by C. J. Anaya
I couldn’t see the expression on Victor’s face, and I didn’t really want to. I just wanted to understand what was happening. Tie looked at me and shook his head ever so slightly. Did that mean he wanted me to keep quiet? His strained expression smoothed out quickly and became as cool, and serene as ever.
Why hadn’t he told Victor what had happened? What was holding him back? The pressure in my head continued to build, pushing and shoving its way through the rest of my body.
“Good,” Victor said, offering his hand to Tie.
Tie shook it reluctantly, and suddenly, I felt powerless. It was like an agreement had just been reached; something about my fate had been determined for me, and I was no longer capable of doing anything about it.
The pressure that had been building erupted from my body and a hot, white light shot from every inch of my skin, at least that’s how it looked and felt to me. I knew better than to fight it and simply did the very best I could to breathe until my eyesight cleared and my surroundings became visible again.
Tie and Victor were standing in the same position, shaking hands as if they’d just struck some form of agreement. I, however, was standing next to Victor instead of behind him. That wasn’t the only thing that was different. A strange woman stood behind Tie and to his left. Several other people surrounded us in a highly decorative room.
The moment we shared was serious. I sensed that immediately, but I couldn‘t understand what exactly was taking place. Tie began speaking in a language that was far from English, but I caught every word like it was my own native tongue.
“As it has been prophesied so shall it come to pass. The princess will soon take her rightful place alongside the honorable Masaru Katsu, god of warriors and keeper of the Grass Cutter Sword.”
He put a strange kind of emphasis on the word honorable, making Victor tense slightly at my side. Despite the formal and reverent tone being set for what I assumed was some kind of engagement ceremony, I couldn’t help but notice Tie struggle between indifference and rage. He didn’t want to be here, and the look he gave me made me feel as if I had betrayed him in some way.
“As a god ordained by our first parents to give approval and blessings for unions such as these, I bestow upon this particular union a blessing of the highest order and seal it with this cherry blossom,” he said.
My right palm instinctively lifted flat to meet Victor’s in the middle like some strange high five. As soon as our hands made contact a beautiful cherry blossom grew upwards between the tips of our fingers.
“This is official. In a fortnight the princess Mikomi will forever belong to you, Masaru. Protect what is rightfully yours or someone else will.”
Tie may have been talking to Victor, but he was looking at me. His look was calculating. It actually made me shiver.
I felt powerless, knowing my fate was being decided for me, sealed to some stranger, and yet Victor wasn’t a stranger really. He was kind and understanding. He’d never do anything to hurt me. All he wanted was to love and protect me.
My thoughts were chaotic and confusing. It was awful standing next to Victor with my panic mounting, forgetting what I already knew about him. It was like seeing the past as if it was my future, yet knowing the present as if it was my past.
Print that on a fortune cookie!
A mind numbing meld of contradicting emotions, opinions, and memories ignited a familiar pressure that signified the end of my vision. This time, however, the return trip took on a more forceful impact. It felt like my spirit slammed into my body which caused me to lose my footing and crumple to the floor. Pain and nausea hit me hard.
“Hope. What’s happened?”
“Are you all right?”
I tried to raise my head slowly, but doing so made the room, and everyone surrounding me blur beyond recognition. I lowered my head to the floor, grateful for the cool, wood flooring instead of something scratchy and smelly like shag carpet.
I was still trying to get my bearings when the sound of breaking glass silenced the concerned questions Victor, Tie, and Angie were throwing at me.
“Angie, get down,” Victor yelled.
I felt someone grab me from behind and slide me up against one of the bedroom walls. I tried opening my eyes again and noticed a marked improvement from the blurry scene I’d viewed before. I squinted in the direction of what sounded like crunching glass and noted three figures with swords drawn standing in three different types of fighting positions.
That caught my attention. The room came back into crystal clear focus with dizzying speed. The three sword bearers posing in front of the shattered bedroom windows looked like very hairy crosses between panthers and actual human beings. They were different from the nekomata Victor had killed earlier that evening. These three had shiny jet black fur, were fully clothed in some kind of ancient looking leather, and radiated pure evil. The nekomata in the middle made a strange purring/growling noise that gave my goose bumps goose bumps.
“All we want is the girl. The rest of you can leave if you wish,” it said in the same hair-raising voice.
“I‘m afraid you’ll have to be a bit more specific,” came Tie’s haughty voice to the left of me. “There are, after all, three girls present.”
I lifted my head gingerly and saw Ms. Mori standing next to Tie wearing a fierce expression on her face. I looked to my right and there stood Victor and my father towering over me. The only two people in the room not standing were myself and Angie who was actually kneeling in front of me facing the scary black cats from hell. I couldn’t see her face, but I imagined it looked about as angry, fierce, and protective as the rest of the group’s.
“Do not waste our time, tainted kami. You merely prolong the pain and suffering your slow death will bring.”
“Bummer,” Angie muttered.
Tainted? What in the world was this…thing talking about?
“You don’t actually believe we’ll stand aside and let you walk off with her, do you?” This from a very pissed off Victor. It looked like every muscle in his body was set to spring with just the simplest of provocations.
“Ah. You still believe you can win. My face will be the last face you see kami. My sword the last thing you ever feel. My—”
“Yeah, okay we got it. Death and destruction await those that dare oppose you. My biceps are bigger than your biceps. Blah blah blah,” Tie said. He sounded bored. He even managed to look bored. I couldn’t help but take the time to admire him for that. “Can we skip the useless dialogue and get right to the part where my sword separates your head from your freakish looking body?”
That last part must have been code for: Attack With Deadly Swiftness because Victor, Tie and Ms. Mori flashed some very gnarly looking swords—seriously, where were they hiding these things—and crossed to the other side of the room faster than I could blink.
There were six warriors in this tiny crowded room swinging six ugly weapons, and not a single nekomata was able to get close to my father, Angie, or myself. The three kami sworn to protect me were engaged in the most amazing display of sword fighting I’d ever seen. Granted, I didn’t have much experience with swords nor had I witnessed too many fights in my lifetime, but every movement was a seductively beautiful dance. The longer I watched the more amazed I became. I should have felt terrified. Instead, I was anxious to be a part of it all.
I wondered why I felt such a longing for something I knew nothing about. Time slowed, and my eyes sharpened. Everyone’s well-timed movements were more predictable now. The nekomata in the middle shot up Tie’s left side, and flung his other arm to the right, intending to distract him while stabbing his sword into Tie’s side. Tie registered the feint and adjusted his position while continuing his own thrust downward just in time to stab his opponent’s sword arm. To his left, Ms. Mori had ducked down, easily slipping into a crouching position as a bright flash of silver sliced over her.
Thrust up now, I thought, just as Ms. Mori did exactly that. There was an ungodly sh
riek of pain as the injured nekomata stumbled back, chest bleeding. How had I known what Ms. Mori should do?
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a grunt from Victor who fought on the opposite side of the room. He was fearless and determined…and injured. It didn’t matter that his opponent also bled badly because neither one of them were slowing down.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Ms. Mori take a kick to the head. She went down hard and didn’t move. The nekomata standing above her licked his thick whiskered snout and raised his sword high to strike. My actions were instinctive and guided by a part of me I didn’t know existed.
I wasn’t witnessing this battle through the eyes of Hope Fairmont, seventeen-year-old healer and run-of-the-mill high school student; I was seeing it through someone else’s eyes. Strategies were forming, calculations were being made; my body was moving faster than I’d ever thought possible and suddenly Ms. Mori’s sword was in my hand and extending above my head, blocking the creature’s downward thrust.
I felt my face break into a happy smile as I anticipated my enemies next set of moves.
And then the dance began.
It was like breathing to me. Block after block, thrust after thrust. The leg work, the upper body movements, all of it was second nature to me. All too soon my opponent was on the ground looking just as surprised as I felt, but he wasn’t dead. I’d dealt him a death blow, but he still breathed easily. I couldn’t understand why this creature was still alive despite the wounds I’d just inflicted, and then I realized the sword I held in my hand wouldn’t be enough to kill it. Ms. Mori’s sword was different from the nekomata. If these animals wielded weapons from the underworld then could they be killed with weapons from our world?
My thoughts flicked to the Grass Cutter Sword, and suddenly my strategy shifted. My opponent was beginning to get his bearings. I moved toward Victor as quickly as possible, knowing his sword was the answer to ending all of this madness. I stopped when I saw the fighting had stopped as well. No one attempted to kill anyone anymore. Everyone was looking at me. If I hadn’t been so intent on grabbing Victor’s sword and using it to completely eradicate this latest threat I might have found the varying degrees of shock etched on both man and beast quite comical. The new me, however, hesitated only briefly and then sprang towards Victor and grabbed the sword from his hands easily.
The minute my hand touched his sword I felt a surge of power sweep through me. A light surrounded my skin and shot out my fingers. I felt a major boost in power through my connection with the sword. All three nekomata sprang into action, and I easily danced over, around, and under every threatening move they made. I found my first opportunity and sliced off the head of Victor’s opponent. I used my momentum to roll to the ground and spring up, taking off the head of the nekomata who’d almost killed Ms. Mori. I motioned for the last nekomata to make his move, readying my stance, looking for an opening or weakness in his position.
“I do not have orders to kill you, Princess. You will come with me willingly or I will be forced to kill your friend and your father.”
“Empty threats? Exactly how do you plan on pulling that off?” He snarled at me, charging forward with his sword held high. He’d left his chest wide open, but instead of plunging my sword in, I lifted it up and blocked his downward swing while simultaneously placing my hand against his heart.
You’re mine.
I connected with him and instructed his life force to stop his heart from beating. It complied, eager to end its own evil existence. The nekomata’s eyes widened in surprise as its heartbeat began to slow. I gave him a wicked smile, thoroughly enjoying the power I held in just one hand. He couldn’t fight something like this, and there was no way for him to move once I’d started.
It was a very simple process, really. One that Akane had trained me for in case my sword fighting skills weren’t enough. The process of healing gave power to the one being healed, but the process of killing someone put all of that lovely power back where it belonged…with me. I could take a life just as easily as I could give it.
Take a life! Akane?
I shook my head trying to gain control of my thoughts and actions.
The nekomata’s eyes were beginning to roll into the back of his head and his body violently convulsed. He was in agony, and I was the cause of it. I was doing it. What in the world was I doing? I released him by pushing him backwards and away from me. He stumbled to the floor and took in a huge, pain-filled breath.
“I’m sorry,” I said horrified at my actions. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I wanted to cry; I felt so terrible.
He looked at his slain companions and then back at me and let out a strange kind of chuckle, like he couldn’t believe I was apologizing for hurting him when I’d already managed to kill two of his assassins. I thought he might say something or possibly surrender. Instead, he surprised me by turning around and jumping head first out the window. I heard a light thud from the ground below and then there was nothing.
I breathed heavily, and sweat poured from my forehead running down the sides of my temples. I’d never felt so powerful, so in control of my movements. My euphoria was cut short at the sight of the bloody sword in my hand. I considered what I’d just done. I’d just killed. Not once, but twice, and I hadn’t hesitated for even a moment, and then I’d almost taken a life by using the same power I utilized to save lives.
It felt so disgusting.
How had I known to do that? I had a memory, one about someone training me to kill, but it flitted away, leaving me shaken and frustrated.
I studied the sword in my hand. Blood gleamed sickeningly from the wicked blade. It looked like it was winking at me. I dropped it to the floor and folded my hands under my arms, wanting to hide them from myself, from everyone in the room. The power from the sword disappeared, leaving me feeling like a dish towel that had just been wrung out. Then I looked up.
The first face I saw was Tie’s. Astounded was a good way of describing the look on his face. He lifted his hands in a defensive gesture and walked carefully over to me, putting a bracing arm around my shoulder.
“I did not see that coming,” he mumbled under his breath. He kept his voice low as he continued. “Out of all the things you decided to remember, your training is what kicked in for you? I don’t know whether to feel elated or supremely offended.”
I glanced to Victor who looked like someone had just ripped a couple thousand rugs right out from under him. Angie and Ms. Mori simply stared at me. I finally found my father’s eyes and almost winced. He looked at me like he had no idea who I was.
I’d just taken two lives. The pain of that knowledge made me want to crawl out of my body. I didn’t want to remember the way it’d felt to cleanly slice through another being’s head. It was like cutting butter or slicing bread, hardly any resistance against the blade. It shouldn’t have been that easy. Why had it been so easy? Why had I felt so triumphant afterwards, reveling in my own victory? How had I known the right moves, the right positions? How was I able to kill someone just by willing it to happen? It was like I was two different people, taking on two different personalities…drawing from two different lives. I couldn’t take this. I couldn’t take it. I lifted my shaking hands and wondered if they were even mine.
“Chinatsu, she almost killed that thing with her bare hands,” Victor wheezed out. “Her gift is for healing. How is this possible?” Ms. Mori appraised me with cool and calculating eyes.
“It appears my daughter was much more involved in the Samurai wars than Tie ever let on. How extremely disappointing.”
What was she talking about?
“There are a lot of details about my involvement with Hope that haven’t been discussed,” Tie shot back. “I didn’t think it necessary to tell you until she regained her own memories, which would happen a hell of a lot faster if you two were willing to listen to my suggestions.”
“She doesn’t need to remember anything,” Victor shouted. “What
happened in the past isn’t relevant to what we are trying to accomplish now. She doesn’t need to remember who she was, she only needs to know that she’s The Healer.”
“Spoken like a true moron.”
“Enough!” Ms. Mori said.
Ms. Mori didn’t just seem disappointed, though. Her expression was borderline murderous. All it took was that one look, and I suddenly understood something vital in regards to my own survival. She may have been my mother in my previous life, but we’d been far from close, possibly even enemies.
I agreed with Tie. I had to start remembering my previous life..
I was almost certain Ms. Mori had not put me first a thousand years ago, and she wouldn’t consider doing it now. It was all about healing the veil for her. Anything else was just a distraction. These little insights were like gold to me, but I had to know what I’d been fighting for in my first life so I could know who I’d be fighting against in this one.
Tie’s supportive arm was still around me, and I was grateful, but I was worried about my father. He looked absolutely devastated. I wondered if I’d lost him for good.
“Daddy?” I asked, the panic setting in. I stepped forward, but felt my strength floating away. That same hardwood floor obligingly rose up to meet me.
Chapter Twenty
Voices spoke from far away, but my mind didn’t register the meanings behind the words. I was tired. So tired, and so—I don’t know— something felt a little different, but I wasn’t sure if the difference was physical or mental. I didn’t know if I was weightless or grounded. My senses were dulled like the voices in the distance. I couldn’t help thinking it’d be better to leave everything the way it was and not push for understanding. I almost liked the nothingness that whispered invitingly behind me. Oblivion seemed like an easier choice to make. A safer path to choose.
“Come on, Hope.”
The voice was familiar and closer than the others had been. It also sounded very irritated.
