The Song of the Wind

by Nicolette Andrews

  Kaito roared, transforming into the massive dragon again, and launched himself into the sky.

  The song failed, but Hisato used her power over Kaito to try and bring him to the ground. The bond between them hummed like a taut string on an instrument—if plucked the right way, it would bring Kaito crashing down. As Suzume tugged on their bond however, Kaito pulled back and it resulted in a dangerous tug of war as they pulled on each other's energy.

  His power traveled through their bond like an icy touch down her spine. Suzume shivered,and even her flames could not warm her. For a moment, it seemed he would break free and take over. Kaito thought so too, and for slightest moment eased up. It was then, with one last tug, Suzume brought Kaito crashing down to the ground. She ran toward where he'd fallen and she held her staff aloft. The song to seal him was on the tip of her tongue.

  One of his blue eyes was full of pain and anger. This was it, she was going to kill Kaito. Inside her head, Hisato's voice echoed with laughter.

  "Goodbye," he said.

  Suzume, struck by his words, didn't even realize that one of his ice blades was coming toward her until it was too late.

  It pierced through her and Suzume gasped as she lost her grip on her staff. It clattered onto the ground beside her. It was then, as blood pumped out of the wound, that she regained control of her body. Her hand reached for it.

  "I'm so-" She choked on the word before collapsing to her knees.

  41

  Suzume's eyes were wide as his ice pierced her through the heart. The stain spread across her chest, and her mouth opened in an 'o'. The horrifying realization of what he had done swept over him. As the stain spread she slumped forward onto the ground.

  Kaito ran to her, kneeling at her side, but her eyes had fluttered closed. Her blood coated his hands, and he felt the life flicker out of her like a dying candle.

  Kaito threw his head back in a pained roar. What had he done? What had he done?

  "You stay away from her," Ryuu growled as he approached, baring teeth that were almost canine. As Suzume's life slowly slipped out of her, the flames which had kept everyone else back fell away.

  And this creature, who he had previously assumed was a priest, was not human at all, but not yokai either.

  "What are you?"

  "Your destruction." The man rushed forward and Kaito could see the power and grace in his movements. At the same time, Kaito rushed forward and they clashed in the middle, meeting eye to eye for a moment.

  "If you don't let me take her then she will die," Kaito snapped.

  "What do you care when you tried to kill her?" the man said.

  "Who are you to her?"

  "Someone who can protect her better than you."

  The man's eyes were an icy blue and the power that rolled off him was stronger than he'd ever before encountered in a human. Before he had any more time to consider the meaning of that the man rushed toward him, swinging his blade straight for Kaito's head. Kaito leaped away. He should let Suzume go. She had betrayed him. But his own traitorous heart wouldn't let him. The stain on her chest was growing, she was losing too much blood. If he could stop the bleeding he could save her. And then what? It wouldn't change anything. She wanted me dead. She was about to seal me. She'd threatened it before, but he could see this wasn't a game anymore.

  The man rushed toward him again and Kaito, still weak from the spiritual arrows which had shot him, could only leap out of the way. When the man sliced at his head, he almost sliced Kaito's throat with it. There was something familiar about that icy gaze and the set of his jaw. And the sword in his hand, he knew it. Tetsuyama. It cannot be.

  "You want to fight me?" Kaito said, his power fueled by his anger. He flexed his claws, half-transforming into a dragon. He sped toward the man faster than any mortal's eyes could trace. But when he reached where the man had been, he'd disappeared. Kaito spun just in time to find the man standing behind him, his sword poised for a strike.

  Kaito caught the blade in his hand, but as soon as he touched the metal it burned his flesh. He jerked his hand away, glaring at the man. This very blade had been imbued with his spiritual energy. How was that possible? It was a yokai blade. This man was stronger than he could have imagined.

  "You're as much as a bastard as I imagined you would be," the man said.

  "Do I know you?" Kaito eyed the man up and down, even now trying to delay the truth which laid in front of him.

  "No, but I've been waiting all my life for this chance."

  The man's blade glowed with spiritual energy as he lunged for Kaito. He swung his sword and though Kaito tried to dodge it, the blow struck him along the side. The cut was not deep but the spiritual energy seeped into his flesh as if it were a poison.

  Kaito clutched his wounded side for only a moment before the real anger started to pulse through him. This was his chance for real vengeance against all the yokai who'd been destroyed by his mistake. Kaito pushed forward but his anger only made him stupid, and it left him open to an attack from his opponent. The second strike hit across his chest, pulsed through him, and sent him staggering backward. The man turned from Kaito, perhaps thinking he'd done all he could, when Kaito threw himself around the man's middle and they end up on the ground, wrestling. The man rained punches down upon Kaito, his anger fueling his fists and Kaito, equally enraged, returned each one.

  The air crackled with the clash of their spiritual energy. Each time they collided it created sparks in the air.

  Kaito spun and got the upper hand in their fight. Rain pelted against his back. When he looked into his eyes, it felt like he was staring into a distorted mirror.

  "Who are you?" Kaito asked. He needed a confirmation, because he couldn't bring himself to ask the real question.

  The man answered by butting him in the head and sending Kaito careening backward. Before he could recover from the blow, the man had his weapon in his hand again and had it pressed against Kaito's throat. There was no escaping it, by now Suzume would have lost too much blood. She was surely dead. And he realized he too longed for the release of death.

  "Do it!" Kaito roared.

  But before the man could land the final blow, Kaito heard a roar from his side. Hot flames licked past them and for a fantastic moment, he thought Suzume had lived.

  But when he turned it was not Suzume but Rin in kitsune form. She was growling, not at Kaito who had banished her, but at the man with the blade who was staring at her with a pained expression.

  "I thought you were better than this, Takashi," Rin said.

  The priest, Hikaru, was standing beside Rin, pointing his holy arrows at the man.

  The man bowed his head, as if chastised. Then it was true—this was his and Kazue's son. But furthermore, Rin knew him. And judging from the way she spoke to him, they'd been close.

  Kaito turned toward her. "You hid this from me?" he said.

  Rin's golden eyes flickered in his direction. "I wanted to tell you. So many times, but-"

  "You knew he was out there killing our kind, and you didn't tell me?" Kaito roared. The ground shook beneath his feet. He rushed toward Rin, but before he could attack her for her betrayal both his bastard and Hikaru stood in his way.

  "Leave now," Hikaru said.

  It should come as no surprise that Kazue would be protecting this abomination even beyond the grave. Perhaps that's why Suzume had left him too. In the end, it was this thing that stole all his joy.

  "This isn't over," Kaito said before transforming and taking to the air.

  Kaito returned to his palace and for three days he remained in the same spot, staring out at the crashing of waves in the crumbling portion of his palace. No one dared disturb him. It seemed everything ran perfectly without him. He did not matter. It wasn't until the sun set on the third day that anyone came for him. Ai approached from behind, her footsteps nearly silent.

  "This is enough," she said.

  Rage that had hardly been banked inside him over the past few days b
urst out of him, and he grabbed the nearest object, some stone debris, and smashed it on the ground. But it wasn't enough and Kaito picked up several more items which all ended up in fragments on the floor. He found himself standing in the center of the chaos, eyes glowing blue and a storm raging in the sky overhead.

  "Will you be satisfied once you've smashed the entire palace to bits?" Ai asked.

  Kaito swung a punch at her that stopped just inches from landing. Ai did not even flinch. And before he could land the blow he turned his back to her instead.

  "Leave me."

  "Your people need you," she said.

  "Go!" he roared without turning to face her.

  "You mourn for a woman who betrayed you? Who is working with the same monster who has been hunting us for centuries? Who within her holds the soul of the woman who sealed you?"

  "Shut your damn mouth." Kaito turned to stalk toward her. This time he wasn't going to hold back. He would knock her through the wall.

  "I have not been idle while you sulked. I have eyes everywhere and they have told me the truth. She belongs to the emperor and they are planning on destroying us."

  "She's dead now, so what does it matter?"

  She could not understand the pain inside him that threatened to shatter him into pieces. His brother was right, he was too soft on humans. He let his affection for them blind him time and time again. Perhaps even their meeting had been his son's way of getting revenge. In the same way he had plotted to use her, he had been used. What a cruel irony.

  "Ai does not like to see you this way," Ai said, quietly, reverting to her more childish tone. She never could hold onto her former self for long. The tenderness of her words almost reached him, but not quite.

  "Then get out," Kaito said, but with less venom than before. He was so very tired.

  But Ai crept closer to him, kneeling down beside him and took his hand in hers. He wanted to shake her away, to growl, to bring ice down from the sky and flatten the entire island under his grief. Suzume was dead. Gone, killed by his own anger and fear. She was going to seal you. You had no other choice.

  "It is better this way," Ai said, stroking his hand.

  Kaito knocked her away. "Yes, it is better that I saw the truth before it was too late." Just thinking about the time he spent sealed in stone awakened his anger all over again. He should never have trusted Suzume. She had made threats since the beginning but he had thought them only that. Idle threats. How could he have been such a fool to not see it from the start? And Kazue's son, right there under his nose the entire time. Suzume's father.

  He curled his hand into a fist. But Suzume was gone now. Dead. Just like Kazue. And with the both of them gone so was the piece of his heart that held onto the hope that humans might be of value, that they might bring him happiness and peace.

  "I want to be alone," Kaito said.

  This time Ai didn't argue and she slipped out of his chamber, leaving him in silence. Kaito stood by the window for a while longer, he wasn't sure how long. Time ceased to have meaning. When he finally turned away from the window, he went straight to the audience hall. He knew what must be done.

  The dragons and the yokai who had gathered in the hall were more hushed than usual. There wasn't any of their usual revelry. Perhaps they all sensed the mood he was feeling and feared him. Well, good. There was no more doubt left in him now. There was only one way to return his kingdom to the way it had been.

  When Kaito entered the audience chamber, they all turned toward him. He took his place at the front of the room, standing on the dais and gazing out across at the crowd.

  "For too long the power of the yokai has been in the shadow of humans." His words rang out around him. All eyes were glued to him. "They have bred like vermin and slaughter our friends and loved ones. But that ends now."

  There was a sudden hush, as if everyone was holding their collective breaths.

  "I am going to kill the human emperor and extinguish all human life."

  42

  The first thing she felt was pain—an intense, throbbing pain in her left shoulder. It pulsed down her entire arm and rippled through her upper body. It felt as if someone had torn open her chest cavity and scooped out what was inside. If I could stop waking up battered that would be great. Suzume groaned as she tried to sit up. What strange place would she wake up this time?

  "Don't sit up, you'll reopen the wound." Suzume blinked and tilted her head toward the person sitting beside her bed.

  The room's only light was a brazier burning in the corner. The person sitting by her bed was backlit and their face was hidden in shadows. Through the fog of waking and the lingering pain, she thought it might be Kaito. And that maybe the last thing she'd remembered was all a bad dream. For a brief second, she let herself indulge in a fantasy where she never left him behind, and she never went to the White Palace. None of it was real.

  A gentle hand pushed her to lay back down, and as his face got closer, Suzume saw it was the emperor staring down at her with a concerned expression.

  "The healer said you should not sit up yet."

  Suzume stared wide-eyed up at the emperor, the ruler of Akatsuki, sitting at her bedside like a nursemaid. Suzume frowned as his words filtered through her mind in a hazy fog. If the pain in her shoulder was any indication, Kaito trying to kill her hadn't been a nightmare, but her reality.

  "How did I get here?" she asked with a dry, cracked throat.

  "Drink first." The emperor gave her a cup to drink from and Suzume gulped it down as if she had never drunk anything so delicious in her entire life. The emperor watched her drink from her cup for a few minutes. When she had drained the glass, he took it from her and set it to one side.

  It was strange to see him perform actions that were more suited for a servant than the ruler of an entire country.

  "There was a yokai attack and you were nearly killed," the emperor said. She didn't need that part recounted. The battle played out in her mind—vivid images of Kaito's eyes, the betrayal she saw in them when he pierced her chest with a shard of ice. Suzume pressed her hand to a hard lump on her chest. The wound was bandaged, a hole just above her heart. He'd almost killed her—he had intended to kill her. But by dumb luck she had survived. By all rights she should have been angry. The only emotion that was left within her, however, was an aching sense of helplessness. This wasn't over. Hisato wasn't done with her yet.

  "We're lucky Ryuu got to you in time, otherwise you would not be with us now," the emperor continued.

  "Ryuu saved me?" She wasn't sure why that surprised her so much.

  The emperor nodded. "He would not want me to tell you, but he fought very hard to get you away from that beast." The emperor reached out to push a lock of hair behind Suzume's ear. "I thought I had lost you when you wouldn't wake. But Ryuu assured me that it would take time but you would come back to us."

  The emperor looked at her with the concerned eyes of a father. It was strange to see him that way. Since she'd arrived at the palace she'd convinced herself that he wanted nothing but to use her and her power. But if that's all she meant to him, why would he be sitting by her bedside tending to her?

  He grabbed Suzume's hand and squeezed. "You should rest."

  He stood up as if he was about to walk away. Before he could, Suzume grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Thank you."

  "Why are you thanking me?"

  She wasn't sure how to express her feelings. At her darkest moment, when she'd been betrayed by someone she thought she trusted, it warmed her to know that her father cared. Suzume hesitated to put her thoughts into words. She'd never been good at expressing these sorts of sentimental feelings. "Just because."

  The emperor leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Rest and get better soon."

  The following days proceeded much the same. A fussy healer with a long gray beard came to check on the progress of her healing. He smelled of incense and medicinal herbs. He snapped at the maid, ordering more blankets and to keep
the room as warm as possible. He poked and prodded at Suzume, checking her pulse and feeling her forehead.

  It had been several days since she had awoken and was bored to tears with bed rest. She'd started to look forward to the healer's visits. At least it interrupted the tedium of bed rest. Tsuki and Akira had done their best to keep her entertained but there was only so much she could do lying in bed other than sleep and read.

  The healer came in blustering about this and that, but she'd learned to mostly ignore his diatribes.

  "Well, sit up then. Let's change those bandages."

  Moving in bed was getting easier with each passing day and Suzume scooted into a seated position. The room was toasty warm even without the layers of blankets. The healer had already chased out the others, demanding privacy for his patient. Suzume stripped down to almost nothing, leaving her bare shoulders exposed. The healer unwound the bandages around her chest. As he drew back the bandages, he paused and stared at her shoulder.

  "What is it?" Suzume asked. That couldn't be a good sign.

  The old man leaned in closer, his nose almost pressing against her skin. "I've never seen anything like it," he muttered to himself.

  "What?" Suzume demanded, sudden fear gripping her. She couldn't see past the top of his head.

  The old man pulled back, shaking his head and Suzume got her first glimpse of her wound. If it could be called that at all. The hole, which had pierced her through to her shoulder blade, was gone. All that remained was a faint scrape, as if she'd gotten a small scratch.

  "The skin is healing well, but the insides will take longer," the old man said. He was still staring at her scabbed chest.

  "Is this normal?"

  The old man's dark eyes flickered up to her and then he turned away to fiddle with his bandages and poultices. "Perfectly normal." But she couldn't believe him. She wasn't an expert on serious battle wounds, but she thought something that had almost killed her would look a bit more gruesome. How could I be healing this quickly? It was just like her broken arm.