Ghosts and Grudges

by Jasmine Walt

  I nodded. “I’m sure my mom would feel the same way.” In fact, she was probably praying I wouldn’t come for her—that I’d leave her to die in that awful tomb. But even if I could bring myself to do that, this was bigger than us. If Kai got out of that tomb, Amatsu would be free to wreak havoc on the world. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

  The cab dropped us off at a swanky hotel in the middle of Shinjuku, where a bellhop immediately took our bags and loaded them onto a cart. I raised my eyebrows when Raiden ordered rooms for each of us. It seemed kind of extravagant considering that we weren’t actually spending the night here, but then again, he was rich. Besides, it would be nice to actually have some privacy while I showered and got out of these wet clothes.

  After we checked in, we got into the elevator and rode it up to the twentieth floor. “Wow,” I said, pressing my nose against the glass window. The city sprawled beneath us, a mecca of color and metal and vibrancy. It looked like something straight out of Blade Runner.

  “Is that Mount Koya?” I asked, pointing at the tiny blip I spotted on the horizon, far off into the distance.

  “Yeah.” Shota came to stand behind me, his hands in his pockets. I glanced sideways, and some of my excitement faded at the grim look on his face. “It’s too bad we won’t be able to go there. It’s pretty spectacular.”

  I nodded. “How are we getting to Kai? Shrine-travel?”

  “It’s the fastest way,” Raiden confirmed. “The shamans will have set up a portable shrine up there. We’ll go to Nezu Shrine when we’re done here and hop over.”

  “Okay.” I gazed at the mountain, a tiny triangle the size of my index fingernail, for a moment longer, before the elevator doors opened and I had to get off. The three of us went our separate ways—we each had rooms on this floor, but they weren’t adjoining.

  “Come find me in 2005 when you’re ready,” Shota called.

  I nodded, then slid my plastic key card into the door of my own room. It swung open, revealing a spacious room with a California King-sized bed and a picture window offering another amazing view of the city. Under other circumstances, I would have plopped myself into the chaise lounge parked there and stared for hours. Instead, I dumped my new clothes on the bed, stripped out of my old ones, and hopped into the shower.

  “Ahhhh,” I groaned as the hot spray hit me. The pulsing jets felt incredible, scouring away layers of salt, sand, and other stuff I didn’t want to think about while pounding the tension out of my muscles. There was nothing quite like a hot shower to clear your head after a long day, and this one felt incredible.

  I scrubbed myself all over at least three times, then dried off and changed into a pair of clean jeans and a Hello Kitty T-shirt. I didn’t want to waste time blow-drying my hair, so I combed it out, then left it loose down my back so it would dry faster. Looking in the mirror at myself, I wished I had the foresight to buy some makeup. There were circles under my eyes from a severe lack of sleep, and my face was pasty white. It was amazing that Shota and Raiden looked at me without cringing.

  I sat down on the edge of the bed to put my shoe on, and a wave of tiredness swept over me. Dammit. Longingly, I glanced at the mattress beneath me, which was super comfortable and way too inviting. Lie down, an insidious voice whispered in my head. You can afford a few minutes’ rest.

  I bit the inside of my cheek to clear the hazy fog of exhaustion that had descended upon my mind. If I lay down now, it wouldn’t be for a few minutes. It would be for a few hours, and I didn’t have time for that. Shota was waiting for me…and so was my mother.

  I couldn’t forget that I was doing all this for her.

  Quickly, I finished dressing, then grabbed an energy drink from the mini fridge and downed it before heading for Shota’s room. I wasn’t really a fan of Monster or Red Bull, but I needed the extra juice if we really were going to face off against Kai today.

  Shota’s room was only a few doors down from mine. I knocked on the door, and when I got no answer, used the extra key Shota had given me to gain entry. Shota’s room was a mirror image of mine, with identical furniture. I could hear the shower running, so I went and made myself comfortable on the chaise by the window and spent a long, peaceful moment enjoying the view. My mind drifted as I stared out at the skyline, and I didn’t hear when the water turned off or the door opened.

  “Aika?” Shota’s shocked voice spun me out of my reverie, and I turned to see him just outside the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. His lean, muscled body was practically on full display, complete with abs, and my face flamed as I realized my mistake. “I didn’t know you were in here!”

  “S-sorry!” I shot out of my chair, then tripped over my own feet. Shota lunged forward and grabbed me before I face-planted, but my clumsiness must have been contagious, because somehow we both ended up tangled together on the floor.

  “Relax!” Shota’s arms banded around me as I flailed around like a fish caught in a net. “You’re just making it worse.”

  I stilled as Shota pulled me against his body. His body heat seeped into me as my curves pressed against his muscular form, and suddenly I was acutely aware that the towel had slipped away. If I just looked down…

  No. You are not looking down.

  “Sorry,” I said again, wishing I could just disappear. I was simultaneously embarrassed and aroused, the heat from Shota’s body firing me up, turning my core molten. I held very still in his arms, knowing that if I moved my hands just a little, I’d be touching his bare flesh. I could skim them down his back, and maybe over other things too…

  “There’s nothing for you to apologize about,” Shota said, sounding a little breathless. My heart pounded hard as his dark gaze bore into mine, and a thrill went through me when he curled his hand around the curve of my waist. “I gave you a key. I should have known better than to walk out here naked.”

  Naked. The word, spoken aloud, sent another wave of heat rushing through my veins. My nipples pebbled through my shirt, and Shota’s gaze turned molten, almost as if he could sense my desire. My lips parted, and I leaned in a little closer, hoping he would finally take the hint…

  Shota cleared his throat, his gaze shuttering. “I should get dressed,” he said, pushing himself upright. Cold air rushed between the space where his body had been pressed against mine, sending a chill through me. A healthy dose of shame followed on its heels. “We’ve got training to do.”

  Those words, spoken with such clinical dispassion, triggered a wave of anger within me. “Fuck that,” I said, grabbing his wrist before he could get up. Shota’s eyes widened as I yanked him back against me, his mouth open as if he was about to protest. But instead of letting him, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him.

  As I smashed my lips against Shota’s, I felt a zing of electricity, as if we’d completed a circuit. There was a heartbeat of resistance, and then Shota groaned, wrapping his arms around me. He pulled me into his lap, then threaded his fingers into my hair, holding me tightly against him as he kissed me hard. I gasped at the feel of his length pressing against my core, and then his tongue was inside me, filling me up with the taste of him. I sucked on his tongue greedily, my hands sliding down his shoulders, over his arms, loving the way his muscles flexed beneath my touch. The exhaustion that had plagued me earlier had vanished, replaced by a deep-seated need to take more. I wanted to explore this connection, this current that seemed to flow between us, and see just how far it went—

  “Dammit!” Shota cursed, pushing me off his lap. My breath whooshed out of me as I landed hard on the carpet, but that was more from the shock of his rejection than anything else. I flinched at the anger simmering in his tone, etching itself into the lines of his normally carefree face. “Why are you so tempting, Aika?”

  “Tempting?” I echoed, staring at him. No, it wasn’t just anger, I realized as I searched his gaze. There was self-loathing there, too, and I couldn’t understand it. “Why are you treating me like I’m some kind
of forbidden fruit? Like I’m a chocolate fudge cake, and you’re on the Atkins diet?”

  Shota laughed, a bitter sound that tore at me. “I wish you were chocolate fudge cake,” he said hollowly. He seemed to remember he was still naked, and threw the towel over his lap. I could have told him not to bother—he was still hard, and the fabric only seemed to draw further attention to the bulge I’d only let myself catch a glimpse of earlier. “That would be way easier to resist.”

  I folded my arms over my chest, ignoring the little thrill his words gave me. There was no denying it—Shota definitely wanted me. “I don’t understand why you’re trying so hard to ‘resist’ me,” I said, using my fingers to make air quotes as I spoke. “Just a few days ago, you were trying to get me to have dinner with you.”

  “That was before you met Raiden,” Shota said quietly.

  I stared. “Raiden? What’s he got to do with this?”

  Shota raised an eyebrow. “You have feelings for him, Aika. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. It’s obvious you belong together.”

  I scoffed. “That’s ridiculous,” I said. “Raiden and I barely know each other. Just because we may or may not have feelings for each other doesn’t automatically make him my soulmate.” I paused when Shota’s gaze shuttered again on the word ‘soulmate’. “Wait a damn second. You actually think he’s my soulmate?”

  “What I think is irrelevant,” Shota said. His eyes were filled with sadness, making my confused heart ache even more. “The gods clearly have a plan for you, Aika, and I can’t let my feelings interfere with it. There’s too much at stake.”

  “And what about my feelings?” I cried, thoroughly fed up. “Who cares what the gods think! And what do the gods have to do with this anyway?”

  Shota shook his head. “You only have feelings for me because of our history,” he said. “They’ll go away soon enough. The important thing is that we have to keep our distance from each other.”

  “This is ridiculous,” I sputtered as he got to his feet, wrapping the towel around his waist. “How do you even know that the gods want me to end up with Raiden? You’re just making assumptions!”

  Shota gave me an odd look. “It’s strange,” he said as I stood up. “I thought once I explained this that you’d understand, but you’re acting like your feelings for Raiden don’t matter. Are you really saying that you prefer me over him?”

  His words tugged on my heart, and an image of Raiden popped into my head, his face smiling down at me as we whirled across the dance floor together. The thought of severing my connection with him, of pushing him away, was physically painful, and my chest throbbed at the very idea.

  “I…I don’t know,” I said heavily. “But I do know that I want the chance to find out.”

  Shota sighed, his eyes dimming. “I’m going to go put some clothes on,” he said, turning away. “When I come back, be ready to train.”

  My heart sank as I watched him retreat to the bathroom. Clearly that had been the wrong thing to say, and yet how could I be anything less than honest? I cared about both Raiden and Shota, and I wanted the opportunity to explore those feelings. And yet the two of them seemed to have jointly decided that I belonged with Raiden.

  “As if I didn’t have a choice,” I muttered, sitting back down on the chaise. Anger simmered in my veins. Who were these two men to make decisions like that for me, and without even coming clean on their reasoning behind it? If we weren’t under such a time crunch, I would have brought them both in here and forced them to tell me what was really going on.

  That’s exactly why you shouldn’t be letting your feelings get involved, I scolded myself. All this love life drama had no place in my world right now, not when my mother’s life hung in the balance. I’d told myself that multiple times. Maybe now I should start listening.

  When Shota came back out again, I’d regained my composure. Turning, I looked him up and down coolly as he approached. He wore a white button-up shirt and black jeans, those lean, gorgeous muscles all covered up now. Desire flickered inside me briefly before I snuffed it out. I was going to stick to my guns this time. I would not let my emotions take over.

  “You ready to train?” he asked, pulling a black box from one of the drawers.

  “Yep.” I joined him at the small breakfast table, trying not to think about all the other black boxes he’d brought me, filled with yummy, handmade sushi. My stomach whined a little, and I made a mental note to grab one of the sandwiches we’d bought later. “This is where all our supplies are?”

  “That’s right.” Shota flipped open the lid to reveal stacks of long, rectangular white paper, as well as several bottles of ink and brushes. “There are two things a shaman needs to know when it comes to making ofuda. The first part is how to actually craft the ofuda, and the second is how to use it.”

  “That makes sense.” I glanced down at the supplies. “So how do we begin?”

  Shota picked up one of the stacks of papers from the box. Unlike the others, these had kanji drawn on them in black ink. They were folded up, so I couldn’t make out precisely what they said. “I prepared these earlier,” he said, holding them out to me. “It’s all the same spell, so you can see progressively how you get better.”

  “Okay.” I took one of the ofudas from him. It was a small piece of paper about the size of a playing card, folded up so I couldn’t read it in its entirety. I was a little disappointed that we were skipping the part where I actually got to make these, but on the other hand, I knew we didn’t have a lot of time. “What now?”

  “Shut your eyes, and try to feel the spell. Even if you don’t know what it is, you should feel the magic inside like one of those Jack-in-the-Boxes. All you have to do is wind it up and let it out,” he said, reaching out and putting his hand over the top of mine.

  “Okay,” I said, swallowing. The warmth from his hand seeped into my skin, settling my nerves a little. Unfortunately, it was also very distracting, and I had to make an effort to focus on the ofuda. As I did, I felt a spark of power within it. It reminded me of a present held together by a single ribbon, and as I had that thought, I found the mental ends of the ribbon fluttering in my mind’s eye.

  “Good,” he said, his breath hot on my cheek as he spoke. Had he moved closer to me? “I can sense that you’ve found the spark. Now just tug it free.”

  Nodding, I redoubled my focus on the ofuda and mentally reached out to it. I grabbed hold of the ends of the ribbon holding the power at bay and tugged firmly. The binding on the spell came away surprisingly easily with a loud pop. My heart leapt in my chest, and I snapped my eyes open, excited to see what I’d created.

  “Whoa.” My jaw dropped at the sight of a colorful bouquet of flowers in my hand. “This wasn’t what I expected.”

  “They come in handy on dates,” Shota said with a smirk. “Care to trade?” he asked, holding it out to me. “Because we’re gonna do this a couple dozen more times, until you can summon flowers in your sleep.”

  20

  After summoning so many bouquets of flowers I felt like we’d booked a room in a flower shop, the three of us packed up and caught a cab to the Nezu Shrine in Bunkyo. I was a little disappointed that we hadn’t had time for me to learn how to actually make ofudas, but it was what it was. I knew enough that I was confident I could use Ryujin’s spell on Kai, and that was what mattered.

  By the time we arrived at the shrine it was early afternoon, so there weren’t many visitors. Even so, I found myself glancing around nervously as we approached the suzu hanging from the shrine’s eaves.

  “Aren’t people going to notice if we suddenly disappear?” I hissed as Raiden clapped his hands. He’d taken the sword out of his bag and strapped it to his belt, and we were already getting weird looks from people.

  “No,” Shota said as Raiden grasped the rope. “They’re Muggles, so they won’t see anything out of the ordinary. They’ll forget they ever saw us.”

  “Did you just make a Harry Po—” I
began, but Raiden cut me off with a mighty tug of the bell. It rang once, twice, and we joined arms just in time for the flash of light to engulf us. Like before, the light twisted into a psychedelic spread of colors, and this time I closed my eyes against it. Maybe if I couldn’t see it, I wouldn’t feel sick to my stomach when we arrived.

  A few seconds later, my feet slammed into hard ground, and I stumbled into Raiden. He grasped my arms, steadying me, and even though I could only see blackness when I opened my eyes, the feel of his arms around me and his incense-laced scent reassured me that everything was fine. Taking in slow breaths, I waited for my vision to clear.

  “Hey!” a male voice shouted. I turned toward the sound of footsteps crunching against rocky ground, and the fog from my vision finally lifted to reveal a lushly wooded mountain forest. A man about thirty years of age, dressed in a black and white gi decorated with kanji, was running toward us. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Takaoka Raiden. This is Hayakawa Shota, my cousin, and Fujiwara Aika, our friend,” Raiden said, stepping between me and the irate shaman. “We’re here to enter the tomb.”

  “Raiden?” the shaman exclaimed. “You can’t go in there. Your parents have expressly ordered—”

  Raiden whirled around, drawing the dragon blade in one smooth motion. He slammed the katana into the temporary shrine we’d used to teleport here, and a bolt of lightning burst from the cloudless sky and slammed into the shrine in a flash of light and sound.

  “Shit!” Shota tackled me to the ground, covering my body with his as debris flew everywhere. The smell of ozone filled my nose as power crackled in the air from the lightning strike. As the smoke cleared, a chunk of rock bounced off my shoulder blade, sending a small but sharp burst of pain through me.

  “A little warning would have been nice!” I snapped, peering up at Raiden from beneath Shota’s arm.

  “Sorry.” Raiden blushed. “I’ve never actually used this thing before.”