Читать книгу Revenge of the Akuma Clan - Benjamin Martin - Страница 8

NEW YEAR’S EVE

No one chooses how they come into the world. I was certain there was nothing I could do, no choice, no control. I was so angry. Angry all the time. It was not in my nature to internalize, and so anger became hate…

The soft winter moonlight reflected off the small white hills around David Matthews as he walked along a familiar path through the Matsumoto Forest. He paused to brush a flake of snow from his blond hair, his hard blue eyes carefully observing every detail of a familiar pine. His bare feet moved quickly through the cold slush between the trees. He had recently turned fourteen, but his height and western features made him appear several years older to his Japanese friends.

David was more than a Junior High student in a foreign land. He was the inheritor of a tradition thousands of years in the making, yet he felt himself to be much the same as when he had arrived in Japan just months before. Of course, the excess childhood fat that had defined so much of his previous life had melted away in face of the tough Matsumoto training. Even without them, the life of a normal student would have eventually gotten him into better shape. Maybe. David smiled as his path curved around a thick tree. Most of his classmates were not under threat of constant sword duels, as he was whenever he stepped outside his room. One four-walled room and school, the only places he could truly relax, not that school was very relaxing. He also had to admit that his other half would probably scare the pants off just about anyone at Nakano Junior High, that is if he did not cute them to death first.

Kou, the tiger god within him had also grown in the last two months. Since helping to wipe out the ōkami lair in downtown Nakano, Kou had grown to nearly six feet long from tail to snout. He had refined an air of fierceness that allowed him to convert his usual kitten-like personality and big eyes into something far more dangerous.

The kami was as much a part of David as his own thoughts, as much as any part of his body. Transforming, David left a thick winter kimono behind and let Kou paw through the soft new snow. One of the benefits of having a kami within him was that as long as they had paws and fur, they could stay quite comfortable in the falling snow.

Above, an unintended squawk alerted them to a small gray bird hurtling from among the white tipped tree branches. Kou sat back and looked up, his tongue slid out with an unconscious movement he had picked up from David. His black tongue licked his furry lips as the little missile dived un-steadily at him. The baby phoenix spread its small wings in an attempt to airbrake. Veering off, the unstable bird flopped into a pile of snow in front of Kou.

“Still having trouble landing?” the tiger asked aloud in his purring Japanese. “What if you break your wing again? Injured animals do not stay off predators’ menus for long.” David chided Kou as the tiger’s mind conjured visions of the little gray-feathered bird becoming their next meal. Around them, the snow melted from the heat Reimi radiated.

“I don’t get to fly as much as you run. And Takumi isn’t around to help me,” the phoenix said, her voice high and lilting.

“Speaking of Takumi, he asks that you try to stop running into trees. He keeps coming back sore.” David’s blue twinkled in Kou’s eyes as the tiger’s mouth and throat formed his own voice. Ever since that day at the Matsumoto Shrine, David had gained the ability to speak and understand Japanese perfectly. It was a necessity—while most Japanese studied some English, few spoke it fluently.

“He never lets me change,” she pouted. “You two are lucky. You can speak with each other, while I am cut off from Takumi. Anyway, Happy Birthday. Natsu and Rie should be on their way.”

“Everyone will be on their way,” Kou said. “The New Year’s Shrine ceremony will start soon.”

“And my birthday was two weeks ago,” David added.

“Reimi!” Natsuki’s voice floated along the path behind them.

“Oops. Looks like I’m in trouble. She doesn’t like it when I fly off. I’m harder to follow than you are,” she said sulkily.

The little phoenix sprang out of the puddle and pumped her wings. She flew just high enough to clear Kou’s head and land between his shoulders. Reimi wobbled precariously as she tucked her wings in. Kou grudgingly allowed her to wait there for the girls. Although he was not cold, he could easily feel the warmth that spread out from where Reimi sat on his back. The phoenix exuded a heat that changed with her mood. Happy as she was, Reimi would have burned a lesser being than a tiger god.

The two kami were far from being completely comfortable with each other, but David insisted Kou try to be nice—despite the tiger’s instincts to go for a taste of the little bird.

‘Remember the last bird you ate? You still had feathers stuck in your teeth when you transformed,’ David thought. Kou replied by reliving the memory of the hunt, which made keeping Kou from slinking off for a snack even more difficult.

Natsuki and Rie appeared from behind a stand of trees, the pair huddled together against the cold. Natsuki was the tallest girl in their class, yet was still shorter than David. Her newly-cut short black hair hung around her ears, glowing with moonlight reflected off bits of snow. Her features were so much softer than the hard angry lines David had remembered when they first met, but that only served to hide the strength of her will. Rie had kept her long black hair and it shone faintly in the moonlight. More willowy than ever, she still radiated a kind of graceful power, albeit tinged with an occasional shadow.

“I can’t believe you two aren’t cold. It’s freezing out here,” Natsuki frowned, pulling her coat tighter as they approached the adolescent tiger and gray bird. “Your sister says ‘Happy New Years’ by the way. Just got her email.”

“I feel like my contacts are freezing,” Rie said, stamping her feet. David cringed at the reminder of his failure. Though Rie never seemed to blame him, David still felt responsible for her abduction by the Jeong brothers. Chul Soon, and perhaps even Chul Moo, were still out there somewhere. His only condolence was the certainty he would see them again.

Reimi took the opportunity to jump onto Kou’s head, interrupting his thoughts as she opened her wings to fly the last few meters to Natsuki. Kou snapped at her tail feathers as they flew by, just out of reach of his fangs. His tail twitched in annoyance and a low rumble began in his throat. Catching her as easily as she caught thrown swords during practice, Natsuki pulled Reimi into her jacket, sighing at the extra heat.

“How come I don’t have a personal heater for a partner?” Rie asked, smiling at Kou. The tiger shook a bit of snow from his fur and blinked.

“So how many people will be here tonight?” David asked, curious about his first New Year’s Eve in Japan.

“A bunch of people from town. There will be other gatherings of course, but this is the biggest Shrine in Nakano, and the only one with a bell,” Rie answered, her voice light on the cold breeze.

“Shouldn’t you two change back to your human forms? I mean, what if someone sees you. I have Takumi’s clothes.” Despite her words, Natsuki did not appear too eager to give up Reimi’s fiery heat.

Reimi popped her head out, saying “Fine, but only if you let me go flying later. We never get to practice.”

“That’s because I end up climbing twenty trees when you do,” Natsuki said. “I’m not some flying squirrel.” Though her words were true enough, Kou easily saw the smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Chuckling with their tiger growl, Kou loped off to his clothes. Though he had a special set of armor that would transform with him, he could not very well run around in tiger striped armor while groups of outsiders were on the Matsumotos’ Estate. In a blink, Kou had David’s clothes in his mouth and was gone. Natsuki left Takumi’s clothes behind a tree and walked away with Rie.

David was the first to rejoin the girls. Jumping out from a tree, he smiled at Natsuki’s foot, an inch from his face.

“Tsk tsk,” David shook his head seriously. “You really shouldn’t go around kicking everything that jumps out at you. I mean who else with my skin and hair color would be around here?”

“That’s why she stopped,” Takumi said in a voice newly deepening. Shorter and slighter than David but coiled and strong as a snake, Takumi ducked out from behind a tree. His thick winter kimono melded into the dark shadows of evening despite the white snow behind him. “She still has better control than you. Sorry about Reimi, she really wanted to fly.”

“We better go. It’s almost eleven-thirty,” Rie said. With a smile, she took the lead, weaving through the familiar trees of her ancestral home.

“Good. Kou might be warm, but I’m freezing,” David said. Appearing naked in the snow was not fun for him after being warm and comfortable as Kou.

Covered in white, the clearing looked completely different than it had the last time David visited it. The bright colors of fall were gone, but so too was the crater. After its destruction when David had saved Rie, the Matsumotos had expertly rebuilt the shrine in secret. Waiting before the Shrine, Masao and Yukiko Matsumoto stood with Natsuki’s parents. On the right side of the clearing, tents had been set up with some of the local restaurants offering variations on toshikoshi soba, a traditional New Year’s Eve noodle dish. David spotted several of his classmates crowded around the tents, enjoying the warmth of the steaming food and lights.

Masao turned the instant they stepped out of the forest’s shadows. He touched a small box next to the stairs leading up to the new Shrine. A gentle glow sprang from rows of lighted lanterns that marked a path through the trees. With a gesture, Yukiko led the way left from the Shrine. Hidden among the trees, a snow covered pagoda blended into the forest. The lanterns encircling the wooden structure added a warm glow and illuminated a large bronze bell.

“What’s that?” David asked.

“It’s a Buddhist tradition to ring a bell one hundred and eight times before midnight. Though not Shinto, it has become a tradition here. Everyone will have a chance to ring the bell. It’s a way to purify ourselves before the New Year,” Masao said, leading them around the pagoda to a set of stairs. Behind them, David realized the rest of the townspeople had followed and were lining up for their turn to ring the bell. Kou chided him for not paying better attention to his surroundings. They were both relieved to note that the local school bully, Koji, had not shown up.

After Masao, Natsuki, and the rest of the Matsumotos went, David walked up the stairs and grabbed the rope he had seen the others use. The rope pulled a chained log that he swung forward. When the log hit, the bell rang with a loud, solemn peal. David shivered as the vibrations washed through him.

‘It’s like something really is gone. I guess my old life is over, isn’t it,’ David thought as he walked back down the stairs.

‘It is, but in return we both have a new life to live. A powerful one, full of meaning. Together, we are a Jitsugen Samurai, the culmination of hundreds of years of tradition. Traditions are an important way of learning from the past. Let’s go find some toshikoshi rat before midnight strikes.’

‘We’ll go hunting later, I promise,’ he thought in reply. ‘You know, most people would be concerned if another voice answered their every thought. But I’m glad you’re here.’

Within him, the kami growled in pleasure as they walked back out of the forest in search of food. As the last bell tolled at midnight, David felt other possibilities, the other ways his life might have turned out, fade away with the deep, low sound.

Rie found him a bit later staring off into the forest. Noting his still familiar vacant look, she pulled him gently toward the Shrine.

“Talking to Kou again?” she whispered. “Come on, we have to pray to our ancestors for a happy New Year.”

Though he had been talking to Kou, David felt on edge. The Matsumoto forest usually felt like home, but with the snow covering familiar paths, the whole place felt different. David followed Rie after one last look into the forest’s depths. As he neared the Shrine’s steps, his mind drifted back over the many times he had been there. The accident that had left him possessed by a Japanese god, his triumph during their Golden Week games, Rie’s possession by an evil spirit, and his success at bringing her back all flashed before his eyes. Then Takumi appeared beside him and jerked him out of his revere.

“Here take this. It’s good luck,” he said, handing him a small brass coin with a round hole in the center. David recognized the five-yen coin. “Throw it in the box, and then follow along.”

Takumi bowed to the Shrine then took his own coin and threw it into a small box. Reaching up, he shook a thick white rope, which rang two large brass bells. Then he bowed twice, clapped his hands twice, and bowed again. Turning, he moved aside for David who repeated the movements, a bit unsure what to think about it all.

‘You know, I was brought up in a semi-religious family. Is it okay to do this without really knowing what it means?’ David thought, hoping Kou would answer.

‘You know by now that there is something to the Japanese legends and traditions. What harm can it do to ask your ancestors for a good New Year? We must be mindful of those who came become before us. The Matsumotos, kami, and even your ancestors may prove to be powerful allies if only we ask.’

Thoughtful, David looked up from his last bow and caught a glimpse of Ryohei, the Matsumoto Estate’s resident obake floating around one of the trees up the mountain. With a wink to him, David turned away to make room for the next group of people.

“So what happens now?” David asked. “In America we usually make a lot of noise, have fireworks and stuff. It’s strange having an almost somber New Year’s.”

“Some people will probably do fireworks in town,” Natsuki said, smiling. “Most will just go home and spend their time quietly. We are going for a hike.”

“A hike?”

“Yep,” Takumi said. “Though I guess I could let Reimi fly.”

Takumi and Natsuki, partners through her bond with his kami, walked off. David just caught Natsuki say, “You better not go off and leave me with just your clothes,” before they were out of view.

As David began to follow, Yukiko motioned to him and Rie. After ensuring there was no one around to hear, his host-mother bent close.

“Make sure you keep your senses open,” she said, unusually stern. “I’m sure that last week was not a lone event.”

“Don’t worry. Kou’s on it.”

“Come on, let’s go” Rie said, pulling him after Takumi and Natsuki.

An hour later, David sat with the other three young samurai high above the Matsumoto Shrine. The walk up the snowy mountain had been quiet. David had matched Rie’s pace, but he could not help but think on Yukiko’s words.

‘If there is another attack…’ As they reached the top, their silent conversation ended. Instead of Takumi and Natsuki as they expected, there was only a small open area surrounded by pine trees at the top of a cliff. The area was quiet, though they could hear some of the conversations floating up from below. David tensed.

“Relax,” Rie said. “They’re probably just making out over in the woods.”

In response, Natsuki dropped out of a nearby tree, causing David to whirl and summon his Seikaku, the powerful dual-nature sword that he could summon at will.

‘If only Jessica could learn to be that quiet,’ David thought with a wistful sigh. Even dropping from a tree, the girl who was normally so loud at school had been eerily silent. His sister had struck up a fast friendship with Natsuki after her visit. Every other day he had to translate another note between them or send messages over Skype. ‘At least I get to hear what she’s up to again.’

“Reimi’s around here somewhere,” Natsuki said. “And we were not making out.” To emphasize her point, she punched David hard in the arm. Though he could have dodged, he let her connect, and then followed up with a backhand to her forehead. It might had turned into an impromptu sparring match, but then Reimi distracted them with an aerial somersault that nearly ended with her smashed into a tree.

Below the cliff, the warm lights of Nakano Town glowed just past the Estate’s trees and the main road to Himeji. Takumi reappeared and helped them unpack the few supplies they had brought up the mountain. David smiled at the awkward distance he tried to keep from Natsuki.

A bit later, Rie stirred beside him on a log, and David again wondered why they had not become partners. Kou had no answers for him. Whether it was because they had just broken their bond with Natsuki, or for some other reason, he was just as free as he had been for those first few days he could talk to Kou. Their glimpse into just how strong and important the connection between Jitsugen Samurai and partner could be tainted their enjoyment of that freedom. Murmuring something too quiet for him to hear, Rie sat a little closer.

‘Females.’ Kou thought the word almost like a curse. David chuckled. ‘They are difficult to hunt. Why are we sitting up here freezing? We could be hunting or lying in a tree.’

Rie shivered beside them. Although prepared, David saw that the others were just as cold as he was.

“How long are we going to be up here?” David asked.

“A few more hours,” Takumi said. He stared out over the cliff into darkness, while Natsuki stole occasional glances toward her partner.

“Kou and I will be right back. We’re going to get some firewood.” David stood, and loped off into the trees. Once they were out of sight, David transformed, sighing as Kou’s tiger fur insulated them from the cold. Light over the deep snow, Kou was able to round up enough wood for a fire much faster than David was, despite his lack of opposable thumbs. Kou’s animal senses, so much more potent than David’s, also ensured no stray beasts would ambush them again. In just a few minutes, Kou had a stack of wood next to their friends.

‘I could use a bit of your fur right about now,’ David thought as he braced himself for the change back to human form.

‘Why not? We used to get mixed up. Maybe we can put some fur on you.’

‘Some things best not left to chance. What if we make a mistake and I end up orange haired forever?’

‘It would be an improvement.’

David growled at his other half and willed himself into his human form, pink skin and all.

“Good thing I was a boy scout,” he muttered a few minutes later as he moved the last twig into place.

After a few tries, David coaxed a feeble flame with a few matches from Natsuki’s bag. Afraid the faltering sparks might die; he leaned in to blow on the flame. A sudden gasp made him turn just as something small and dark rushed past him.

The fire erupted into an inferno that heated the entire area. Surprised, David rolled away from the flames as the girls scooted back from the waves of heat. Takumi was gone.

Looking into the flames David saw that Reimi was no longer a small gray bird. Instead, an iridescent whisper of fire resolved into twinkling eyes and beak. Fluttering in and around the flames, Kou suspected she was feeling as he felt stalking through the forest. Reimi was free and at home. Laughing, David sat again with Rie, and together the three students watched the phoenix play in the flames. Sometimes she seemed nothing more than another flicker of heat, while at other times she was a shooting star of red feathers and flame. The flames began to wither after consuming nearly every bit of the wood Kou had gathered.

“I’ll go get some more,” David said, getting up.

Rie pulled him back down. “No, don’t. You’ll miss it.”

With a last few sputters, the flames died as melted snow erased the last embers. A small gray head poked its way out of the mush. Shaking herself off, Reimi hopped out of the sludge and over to Natsuki.

“That was fun. We should do that more often,” she squeaked.

“If I had known all you need is a bit of fire to enjoy yourself so much I would have slept in front of the kotatsu burner instead of having to try to follow you up trees!” Natsuki said laughing.

With a look at David, Reimi fluttered out of view. David followed after with Takumi’s clothes. They made it back just in time to watch the first sunrise of the New Year peak over the hills above Himeji.

“You know,” whispered Rie as the sun’s rays hit them, “it’s the year of the Tiger.”