“I’m getting nervous,” David said a few days later during morning practice with Yukiko. His hands flexed so that only his fingertips touched the rough bark of the tree. He balanced on a branch high above the ground. His host-mother sat below him, composed as ever.
“That I’ll notice how much time you and Rie have been spending together?” she asked. David blinked but maintained his balance. He was past letting Yukiko’s piercing questions distract him. “Ah, then a there’s a more troublesome problem for you than my daughter?”
“We haven’t heard anything from the Imperial Household. Too much time has gone by. Chul Soon gave up his chance for surprise. They must want to lure me out or just cause me pain. Still, they should have come by now. I figured being vulnerable would bring them, but what if it scared them away? The Crown Prince’s announcement…”
“Yes I had a few choice words for my cousin about that, though I cannot fault his logic,” she said. That revelation almost knocked him out of the tree.
“You’re related to the Crown Prince?”
“Of course. Why do you think Masao doesn’t get along with the Emperor? Now, the best advice I can give is for you to prepare for a fight anywhere you go. Of course, you should try to avoid fighting if possible, and limit any bystanders’ involvement.”
From a perfectly relaxed sitting position, Yukiko sprang at David, a metal blade glinting in the early morning sunlight. With a grin, David summoned his Seikaku. The involuntary rising of his arms caused him to plummet toward the ground below the tree in which he had been practicing. He caught the gleaming metal sword just in time to block Yukiko’s slash, halfway up the tree trunk.
David used the blow to spin away and land, throwing the Seikaku up behind him to block Yukiko’s quick strike to his back, before reversing into a series of attacks on his own. David opened himself to Kou and the forest. Drawing on their strength, he focused on controlling every movement of his sword, willing it to go exactly where he wished. The sparring match led them farther into the forest, green light barely filtering down through the thick trees. Mid-swing, Yukiko whistled as she jumped back. Rie jumped into the fight, a sword David had never seen before in her hand.
“Have fun, you two,” Yukiko called. David just registered her words as Rie attacked. The pace of the fight was quick as deadly metal edges flowed around them. It reminded him of that first match between Natsuki and Takumi, the match he had watched in such awe. Now, David was the one moving with near blinding speed, egging Rie on even as she stretched his imagination to its limits.
“You finished?” he asked as the match’s momentum brought them close together.
“Mom thought it would be a… fun… way to test it,” she answered.
“Congratulations, it looks great,” David said as Rie’s new sword flashed past his face. Kou inserted himself just enough to improve David’s eyesight to full tiger HD. As Takumi had the previous year, Rie had completed her first sword. It was a major accomplishment for a Matsumoto. Rie’s radiant joy washed through the fight as she moved more fluidly than he had ever seen before. He did not want to hurt her, but neither did David hold back. He trusted her, and knew what she wanted. With a wide smile, he kicked off a tree and attacked again.
First semester tests ended with a week to go before the beginning of summer. Every teacher, but especially Takaeishi, seemed to revel in the massive amounts of summer homework piled on the third years.
“Look, my bag is ripping from all these handouts,” Naoto complained.
Even though they had a week of school left before the five-week vacation began, all the students’ spirits were high. The next day was the third-year-only party thrown by the PTA. Yukiko had explained it as a way to encourage them to work hard over the summer and last two semesters until their high school entrance exams.
Before heading out the next day, David placed a secure call to Nakahito’s staff, checking to make sure no one fitting the Jeong brothers or his sister had entered mainland Japan. With reassurances from them that they had checked for any groups with an American girl and one or two boys and found none, David helped with preparations for leaving. Just in case, Takumi strapped on Kou’s armor before they left.
“You’ve gotten fat,” he grunted as he struggled to loosen a strap. The comment left him with a new scar on his leg.
“I’m a growing kitten,” Kou reminded him.
“Tigers do not lack pride,” David added by way of apology when he transformed back. Takumi knew the tiger well enough to understand Kou would be annoyed if David apologized more plainly. Takumi settled for a knock to David’s head before running out of the Dojo.
Though they did not expect a fight, David insisted they all bring as much protection with them as possible, no matter where they went. Natsuki readied the concealed sword Takumi had made for her, while Rie and Takumi both put their own metal blades into a cutout section of a giant cooler. Masao and Yukiko had offered to provide drinks for the students so that they would have a convenient place to stash weapons for those who could not summon them from thin air as David could.
Since the party was for all the third years, including three classes, the PTA organizers had selected a camping site just south of Nakano that everyone was familiar with. David rode with Natsuki and the twins in the back of the Ashikawas’ pickup with the cooler.
The campground was a wide clearing on the edge of a small clear lake tucked between two of the mountains that surrounded Nakano valley. In the center, an area was open for cooking fires. Nearby, several concrete tables sat in a square around a central fire pit. Tall trees running up to the rocky beach surrounded the clearing.
David scowled as the truck parked off to the side of the road. Takaeishi stood alone in the middle of the area, staring back at David. Mr. and Mrs. Ashikawa smiled, walking over to greet their daughter’s homeroom teacher as Takumi and David started dragging the weighted cooler to one of the tables. Not long after they got it in place, David heard the hum of another car. Mizuki’s parents dropped her off in the clearing right before Kenta appeared behind her in his father’s white mini-truck.
Car after car of students came through the narrow forest road dropping off third years. About half the parents stayed to help with food and activities. To David’s surprise, many of their teachers came as well. It was a little awkward, having them all come and greet him outside of class, joking as if they were family friends. Back home, he never spoke to teachers outside of class. In Japan, he had gotten to know Tsukasa-sensei during badminton competitions and practice, but he had not spoken much to the others.
Takaeishi of course he knew all too well, knowledge he felt he could have done without. Their English, science, math, and Japanese teachers were soon all there smiling and talking as if they were as interested in how he was doing as his friends. Rie ran up to him and saved him just as Aramoto-sensei started walking toward him.
“Let’s go for a swim before it gets too crazy,” she said with a smile. “If we hike over to the cliffs we can dive.”
“Thanks for the save,” David said. “But what if Kou cramps up like with the ocean?”
“If you jump then there won’t be any chance for him to stop you.” Rie covered a smirk with a face so serious David turned to check behind him. “Besides, I got a new swimsuit,” she whispered, running off into the woods before he could turn back. David checked the area once more, and then ran after.
‘Real difficult decision there.’
‘The water won’t be a problem for you?’
‘Who knows? But I’d rather face a thirty foot drop into the ocean than listen to your teacher try to make small talk.’
Rie’s tracks faded and David smiled. She was not going to make it too easy for him to find her. With a laugh, he put on a burst of speed and ran after. If he hurried, they might even get some time alone before Takumi and the other third years found them.
THE DANGERS OF
CLIFF DIVING
Chul Soon’s plan seemed good
enough, but it grated on me that he would not reveal the whole thing. His promises, though, his promises made all the waiting and all the sacrifices worthwhile. I could have that most important thing back. After innumerable years of life, I would have a partner…
As the trees thinned, David noticed bits of Rie’s outfit left like a crumbs for him to follow. As he prowled forward, he scooped up her shirt and shorts so that Takumi would not get the wrong idea if he followed.
David found her sitting just back from the top of a tall ledge. She was cross-legged and staring down in her lap. Slight movements in her arms told him she was folding paper as David approached silently from behind her. A clear sky overhead set the lake shimmering far below them. The cliffs were just out of sight of the clearing, though David was able to see a few students playing in the water.
“Just a second,” Rie said. “Almost finished.”
“How’d you know?”
“You still breathe too loudly.”
“If so, it’s your fault.”
Her smile blanked his thoughts as she turned, her hair flipping around in the light breeze. The simple power her gaze held over him was impossible to deny. He was just about to comment on her cute one-piece when she whipped around and stood. She held a giant freshwater carp in her hands that she promptly heaved over the cliff into the lake. With a wink, she followed it with a graceful dive.
David struggled out of his shirt and shoes, and without giving himself a chance to back down plunged headlong down the steep fall. He wished he had taken a second to right himself as the cold clear water rushed up at him, his body far too flat. David hit with a horrible slap of rushing water. His belly flop stunned him, pushing the air out of his chest, and blanking out his vision with red blotches. As he sank, the panic welling up in him had nothing to do with Kou’s revulsion of the ocean. It seemed he was safe enough within lakes. Instead, the panic was from the pain and inability to breathe or see. He tried kicking but had no idea of his direction.
Something slimy bumped into him, and then pushed with a light, constant pressure. David’s head broke the surface and he gasped in half a lungful of air, the rest, water. Coughing, he opened his eyes to stare at the thing that had saved him. The carp’s mouth gaped wide at him, as if wondering if it could eat his head. Rie popped up beside it, holding a hand against the behemoth’s scales.
“That had to hurt,” she said.
“That was a special American dive, ten points.” Her stare told him bravado wasn’t working. He winced. “You have no idea. I feel like a drowned rat.”
“Look like one too,” Rie said, her smile widening as she took his hand. With her other, she grabbed onto the carp’s wide tail. As her eyes closed, the carp turned and pulled them through the water to a small inlet below the cliffs where they could sit.
It was hard for David to keep his gaze from wandering back toward Rie as they crawled into a shallow cave out of the sun. She smiled at him. The carp turned in the water and with a giant splash that washed over David, took off into the lake.
“Hey! You did that on purpose!” David said.
“Yeah, so what? You want to fight about it?” Rie’s smile said she would be quite happy to have a sparring match right then and there, but the thought embarrassed him as he realized he was in nothing but his ratty old shorts. David had never seen Rie wear anything so stylish. She always looked stunning, be it in her school uniform or training clothes, but her one-piece made her look like a movie star just getting out of the pool.
“No? Well then sit,” she said. “It should be a few minutes before the others find us, and I’d like to talk.” Rie’s shift from aggressive to almost uncertain made him think of the quiet girls in his class, and how she was so not one of them. David sat, watching lest she unleash any more surprises.
“Sure. What about,” he asked, the skin burning on his cheek again as he remembered the light brush of her lips there.
“I know this is not the best time, you’re still worried about your sister and dad, but well, I want to be with you when they come.” She moved a little closer to him. “Not just fighting beside you, but with you. I’ve tried to keep my distance, but I don’t think I can. I want to be with you when you save your sister, and every day after that. I don’t want to lose you if they make you move in with the Imperial Family.”
“They’d make me leave?” David asked. “I thought it was all just part of the strategy, to get the Jeong brothers, they aren’t going to make us leave are they?”
“I don’t think so, but I’m not going to let you go. I know you have a stupid chauvinistic fear Chul Soon will try to get to you through me, but I can help you. I want to be your partner, just like Natsuki is for Takumi. I have the same feelings for you.”
David looked into the eyes of the girl that had introduced him to Japan. Who was more fierce and capable in combat than anyone else he knew. He looked into the eyes of the girl who had once been possessed by an evil kami but had fought her way back from despair.
His laugh echoed around the small cave as Rie recoiled in shock and hurt. Seeing her reaction, he reached out a quick hand. Catching her chin in his hand he drew her close and, though he had no idea where the will to fight through his fear came from, he kissed her.
“I can’t speak for Kou about you becoming our partner. I don’t know how that all works yet. But as for me, I know I like you and no one else more. I can see it was stupid of me to try and protect you from Chul Soon, it’s just that with my sister-”
“Shut up.” Rie leaned forward and kissed him again, this time on his lips. All his worries, concerns, and fears faded away, replaced by the simple reality of the girl beside him. They sat together for a while, listening to the waves wash against the nearby rocks. The pair huddled close together and basked in the comfort of each other’s presence.
“So, um, no dating other girls or I might have to attack them. Or you.”
“Fair enough. You aren’t seeing any wolves at the moment are you?” Rie punched him. He rolled with the blow, but stopped at the boisterous approach of their classmates.
“Well that didn’t take very long,” Rie complained, lowering her hand from a blocking position.
“I guess we better go make our presence known before they get the right idea,” David said.
“Oh, they are going to be horrible. The rumors were bad enough.”
“After the whole adoption thing, being able to call you my girlfriend will be easy, I might even get to like it, eventually.” David jumped and was back in the water before her kick could connect.
He was just in time to spot a dark gray blur weaving through the trees along the shoreline.
“David! Where’s Rie?” Takumi called from the top of the cliff. David threw Rie a quick look.
“They’re here,” David said, just loud enough for both twins to hear, then struck out for the shore. He heard Rie splash into the water behind him. When he looked back up to the cliff, Takumi was gone.
“David, head for the cliff top,” Rie called. His toes brushed the lakebed. Two powerful strokes brought him far enough that his legs were able to push him out of the water and onto shore. He ignored the pain from rocks that slashed into his bare feet as he ran along the base of the cliff to where the forest met the rise to the top. The shore was silent around him. No birds or animals sounded, no one called him, only Rie’s quick movements from behind registered in his ears. David winced as he realized she would have no protection for her feet.
“Don’t stop,” Rie hissed coming up behind him. Kou agreed.
“Get on.” Without waiting, David grabbed Rie and slung her onto his back. He ignored the scream of pain through his own feet, and tried very hard to ignore Rie. He took off again, running cautiously up the rocky path to the top of the diving ledge. There, at the very top, Natsuki, Tsubasa, and Hidemi were huddled behind Takumi, who held one hand back, as if to keep them from advancing. His whole body shook with the effort to keep from changing in front of the uninitiated Hi
demi. Before Takumi, and between David and his friends, was a large gray-haired wolf.
David stopped short and let Rie down. Despite Hidemi’s presence, he summoned his Seikaku. Beside him, Rie reached for her non-existent pockets. The realization that there was no paper for her to fold made her frown even more at the wolf. For his part, the gray-haired Chul Moo’s full attention remained on Takumi until the Seikaku materialized in David’s hands. The change in his bearing and attitude was so abrupt it made Natsuki jump and Takumi transform into Reimi and take flight. Hidemi stood a bit off to the side, watching the others with interest and a naive lack of concern for her own safety.
Chul Moo turned to face David, but instead of attacking, began backing away. His ears lay flat along his shaggy head, his tail tucked firmly behind him. His dark eyes, fur, and sounds betrayed his fear before the big head turned to the look of revulsion on Rie’s face. With a mastering sigh, Chul Moo shuffled his fur and sat back on his haunches.
“You have minutes,” he said through the wolf’s mouth. “I’m not sure how many. I know you’ll want to turn me back into a statue, but let me talk first, and if possible let me live so I can start to make amends for the pain I caused Rie.” He glanced at her, and then returned his features to David. “This is a separate matter, however, one about your sister.”
David’s sword, raised high for an attack slid forward for a few unconscious inches before he could jerk himself to a stop. Reimi continued flapping nearby, maintaining her altitude for a quick dive attack should Chul Moo’s words be a trap.
“Talk.”
“As far back as I can remember I have been nothing but an ōkami. I used to be proud of the fact, as my brother is. Over the years, however, things have changed. I came to Nakano and someone I cared about was almost lost to the horrible nature to which I always thought there was no escape. Chul Soon is mad, David. He will stop at nothing. He does not want to destroy you; he wants to chip away at your soul... It is part of our nature as ōkami. We attack slowly, covertly, we worm our way into your societies, then your minds.”
Revenge of the Akuma Clan Page 26
