruki wiped her tears with her right sleeve and stood up. “This isn’t Koichi’s fault. I left the boat without permission, and he just came to see if I was all right.”
Haru laughed. “Oh, isn’t that adorable. Although I have to say, I’m offended you chose this gross excuse for a human over me.
” Without warning, the yōkai pulled a flintlock pistol from the sleeve of his kimono and pointed it at them.
“Do you like it? Got this from a trader too. Real cheap. It doesn’t look like much, but the hole it can blow through you is quite impressive. ”
Koichi moved slowly so he could put himself between the crazed yōkai and Haruki. Then a group of his henchmen appeared from behind Haru and threw a bound Ryuichi-kage at Koichi’s feet.
These bottom-feeders must have ambushed him while he was sleeping. Cowards.
Koichi hoped the shadow would use his powers to vanish, like he had earlier. But he was weak and trembling. The bold energy that lit him up was fading away.
And Koichi knew exactly why.
He’d been apart from Ryuichi for far too long.
Koichi swallowed hard, thinking of what might be happening to Ryuichi, wherever he was.
“I can’t believe I didn’t put this together earlier, but I realized while you were working today that this boy looks a lot like the Ryukage’s son,” Haru said, circling Koichi with the pistol.
“Then I remembered hearing from someone in Kagemura about how that lad had a shadow that had become separated from him. And bam—it all made sense.”
Haru winked at Haruki, who had gone even paler than her hair. Koichi still had her heart, and it was back to beating wildly. Would she use some of her magic to help them all escape? He should have asked her before if losing her heart had affected her powers.
But no. He had to try and romance her instead of getting that important information.
“Now, I like you, Koichi. I really do. But I can’t blow up the Ryukage with some of his loyalists sneaking about, ready to warn him. You know how it is. Can never be too careful. Regicide’s a dangerous business. So let’s make this quick.”
Haru cocked the hammer of the gun back and shot Koichi in the gut.
Pain exploded through his entire body as metal pierced his abdomen. Immediately, Koichi covered his bleeding belly with his hands and collapsed on the ground with a thud.
Haruki screamed. “No!” She rushed to Koichi’s side, throwing herself on top of him to protect him.
Haru put his gun away and bowed to Koichi. “Thank you for your service. I’m sorry it didn’t work out. Now, I’ve got a permanent vacation to plan. The payout for killing the Ryukage is going to make me a rich, rich yōkai.”
Snapping his fingers for his henchmen to follow, Haru and the others left them as Koichi bled out all over the cave floor.
Haruki was sobbing. “No, Koichi, no! Please don’t die.”
Koichi could tell what a fatal blow felt like. Not that he’d had one before. He wouldn’t be here if he had, but there was a finality to this blow. A sense that he couldn’t fight it, no matter how hard he tried. He’d never experienced this sensation with any other injury.
Plus, Haruki was showering him with affection—and apologies.