by Fuyumi Ono
She made note of the men rushing towards her. Jouyuu's tendrils crawled through the arms and down her legs. Her body moved with an extraordinarily natural grace. Every obstruction before her she shut out of her mind.
"Get her! Get her! She cost me a fortune!"
At the sound of Takki's hysterical voice Youko glanced back over her shoulder. For a moment the deceived and the deceiver locked eyes. With a frightened expression Takki retreated two, three steps. Youko stared her down with cold eyes, steeled herself against the rush of men. She dodged the first and second, smacked the third with the blade.
Almost before she knew it the men had gathered in a human wall around her. Youko clucked softly to herself. Cutting her way through without killing anybody wasn't going to be easy.
Takki stamped her feet on the ground. "Catch her and there's a reward in it for you!"
From the back of the crowd came a scream. The crowd turned as one, and in that same instant the grating, noisy shrieks were that much closer.
"What's going on?".
"She'll get away."
"No, over there."
The human wall swayed to and fro. Youko surveyed the street beyond them. A wave of people bore down on them. The people cried out as they ran away from something, scrambling frantically not to be left behind.
"Youma."
Youko's arm responded in a flash.
"A youma … . "
"A bafuku!"
"Get out of here!"
The human wall crumbled and scattered. Within it, Youko set off at a run. From behind her echoed a scream. She saw a beast mowing down everyone in front of it as it galloped along. It was a huge tiger. The tiger had a human face stained with splotches of red. Youko ran down the street, dancing out of the way of people diving for cover in the surrounding shops and stores.
The tiger quickly closed the distance between them. She had no choice but to stop and make her stand.
She faced the tiger's disconcertingly human expression, regripped the hilt of the sword and settled into her stance. The tiger charged at her in a gust of wind. She pivoted to the side and brought the sword down with all her might. A spray of blood accompanied the sound of impact and she knew she could have avoided the blood if she hadn't closed her eyes in the moment that the blow landed.
She slashed at the striped limbs, skipping out of the way as it toppled over, and took off at a run. The beast roused itself, chased after her. She parried with the sword, feinted with her feet, raced down an alleyway.
She emerged into the main thoroughfare and found there a crowd of people who hadn't grasped exactly what was going on. "Get out of the way!"
At the sound of Youko's voice and the sight of the beast chasing after her, the crowd scattered.
And then … .
"What?"
There in the distance, a flash of gold. It was beyond the crowd, too far away to make out any facial features. She didn't have the time to take a good, long look, but she knew that kind of golden hair was out of the ordinary.
"Keiki!"
Without thinking, she set off after him. In the next moment the golden glow was swallowed up in the stampede of human beings.
"Keiki?"
A shadow fell suddenly across the sun. The huge tiger sailed over Youko's head. The youma landed amongst the fleeing throng. People screamed, trampled beneath the huge paws. Youko checked her forward motion and ducked out of the way.
Keiki? Who else could it have been?
She didn't have time to think about it. She slammed another blow into the pursuing beast. Then, taking advantage of the confusion all around her, slipped away through the streets of Kasai.
3-8
The monkey said, "I told you so."
It was the middle of the night. The monkey's head floated above the stone marker standing at the side of the road. After leaving Kasai and wandering about for a while, Youko had continued on down the highway.
She was on her own again. In the process she'd ended up with Takki's rucksack. In the bag was a change of clothes and Takki's purse. There was enough money in her purse that if she ate and slept in cheap dives along the way she could make it last a bit. The theft didn't bother her conscience a bit.
"I warned you, silly girl."
Youko ignored him. The glowing blue head tagged along, as if skating next to her as she walked along silently. Youko zoned out the monkey and its screeching laughter. She knew she'd been a fool to let herself be fooled so badly. She didn't need to hear it from the monkey as well.
Besides, she had more pressing things on her mind than the monkey, such as the gold-haired man she'd seen in Kasai, and the appearance of the youma in the middle of the city.
Youma are never supposed to go where people live.
Takki had said as much, said that it was rare that such a thing should happen.
Youma never show up in the middle of the day.
The tiger in Kasai, the dog-like creatures that attacked the wagon, the kochou that had shown up at her school, they had shown up during the day or in the early evening. But they were the exceptions.
Was it because Keiki was there?"
The monkey's piercing laughter interrupted her mid-thought. "Little girl, it's because you're such an easy mark!"
This was impossible for her to ignore. "It's not!"
"Oh, but it is. Think about it carefully, little girl. Even you find it most strange, do you not?"
Youko bit her lip. She was determined to believe in Keiki. If she couldn't believe in him, she would have nothing to fall back on. Nevertheless, her doubts continued to grow.
"He pulled the wool over your eyes, little girl. He gave you the shaft, he did."
"No, he didn't."
"I simply cannot comprehend this stubbornness of yours." The monkey said, laughing, "Unless it's your way of refusing to see what a fine fix you really are in."
"Keiki protected me from the kochou. Keiki is my friend."
"Really? Is he? And since coming here, exactly how has he helped you? It was that one time only, no?"
Youko stared long and hard at the monkey. How could it know about what had happened before she came to this world? The tone of his voice gave her the creeps.
"What do you mean, that one time?"
"Over yonder, I mean. When you were attacked by the kochou, I mean."
"How could you know anything about what happened there?"
The monkey screeched, "Oh, I know everything about you, little girl. I know how much you distrusted Keiki. How hard you tried to get away from him. You don't want to believe it, how much he totally used you."
Youko averted her gaze and stared at the dark road. "That's not … it's not true."
"Then why hasn't he come to help you?"
"Something must have happened."
"What possibly could have happened? Did he not say he was going to protect you, little girl? Let us think this thing through. It was a trap, right? Do you get it now?"
"Other than at the school, I can't be sure that I really saw him those other two times. It couldn't have been him!"
"Have you been seeing a lot of golden-haired chaps around these parts?"
I don't want to listen to this.
"And wasn't your Jouyuu as well convinced it was Keiki as well?"
How could he know about Jouyu? As she thought about this, staring off into the distance, the monkey's mocking eyes suddenly collided with hers.
"I know everything. Just like I told you."
Taiho. That voice was suddenly alive in her memory. She shook her head. She would never forget the surprise contained in that one word
"No. That's not right. Keiki is not my enemy."
"Are you certain? Really certain? Yes, but that would be nice."
"Shut up!"
The monkey turned its eyes towards the heavens, laughed. He whispered, "Want to know what I think?"
"I don't want to hear it."
"It was Keiki who sent those youma to attack you."
/> Youko couldn't move. The monkey looked at her blank, wide-eyed stare and leered at her.
She said, "No way."
The monkey roared with mirth, peals of laughter that went on and on like the ravings of a madman.
"There's no way!"
"Are you so sure about that?"
"He'd have no reason to do anything like that!"
"No reason?" the monkey inquired, with a crooked smile.
"Why would Keiki do something like that? It was Keiki who saved me from the Kochou, wasn't it? He gave me this sword, and put Jouyuu inside me. It's only thanks to him that I'm still alive."
The monkey giggled gleefully.
"If he wanted to kill me, he could have done it right then and there."
"He had you attacked on purpose, so he could save you and be your pal. Did you ever think of that?"
Youko bit her lip. "Yes, but now that I've got Jouyuu, it won't be so easy. If he wanted to kill me now, he'd have to exorcize Jouyuu out of me first."
"But maybe his goal isn't to kill you."
"Then what?"
"Hmm, I wonder. Well, you'd better figure it out eventually. They are really going to come after you after this."
Youko scowled at the bobbing, chortling head and quickened her pace. "You can't go home." The monkey's voice followed after her. "Not at all, little girl. You're going to die here, my dear."
"No way."
"But there's always a way, isn't there? If it hurts so much, it could all be over in an instant."
"Shut up!" Youko shouted.
Her words were swallowed up in the darkness.
Part IV
4-1
Youko continued on her aimless trek for two more days, with only the blue monkey as her companion. She had no other goal but to get as far away from Hairou and Kasai as possible.
At every city the gates were closely watched by the guards and travelers were carefully inspected. Perhaps it had gotten out that a runaway kaikyaku from Hairou had shown up in Kasai. At the smaller towns, the small number of people coming and going meant that it was impossible to mingle in with the crowds and get past the guards.
She had no choice but to keep to the highway and camp in the fields at night. On the third day, she arrived at a city even larger than Kasai, surrounded by a high, fortified wall studded with parapets. "Takkyuu Castle," it said above the gate. This, then, was the district capital.
Shops lined the thoroughfare all the way up to the gates of the city. At other cities, the fields and farms spread out from the shadow of the walls. Here at Takkyuu peddlers had set up a market outside the city walls and the fields were covered with tents. Buyers and sellers jammed the roads that encircled the city.
Inside the crude tents there was something for everybody. Pushing her way through the throngs in front of the gate, Youko spied a tent with piles of clothing stacked up inside. It occurred to her that it might be a good idea to buy some used boy's clothes. Traveling alone as a young woman was only inviting trouble. With Jouyuu's help it was easy enough to get out of trouble, but better not to get caught up in it in the first place.
The outfit Youko purchased was made of a thick material that resembled canvas. It consisted of a sleeveless, knee-length tunic and a pair of short trousers. It was the kind of clothing she'd seen farmers wearing, as well as poor people and refugees from Kei, including women.
She snuck away for a moment and changed clothes out of view of the street. In only half a month she'd completely shed all the roundness in her body, so much so that the fit of men's clothing wasn't half bad.
Youko had mixed emotions seeing her lean, fat-free body. Her arms and legs had gone through a hard, grueling workout. Her scrawniness only exaggerated the definition of her muscles. At home in her old world, she approached the bathroom scales with great trepidation. The diet she could never stay on she had now taken to with a vengeance. It was really quite funny.
She suddenly thought of blue, a deep navy blue, a bright kind of indigo. The color of jeans. She'd always wanted a pair of jeans.
When she was in elementary school, there was an athletic field day she got to participate in. The boys and girls were split into two teams and competed against each other. Because you couldn't really move around in a dress, she talked her mother into buying her some jeans. But when her father saw them he was livid.
Your father doesn't think girls should wear clothing like that.
But everybody wears them!
Your father doesn't like it. He thinks it's indecent for girls to dress up like boys, and talk like boys. He won't stand for it.
But there'll be races. I'll lose if I have to wear a skirt!
Losing to boys is nothing to be ashamed of.
But . . .
When Youko wanted to argue further, her mother took the upper hand. She bowed deeply. I'm sorry, Youko, but you have to apologize to your father.
So she did, and the jeans were returned to the store.
This stinks.
Have patience, Youko.
But why did I have to apologize to father? I didn't do anything wrong!
You'll understand when you get married. It's best this way … .
Remembering it now, Youko burst out laughing. If her father could see her now, to see the look on his face! Wearing boy's clothing, carrying a sword, camping out in the fields when an inn wasn't available. She could just imagine his face red with apoplectic rage.
That's the kind of person he is, my father. A girl should be charming and chaste. That's what mattered most. And humble and reserved and obedient to a fault. A girl didn't need to be smart or strong. She'd believed it, too, for a long time.
She said aloud, "But it's not true!"
What good did it do her, getting meekly and humbly arrested? Or meekly and humbly letting Takki sell her to a brothel?
Youko gripped her shrouded sword. If there was one thing she wished she had done differently, it was that when she first met Keiki she had possessed a bit more backbone. At the bare minimum, at least ask what this was all about. Where were they going? In what direction, to what destination, and when were they coming back? If she'd done that, she doubted she'd be in the fix she was in now, up the creek and without a clue.
Being weak was no way to stay safe. If she didn't push her brain and her body to the limit, she wasn't going to survive.
Survive.
She was going to survive, she was going home. Those were the only desires she would permit herself.
The outfit she had been wearing she sold to a used clothes dealer, along with Takki's things, taking a little money in exchange. Money in hand, she mingled in with the crowds moving through the gate. None of the guards flagged her down. Once inside she headed towards the heart of the city. She learned from Takki that inns got cheaper the farther away from the gate you got.
"What'll it be, boy?" she was asked when she walked into the inn. Youko had to smile to herself. Most inns ran a dining hall on the side. It was typical to get asked for an order right off the bat.
Youko glanced around the premises. You could tell a lot about a place from the atmosphere of the dining hall. This inn was no high class establishment, but it wasn't skid row, either.
"Are there any vacancies?" she asked.
The innkeeper gave Youko an inquisitive look. "You by yourself?"
When Youko nodded the innkeeper said, "Hundred sen. You got money, I assume?"
Youko answered by showing the purse. It was common practice to pay when you checked out.
The currency of the realm was coin. There were several kinds of square and round coins. The square coins had the higher value. Money was counted in "sen," and the value was engraved on the face of the coin. There also seemed to be gold and silver coins, but she hadn't seen paper money.
"You need anything?"
Youko shook her head. The only thing that came free with the room was access to the well. Everything else--use of the bath, food and drink--was a la carte. She'd figured this out
on her travels with Takki, and so had already gotten something to eat at a food cart outside the gate.
The innkeeper nodded curtly and called out to the back room, "Hey, we've got a guest. Show him up to his room."
An old man promptly emerged from the back room and bowed in response. A smile frozen on his face, with his gaze he directed Youko towards the interior of the inn. Relieved to have so easily gotten herself a room, she followed after him.
4-2
They climbed the stairs at the back of the inn to the fourth floor. These buildings were all made out of wood and in big cities usually topped out at three floors. This inn apparently had a fourth. The ceiling was low enough that Youko could easily reach up and touch it. A big woman like Takki would have to stoop over.
She was shown a small room, not much more than six by six feet, with a wooden floor. A set of high shelves lined the wall at the back of the room, piled with some faded futons. There wasn't a bed. You slept on a futon on the floor.
Next to the wall, the shelves forced you to bend over, even kneeling down. You could stand up in the front half of the room. The back half of the room was for sleeping. The rooms she'd stayed in with Takki had high ceilings and beds and even a table. For the two of them it cost something like five-hundred sen a night.
Because this wasn't the safest part of town, in this kind of inn you locked your door coming in and going out. The old man handed Youko the key and started to leave. Youko stopped him and said, "Excuse me, but where can I find the well?"
When she spoke, the old man jerked around like a dog running past the end of his leash. His eyes grew wide. For several long moments he stared at her.
"Um … " said Youko. Thinking he hadn't heard her correctly, she repeated the question. The old man's eyes grew wider.
"Japanese … " he said, and all but ran back into her room. "You--you come from Japan?"
When Youko didn't answer he grabbed her by the arm. "You're a kaikyaku? When did you get here? Where you from? Speak Japanese to me again."
Youko could only stand there and look at him.
