Ghosts and Grudges

by Jasmine Walt

  A warning bell went off in my head, and I began to pull back. “If you think you’re going to talk me out of going after my mother—”

  “No.” Raiden tightened his grip on my shoulder blade, preventing me from backing away. “I know there’s no chance of talking you out of that…and to be honest, I wouldn’t like you as much as I do if you were the kind of woman who just sat back while someone she loved was in trouble.”

  “Oh.” That took the wind right out of my sails. A warm, fuzzy feeling began to grow in my chest, and it took real effort for me to hold back the sudden smile that wanted to bloom on my face. “Then why are you saying this to me?”

  “I just want you to know that I have your back,” he said, his voice pitched low beneath the music. “That you can trust me.”

  “I trust you,” I said, a little confused now. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  Raiden raised an eyebrow. “Because you think I’m planning to find a way to leave you behind and go fight Kai by myself. Or am I wrong?”

  “I—” My words died in my throat as I realized the truth of his words. He was right—I had instinctively assumed the worst. But was that really unwarranted?

  “I can’t help it, Raiden,” I said, hating the defensive note in my voice. “You’ve got a controlling streak, and you’ve already made it clear that you don’t want me to go.”

  “That’s true.” He lifted his hand from my shoulder blade and brushed a stray strand of hair from my cheek. “I can’t help the way I feel, Aika, but I know we have to do this together,” he said as tingles skipped across my skin in the place he’d touched me. “Amatsu is the god of chaos, and he’s very good at pitting people against each other. The best defense we have against him is to remain a united front. That’s not going to happen if you and I are both standoffish with each other.”

  “I already said that I trust you,” I said, a little mulishly. “I can’t say I’m going to blindly follow along with everything you say, but I promise I won’t try to deceive you or work around you. We’re in this together.”

  “Good,” Raiden whispered, pressing his forehead against mine. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”

  The kernel of resentment that had taken hold of me melted away beneath the warm look in his eyes. Sighing, I relaxed, letting Raiden carry me away on the steps of the dance. He pulled me a little closer to him as he guided me across the room, and in that moment, there was no denying the magnetic attraction between us. Resisting Raiden’s embrace was like the ocean trying to resist the moon’s pull. I didn’t know that anything would come of this, especially since we’d only just met…but was it really so wrong that I wanted to give in to what I felt?

  We finished the set, then went to one of the refreshment tables to grab a drink. Shota joined us, and a trio of kappa immediately came over and tried to start a conversation with us. As the five of them launched into a conversation about catch wrestling, my thoughts drifted to the worry that had been niggling in the back of my mind. A worry that I’d forgotten about while I’d been enjoying Raiden’s embrace.

  Why had Raiden been so relieved when I’d told him I trusted him, and that I wasn’t going to work around him? Was he worried that something might happen when we got to Mount Koya, something that would turn me against him? I couldn’t imagine what that could possibly be. I didn’t know Raiden that well, but I was pretty sure he was committed to taking Kai and Amatsu down. If that wasn’t enough to bring us together, what was?

  There must be something he isn’t telling you. Some piece of the puzzle he sees, that you don’t.

  “Aika.” Amabie touched my shoulder, and I turned to see her standing behind me with a grave expression on her beautiful face. “It’s time.”

  I blinked. “Ryujin’s already gone?” I hadn’t noticed him leave. But a quick glance confirmed he was no longer sitting at the throne, though his queen was up there, entertaining a group of their subjects. He must have slipped out while we were dancing, I realized.

  “Yes. Let’s not keep him waiting.”

  I got Shota and Raiden’s attention, and the three of us quietly slipped out of the ballroom with Amabie. Our escape didn’t go completely unnoticed, but Amabie took us through a servant’s entrance, rather than the grand staircase, so most of the guests didn’t see. She led us up a set of stairs, down two hallways, then up a second set of stairs before we finally emerged into one of the main hallways on the second floor.

  As promised, Ryujin was waiting for us in his living room suite. He’d reverted back to his normal dragon size and was reclining on a gigantic chaise lounge as we entered.

  “Ah, good,” he said, lifting his upper body as Shota closed the door behind us. “Come. I have your weapons, as promised.”

  We stopped a few feet away from the chaise, waiting expectantly. Ryujin waved his hand, and a wave of sparkling dust swirled from his clawed fingertips, coalescing into a four-foot box of obsidian.

  “Open it,” he commanded.

  Slowly, Raiden knelt in front of the box. The muscles in his back flexed as he carefully lifted the lid, revealing a katana. It was an ornate weapon with a gold cross guard and the image of a dragon painted on the black sheath in gold leaf. Moving closer, I saw that the cross guard had been forged into a pair of sea dragons that chased each other around the hilt of the sword.

  “Holy crap,” Shota whispered as Raiden drew the blade. I gasped—instead of normal folded steel, it seemed to be forged out of some kind of iridescent blue metal, something that looked a lot like…

  “It’s a dragon blade,” Raiden said, confirming my thoughts. “Made out of dragon scales, one of the strongest substances in the world.”

  “The blade’s name is Raiken,” Ryujin said. “A fitting weapon for someone of your namesake. It has the power to call down lightning.”

  “Damn,” Shota said, sounding extremely impressed. “That’s pretty badass.”

  “It is,” Raiden said, sheathing the blade. “I…I’m not sure I’m worthy of such a kingly gift.” The uncertainty in his voice knocked me off balance, and I stared at him. I’d never heard him sound so unsure.

  Ryujin arched a brow. “Are you refusing my gift?” he asked.

  Raiden straightened. “Of course not, Ryujin-sama.” He stood up and strapped the sword to his belt. “I will treasure this always.”

  “Good.” Ryujin narrowed his eyes. “Denial does not suit you, Takaoka Raiden. And it will not serve you well in your fight against Kai. I suggest you stop pretending not to know who you are.”

  Raiden hesitated. “I understand,” he said, bowing. Shota and I exchanged looks, and it was clear from the look on Shota’s face that he didn’t have any better idea of what Ryujin was talking about than I did. We waited a few beats for either of them to elaborate, but Raiden and the dragon king simply stared at each other, some kind of silent understanding passing between them.

  “Ryujin-sama,” I finally said, breaking the silence. “While I definitely see that the sword you gave Raiden is a powerful weapon, I can’t help but worry whether or not it will be truly effective against Kai. Surely Amatsu won’t be taken down so easily, even with a lightning bolt.” He was an ancient god, after all. I’d be very surprised if taking him out was that simple.

  The dragon king laughed. “You are quite right.” He waved his hand again, and two more boxes appeared. “Which is why I have two more weapons here.” He floated one of the boxes over to Shota, and one to me.

  “Holy shit!” Shota exclaimed, his voice filled with pure glee. I turned to see him lift a sickle weapon with a long chain attached to the end. The blade was wickedly sharp and appeared to have flames etched into the sides. “A kusarigama!”

  “Damn.” Raiden moved closer so he could look at the weapon over Shota’s shoulder. He gave a low whistle. “That’s a thing of beauty.”

  “Its name is Kasaiha,” Ryujin said. “The blade will summon flames when you wield it against an enemy, so be mindful when you use it.”

  “Th
at is badass.” Shota’s eyes gleamed. “Baiken is going to love this!”

  “Baiken?” I asked.

  “My battle yurei,” Shota explained. “Raiden isn’t the only one walking around with a cool samurai at his disposal.” He stuck out his tongue at Raiden.

  Raiden snorted. “Yeah, but mine’s an actual daimyo. Yours is just a swordsman.”

  I shook my head as the two of them started to bicker. Even though I’d seen Shota’s keychain before, I’d forgotten that he also had the power to summon spirits. He hadn’t used his shaman powers at all beyond paper magic, which made it easy for me to forget he had them. But then again, there hadn’t really been an opportunity for him to do so.

  “Enough!” Ryujin roared, silencing Raiden and Shota. “Aika, aren’t you going to open yours?”

  “Oh. Right.” My nerves tingled with excitement as I opened the box, but the feeling vanished, replaced by extreme disappointment. Instead of a weapon, there was a long velvet pouch nestled within.

  “What is this?” I asked as I picked it up. It was stiff, with rectangular edges, as if there was a really big envelope inside, or a piece of thick paper.

  “Inside that pouch is an ofuda that can be used to seal Amatsu and Kai back in the prison Amaterasu fashioned for them,” Ryujin said. “It is a very powerful ward, but it is not water resistant, so do not take it out until you are above the surface again. You will have to apply the ofuda yourself, Aika. Do you think you have the strength to do it?”

  Oh. I swallowed. “I don’t have any experience with ofudas,” I admitted.

  “It’s fine,” Shota said quickly, surprising me. “I’ll teach her.”

  “See to it that you do,” Ryujin said, his voice growing stormy. “I have enjoyed many centuries of peace since Amatsu was locked away, and I have no desire for that peace to be disrupted again. Humankind does plenty of damage to the oceans without that bastard’s interference.” His eyes blazed with anger. “You must not fail.”

  “We won’t,” Raiden said, surprisingly calm in the face of the dragon king’s barely leashed wrath. The gravity of Ryujin’s words crashed down on my shoulders like an anvil, and I found myself painfully aware that my mother’s life wasn’t the only thing at stake if we didn’t get Kai back into that box. It wasn’t just one death we were trying to prevent.

  It was millions.

  19

  “This is definitely not how I imagined my first trip to Tokyo going,” I spluttered as Raiden, Shota, and I grasped the edges of the dock. A splinter dug into my finger, and I winced, then tried to find another spot to grab on. Dammit, why was nothing ever easy? Couldn’t we catch a break just once?

  Raiden only grunted, already halfway out of the water. He makes it look so effortless, I grumbled to myself as I watched him pull himself out of the ocean and onto one of the many docks outside the back of the Fish Market. Thankfully, Raiden was willing to share some of his strength—he got down on his knees, then grasped my hand and pulled me out of the water.

  “Thanks,” I panted as he set me on my feet. Shota was right behind me—he hauled himself up, then shook out his hair like a wet dog, splattering me with more water. A chill wind blew straight through my wet clothes, and I shivered. “We need to get the hell out of these clothes.”

  “I’ll say.” Raiden’s eyes dropped to my chest, and they darkened with the same hungry look he’d given me the first time he’d seen me in my ball gown. I glanced down, wondering what he was looking at, and gasped at the sight of my nipples poking out through my shirt.

  “Hey!” Mortified, I crossed my arms over my chest. Both men were staring at me now, looking as though they wanted to devour me. “My eyes are up here!”

  Raiden instantly jerked his gaze back up to my face. “You can’t blame me for looking,” he said dryly.

  “They were…really out there,” Shota added unhelpfully. A grin twitched at his lips.

  “No kidding.” Fuming, I stalked past them, ignoring the dockworkers who were staring curiously at us. Some of them looked like they wanted to approach, but I leveled my best death glare at them, and they quickly backed off.

  We’d left Ryujin’s palace several hours ago, with the weapons, the ofuda, and the jewels in hand. The Umigame had brought us to the docks, and we’d instructed him to swim a few miles out this time before going back beneath the water. The last thing I needed was for us to be slammed against a concrete building—my furi might be able to protect me, but there was no way Raiden or Shota would survive.

  “Hey.” Raiden caught up with me. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced sidelong at me, a faintly amused look on his face. “Where are you taking us?”

  “I’m not taking us anywhere,” I said crossly as my shoes squelched on the pavement. We walked through a maze of stalls selling produce, candies, and street food, drawing stares from the shopkeepers and customers. “I just want to get away from all these people.”

  “We should grab some clothes, then head to a hotel to shower and change,” Shota said, looking around. “We need a quiet spot so I can teach Aika the basics of paper magic.”

  We made it out to the street and ducked into a 7/11 so Raiden could grab some cash out of the ATM. As he slid his ATM card into the machine, I glanced nervously at the sword strapped to his back.

  “What exactly are we going to do about these weapons?” I whispered to Shota, noticing that the clerk behind the counter was staring at us. “The second a policeman sees them, we’re going to get stopped.”

  “We’ll just grab a bag to hide it in for now,” Shota said, sounding unconcerned. “I can use an ofuda later on to make it invisible.”

  I blinked. “You can do that?”

  Shota laughed as Raiden pulled a huge stack of yen out of the machine. “Sometimes I forget how little you know about shamanism. I can’t wait to teach you.”

  My annoyance at the world evaporated at the smile on his face, leaving me confused. I couldn’t tell whether or not Shota was flirting with me. Every time I thought he was trying to be romantic, he turned away and gave me the cold shoulder, so it was probably best to assume he wasn’t. And yet, I wanted to smile back at him, to respond with some kind of wisecrack that would make him laugh again.

  Dammit, why was everything so complicated?

  With our huge wad of cash in hand, we hit the streets of Tokyo to do some serious shopping. The first place we stopped at was a luggage store, or rather Raiden did, while I waited outside with the weapons. He found a duffel bag big enough to carry the weapons in, and then we hit up a department store and a Family Mart for some clothing, food, and supplies.

  I was a little embarrassed to be walking around Tokyo for the first time looking and smelling like a bum, and I half expected the employees at the places we walked into to turn up their noses. But everybody was very friendly and courteous, and if they were repulsed by our limp hair and salty clothing, they didn’t say anything about it. Before I knew it, we were back out on the street, our arms loaded down with bags as Raiden hailed a cab. One pulled up almost immediately—a boxy little Toyota that looked like it was fresh out of the 90s, albeit new. To my surprise, the door swung open automatically before I could reach for it.

  “Get in,” Raiden said, nudging me gently. “I’ll put our bags in the trunk.”

  I did as he said, gingerly sliding along the seats, which were covered with a lacy, doily-like fabric. The driver gave us dirty looks, no doubt because we were ruining his upholstery and stinking up his car with the smell of sea water, but Raiden handed him a twenty-thousand yen bill, which seemed to mollify him some. The two men crowded in on either side of me, their bodies brushing up against me as there was little extra space in the cabin. My nerves buzzed from their close proximity, and I quickly grew very warm, far warmer than the extra body heat could account for.

  There is something wrong with me, I told myself firmly as the driver pulled into traffic. Something very wrong. It wasn’t like me to crush hard on a guy, but here I w
as, having intense feelings for two people at the same time. They both seemed to know it, too—the tension in the space was thick enough to slice and serve on a platter.

  Talk about the pink elephant in the room.

  On the drive to our hotel, Raiden and Shota pointed out various districts and landmarks. We passed by Tokyo Tower—a huge, red version of the Eiffel Tower that Raiden said boasted a One Piece exhibition and an amazing aquarium. A few blocks north, we drove through the Ginza district, where buildings sporting every brand name known to man, plus a bunch I’d never heard of, towered around us. Dazzled by the concrete jungle, I quickly became lost as Raiden pointed out the various districts and what they had to offer. I’d heard that Tokyo was New York City on steroids, and so far, I considered that an understatement.

  Despite the towering skyscrapers and the buzz and hum of technology everywhere, there was still evidence of traditional Japanese culture—signs that pointed to Zen gardens secreted between buildings, tiny shrines perched precariously on pipes running along the backs of apartment buildings, sumo wrestlers dressed in yukatas coming out of the stable after a hard morning training session. It was a strange mixture of old and new, and I wished I could take a few days to explore.

  But we weren’t here for a vacation. We were here to defeat an evil shaman and rescue my mother. So I buried the excitement in my chest, knowing it was only going to lead to disappointment. Even if we succeeded with our mission—which we would—my mother was likely going to be in no condition to go sightseeing in Tokyo. I’d probably be spending every waking minute at her side in a hospital.

  “Do you think your parents are already here?” I asked Raiden.

  “Probably. I imagine they’re either at the site or at the shaman headquarters here.”

  I frowned. “Is there a reason we’re not going to them?”

  “If they find out we’re here, they’ll lock us both up. They’d never let an untrained shaman like you near the site, and as for me…” Raiden blew out a breath. “Well, you already know. My parents won’t risk me.”