“Then why is he out there all alone? He must be terrified,” Yoshimi said. Shooting them a reproachful look, she went over and squatted down next to him.
Akari watched as Yoshimi talked to the boy for only a moment, helped him feed the fish, and then took him lovingly in her arms. Yoshimi was good with kids, a teacher, and had a kind heart, unlike Akari. Akari had no patience with kids. Or people in general. She had few friends and even fewer social graces. While she didn’t feel the need to be more gentle, she admired Yoshimi’s nurturing bearing.
After a moment, Yoshimi took the boy by the hand and they walked over to Akari and Sera.
“He’s coming home with us,” Yoshimi declared. “Elwin-chan, why don’t you go over there and pick some plums to take home with us?” she said. She motioned to a plum tree across the yard. The boy nodded and ran over to the tree, carefully examining each plum, looking for the best one.
“Elwin?” Akari asked.
“Yes, his name is Elwin,” Yoshimi said. “Didn’t you bother asking?” Akari shrugged her shoulders while Yoshimi rolled her eyes. “The child has been through a terrible trauma. His parents killed, on the run alone, starving. Have a little compassion.”
“But why is he on the run?” Akari asked. “That’s what is important here.”
“What’s important here is a little scared kid,” Yoshimi said firmly. “We can find out more details later. Right now, he needs safety and comfort if we want him to talk.”
“I agree,” Sera said. “Take him home, ladies. See what you can find out. I’ll do what I can from here.” As they turned to leave, Sera called out to Akari. “Tanaka-san,” she said. “Stay a moment.”
“We don’t have anything to eat at home,” Akari said to Yoshimi. “He made me drop my fish.”
Yoshimi nodded and took Elwin by the hand. “We will find something. Won’t we, buddy?” she asked him with a big smile. The boy timidly smiled back.
After they were gone, Akari turned back to Sera and waited for her chastisement.
“Have you given any more thought to our training session today?” Sera asked.
“Not really,” Akari said, crossing her arms. “I could have beaten her.”
“That’s not the point,” Sera said. “You are a good fighter, and I know you want to protect the town. But I can’t promote you if you don’t listen to me.”
“Oh, come on,” Akari exclaimed, a bit too loudly. “That’s crap, and you know it. You just said you wanted to promote me. I’ve more than proven my skill, my worth.”
“Training never ends, Akari,” Sera said, walking over to the pond. She pulled out a long reed, and she used it to rearrange the lily pads floating along the water. Akari had no idea how old Sera was. She was a fixture in the town. Everyone knew who she was and respected her. She had the bearing of an old woman, but her hair was still full and black, and she had few wrinkles. When she was a child, she assumed Sera was simply timeless, like a goddess sent from the stars to train her. As an adult, Akari knew better, but still not enough about her mentor.
“Even if I promote you,” Sera continued after she was satisfied with the lily pad placement, “you will need to listen to me and work together with your fellow Sword Kissed. I think you would see a promotion as…an ending. Just a final goal. You are Sword Kissed for life. It won’t ever end.”
Akari nearly shuddered, but she forced herself to still. The thought of being Sword Kissed for her entire life, for fighting monsters to never end, to one day only moving from killing demons to training more Sword Kissed filled her with dread, boredom, and hopelessness.
This wasn’t the life she wanted.
“I know,” was all she finally managed to say. How else could she reply? She had a job, a duty to uphold. As much as she might loathe it, there was nothing else for her.
“Good,” Sera said, but Akari had a feeling Sera knew she was holding back. But Akari did not want to wait around and carry on with the conversation. She gave Sera a low bow before exiting the complex as quickly as possible.
That evening, Akari tried not to think about what Sera had said. She focused her energy on the little fae boy staying in her house.
Akari, Elwin, and Yoshimi all sat around the low dining table on the tatami mats together to eat chicken with plum sauce Yoshimi had cooked up. The boy was quiet, but occasionally, he and Yoshimi shared a knowing glance and giggle. They had apparently already bonded quite a bit while Akari was detained.
After Yoshimi put the boy to bed, the sisters sat together in the living room with a couple of cups of sake.
“Did anyone give you any trouble on the way home?” Akari asked. She held her cup to her nose and breathed in the sweet aroma.
“Just some dirty looks,” Yoshimi said. She sipped at her drink. “But nothing I wouldn’t expect.”
Akari downed her drink in one gulp. “Has he told you anything yet? Anything useful?”
“It will take time for him to learn to trust me—” Yoshimi started to explain, but Akari cut her off.
“We might not have a lot of time,” she said. “This is a dangerous situation. You know the people around here will not be accepting of—”
“Of a child?” Yoshimi asked, interrupting Akari. Akari rolled her eyes. He wasn’t just a child, even if Yoshimi wanted to pretend otherwise. “You are just as prejudiced against the fae as anyone, even if you think otherwise.”
“I’m just trying to protect him, and the rest of the fae in this town,” Akari said.
“By keeping them separate?” Yoshimi asked, her annoyance rising, as was typical when she got on the subject of how the fae were treated. “By treating them like they don’t belong?”
“If keeping them separate keeps them safe,” Akari said, pouring herself another cup. She moved to refill Yoshimi’s cup as well, but Yoshimi put her cup on a side table out of Akari’s reach. “Then yes, I will keep them separate.”
“You aren’t fixing the problems around here,” Yoshimi said, crossing her arms. “You are just delaying them.”
“We can’t all devote our lives to the fae,” Akari said, more sharply than she intended.
“Teaching at a fae school doesn’t mean I have devoted my lives to them,” Yoshimi said. “If the fae children were allowed to attend the same school as humans, I would teach there.”
“You know what happened the last time we tried admitting fae kids,” Akari said.
“Do we?” Yoshimi asked. “That was before either of us were born. And how come the answer was sending the fae to their own school instead of punishing those humans who rioted? The problem was only delayed, not fixed. The fae children should have been allowed to stay in the school back then.”
Akari poured herself another cup of sake even though her cheeks were already hot. Yoshimi was probably right. But what could Akari do about it now?
“I’m doing my best here, nii-chan,” Akari said, using the endearing term for older sister to let her know she wasn’t angry. “I could use your support.”
Yoshimi sighed. “That little boy needs our support. You are a grown woman, imōuto. If you don’t take a stand on this issue soon, you are only going to fall.”
2
What have you learned?” Sera asked Akari the next day. Akari had arrived early, before the day’s training session. Yoshimi often awoke and headed to the school long before Akari woke up. So she had risen with her sister with the hopes of speaking to Elwin again, but he had not been any less tight-lipped than the day before. He ate as though he was still ravenous and then eagerly followed Yoshimi out the door. He was probably anxious to be around fellow fae again.
“Not much, Sensei,” Akari said. “Elwin still isn’t talking, but Yoshimi is taking him to the fae school today. She is hoping the other children can help draw him out, or the fae parents.”
Sera nodded. “That is a good plan. If the Ryu fae don’t take him back, we may need to find him a more permanent situation here.”
“Anything else?” Akari asked hopefully, not in
the mood to face Endo in the dojo today. She hoped Sera knew of some demons in the area for her to track down, so she wouldn’t have to head to practice.
“What do you know about zashiki-warashi?” Sera asked her.
“A good fortune child?” Akari asked. “Usually a rather benign creature. Said to bestow gifts on people who manage to see one. Why? What about it?”
“One has been seen near Kuji, one of the fae villages,” Sera explained. Akari knew the village well. It was the one Yoshimi taught at. “Only it isn’t giving out good fortune. A well has been poisoned, and several goats have been killed.”
Akari nodded and gripped the handle of her katana, which hung at her side. “I will handle it. Will Kaya be going with me?” The Sword Kissed were usually sent in pairs.
“The village elder asked for you specifically, and only you,” Sera said. Akari gave a knowing nod. The village would have wanted as few outsiders in the village as possible. At least Akari was somewhat known to them.
“Be careful,” Sera said. “And not just of the zashiki-warashi.”
Akari understood her meaning as she headed out to Kuji. As much as humans distrusted fae, the fae trusted humans even less in this area. And with just cause. The humans had not dealt fairly with the fae over the years, she had to admit.
As Akari rode her horse into Kuji, she was met with the suspicious glares she expected, but no one said anything to her. Even though her sister was accepted by the fae community, Akari was not. The community was generally considered to be a safe and happy place. They didn’t have their own protection force because they rarely needed it. They had village elders who generally were enough to keep the community running smoothly. As Akari rode to the main community hut, she was met by one of the elders.
He greeted her with a bow. “Tanaka-san,” he said. “Welcome. I am Aimon Naeran.” He was so old his hair had gone almost completely white. His skin had an orange tinge to it, and he had many wrinkles.
She was surprised and not that Yoshimi was not there as well. After all, Yoshimi was her “in” with the local populous, but Yoshimi had a job to do as well. The village elder probably thought if he appeared to need Yoshimi as an intermediary, he might lose face, as though he was incapable of dealing with Akari himself.
She smiled and gave him a respectful bow. “Naeran-san. Thank you for your warm greeting. I just wish it had been under better circumstances.”
He motioned for her to follow him into the large hut. Inside, the room was warm, with large braziers burning. The smoke wafted gently out of an opening in the ceiling.
“When the well was poisoned,” he explained, “the people were not scared, but angry. They thought the humans were to blame.”
Akari nodded and crossed her arms, looking around the room. There were several elderly women present, weaving baskets or laying out tea leaves to dry. This seemed to be a workspace for more elderly residents since the room was warm and dry. “I can understand why that would be their first suspicion.”
“But then, I learned a zashiki-warashi had been seen in an old abandoned barn in the woods,” he explained as he sat down. “Tea?” he asked. He didn’t wait for her to answer before motioning for a servant girl, a pretty little thing with violet coloring but the longest ears Akari had ever seen, to bring a tea tray. Akari obliged and sat on her knees in front of Lord Naeran.
“Who saw the creature?” she asked.
“Some children who were playing where they shouldn’t,” he said. “But then my son, Galan, went to investigate and saw the creature. That night, four of his goats died. Four! That is more than bad luck.”
Akari nodded. That was a serious loss for a small community. “And you are sure it was a zashiki-warashi?” she asked as she fidgeted with her teacup. “A well poisoning or dead goats could have a mundane cause. You are sure it was not one of your own people, or an outsider? You haven’t seen anyone new lurking around, have you?”
“Believe me, Tanaka-san,” he said, “the last thing we want are humans traipsing through our community causing us more problems.”
Akari bristled a little at that, but she tried not to let it show.
“We examined every possible explanation,” he said. “But it was certainly a zashiki-warashi. I finally saw it myself last night. We would not have sent for you otherwise.”
Akari nodded. She knew he was right; they would have only sent for a Sword Kissed as a last resort.
“Point me toward the barn,” she said, standing.
Lord Naeran took her outside and pointed the way. She nodded her thanks and tried to give the people who were watching her a smile, but they did not respond in kind.
There was a trail leading into the woods and up a hill. Akari took a moment to look out over the village below and take in the beauty of the area. The trees were sprouting with new growth, and a slight breeze in the air tickled the hairs on her arms. It was early spring and the sakura—cherry—blossoms were just begging to bud. They would start falling soon. She took a deep breath and continued toward the barn.
The trees were thick here, so even in the brightest part of the day, it was gloomy the deeper into the forest she moved. She moved carefully and silently, not stepping on any branches or fallen leaves.
“Sakura, sakura…”
She gasped as she heard a small voice singing a familiar tune. One her mother sang to her when she was a child.
“Blossoms on the trees,
Blossoms in the sky.
Are you a human,
Or are you a fairy?
Sakura, sakura of mine…”
She followed the sound of the voice, and then peeked into the barn through a crack in the wood.
“Sakura…sakura…”
She saw what from behind looked like a small child with bobbed hair. The child raised its hand, and she saw it had reddish skin. Definitely a zashiki-warashi. She leaned back and looked left and right, wondering which path would be better to take. But when she peered back through the crack, the zashiki-warashi was gone.
“Crap,” she whispered. She went around the side of the barn and nearly shrieked.
She found herself face to face with a furry red beast. The large beast bared its fangs and drool dripped down.
“Sakura…” the beast growled. “Sakura…”
“Leave this place,” Akari warned as she drew her sword. “Or I will have no choice but to vanquish you.” She was feigning courage. She had never known a zashiki-warashi to take on such a hideous form. What was wrong with it? What else was it capable of besides the bad luck it had already caused?
The beast let out what sounded like a low, grumbling laugh. “You cannot stop me,” it said. “Our time has come.”
It then zipped away from her, impossibly fast for its size. Akari lunged after it, but she quickly lost sight of it.
“Come back, beast,” she called. “Face me!”
“As you wish,” another voice, this one clearer and more feminine, said. Was there someone else in the woods? Was she facing more than one enemy? Akari raised her sword and turned in a slow circle, keeping her eyes wide for any movement.
The beast then let out a horrid scream as it burst through some undergrowth and ran toward her at full speed. Akari held her sword aloft, planning to run the creature through as it attacked, but the creature, with its bare hands, batted her sword out of the way and knocked her to the ground easily. Too easily.
She didn’t come prepared for this. A zashiki-warashi was usually a small, gentle creature. Even if it was doing naughty, mischievous things, she couldn’t understand why it would have taken on such a monstrous form. What had caused the change? How was she to defeat it?
She scrambled back to her feet, grabbed her sword, and ducked behind a tree as the creature tried to pummel her.
Akari came from around the tree, swinging her sword at the creature’s ankle. She sliced through the fur and skin, and it screamed again as it fell. But Akari did not let her guard down, for she knew a wounded ani
mal could be even more dangerous than it had been. She stood back, out of the beast’s reach.
“You can stop this,” Akari said. “I don’t need to kill you. Retake your true form and stop cursing the villagers.”
The monster laughed again. “Are you a human, or are you a fairy? Sweet sakura of mine,” the creature sang in its terrifying growl. Then it laughed again.
“This is your last warning,” Akari said, raising her sword.
The beast shrieked again and lunged at her, swiping at her with its large paws and claws.
Akari stepped back and then swung her sword to the left, the right. She feigned a step back, but then moved forward, spinning around behind the creature and slicing it along the back. The beast fell forward with a pained cry.
“Do you yield?” she asked.
It looked back at her. “Never, sakura of mine…” It shrieked as it lunged. Akari stepped to the side but held her sword out, impaling the creature. She felt its body go limp, and she kicked it backward off her sword. It fell to the ground, black blood, like tar, seeping from it. The ichor was absorbed into the dirt.
“What the hell?” she asked aloud. As far as she knew, all magical creatures bled green blood. Even the fae. She also noticed the plants seemed to recoil away from the dead beast. Magical beings were born of the earth. When they died, they were usually reclaimed by the earth in an embrace of ivy, bugs, and flowers. But the ground around this creature turned as black as its blood as the plants pulled away.
“What happened?” a woman behind her asked. Akari turned and saw the servant who had poured her tea earlier.
“I had to kill it,” Akari said. “It had transformed into a dangerous beast. But look at the blood. It’s as if the creature was infected. I need to speak to Lord Naeran about this.”
“That is why I came to find you, Tanaka-san,” the maid said. “Naeran-san…he is gone.”
“What do you mean he is gone?” Akari asked, standing.
“Just that,” the maid said, her hands shaking and her eyes brimming with tears. “He told me to fetch his writing kit, and when I returned, he was gone. I have looked everywhere.”
Sword Kissed Page 2
