by Dave Ferraro
When he pulled back, Yumiko was both glad and regretful. She looked at his lips, yearning to meet them again, but he turned away and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry,” he told her. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“Neither could I.”
He smiled, his dimples making her heart skip. “I’m going to get an umbrella. I’ll be right back.”
She nodded and turned to gaze out into the rain again, her thoughts not far from the kiss. She had never been kissed, and the sensations were much more intense than she’d expected. She didn’t think it could be like that with just anyone though. It was just…she liked Brian. A lot. She’d wanted him more than anything just now. She’d let somebody in, and the world hadn’t fallen apart around her.
She smiled to herself, feeling content and happy, even with the weight of the book still in her hands. And then she looked across the street. And froze.
The woman who stood there in the rain, not bothered at all by the downpour, was staring at Yumiko. She wore a gray kimono, her hair sopping wet.
Ame-Onna.
The woman smiled at Yumiko before lifting a hand to her lips and taking two quick licks of rainwater, as if she couldn’t help herself. She then turned and disappeared down an alley.
Without thinking, Yumiko took off after her. A car honked angrily as she ran in front of it, briefly illuminated by its headlights before it narrowly avoided hitting her. But she barely noticed. She sprinted down the alley she’d seen Ame-Onna slip into. And watched as the yokai stepped into a mirror leaning against a dumpster.
Yumiko stopped and stared at it a moment before she noted the shadows shifting behind her. She turned and punched a green creature in the throat, and it fell to the ground, gasping, hands at its neck. A kappa.
Her eyes flickered to the indentation on the top of its head, wet from the rain. Kappas’ totems were obvious, as it was part of their body, a weakness that was well-known. They died when the indentation dried. But a downpour was an ideal time for them to be out and about, away from running water.
While the creature was down, Yumiko pressed her advantage and stepped on its chest, pinning it. It wore a protective shell, so she knew she was doing no real harm, but it wouldn’t be able to get away while she held it in place.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, glaring into its face.
The kappa stopped struggling and swallowed hard, looking up at her with wild fear in its wide dark eyes. Its beak was open, breaths coming heavy, as if it were afraid for its life, which it most certainly was.
She almost felt sorry for it, it looked so terrified, but she didn’t relent. She dug her foot into its chest even harder until it grunted.
“It is only watching over you, child.”
Yumiko looked up sharply at the voice. Ame-Onna had reemerged from the mirror and stood with her hands on her hips, watching her.
“Watching me?” Yumiko asked between gritted teeth. “Why?”
“You know why. I watched you through mirrors on that train as you read the prophecy.”
Yumiko blinked, then sent a dirty look the kappa’s way as it began to struggle harder. When it saw her eyes, it stopped, emitting a small whimper. With a sigh, she let the kappa go, and it scrambled away from her on its knees until it reached Ame-Onna, who helped it to its feet. She gestured for it to go into the mirror, and it complied, then she turned back to Yumiko.
“You have questions,” Ame-Onna said.
“No shit.”
Ame-Onna smirked. “He was right, you know. You did blossom into a courageous, fiery young woman. He must be pleased.”
“I will not let him devour me. I don’t care if the world has to burn.”
“No?” Ame-Onna chuckled. “I doubt that very much. All you’ve done since you’ve come to this world is train to help protect humans from yokai. You care very much for them.” She paused and tilted her head. “And why is it that you think that my lord would eat you?”
Yumiko blinked. “I…you said so yourself.”
Ame-Onna watched her for a moment. “You will be consumed by him, body and soul. Your entire body will be on fire, you will be so in love with him. He will be your whole world, child. And you, his.”
“So…he won’t kill me?” She sagged with relief. “If I do this…if I marry him, he will let me go?”
“Let you go?” Ame-Onna frowned. “You will be by his side for eternity.”
“In the mirror world,” Yumiko concluded. She looked away. “And if I don’t want that?”
“Then I won’t force you to stay.”
Yumiko stiffened at the voice at her back. Her eyes widened as Ame-Onna bowed to the figure behind her, then stepped back through the mirror and disappeared.
Yumiko turned around slowly, eyes not believing what they saw standing before her so clearly.
Brian held his head high. “I told you that I would return for you.”
Chapter Thirteen
“No,” Yumiko shook her head. “It can’t be you.”
“Why not?” Brian demanded, taking a step closer to her. “Because you actually like me?” All signs of an accent were gone. He spoke Japanese like he had his entire life.
Yumiko squeezed her eyes shut, recalling the little signs she shouldn’t have ignored. How he’d tried to convince her that she was misunderstanding the intention of yokai and the prophecy. How he’d claimed that they were meant for each other, even hinting that he knew her. Of course he knew her - he’d been watching her since she was seven years old!
“Do you have any idea what you put me through?” she asked him, ignoring the rainwater that continued to drip into her eyes. “How you turned my life inside-out?”
“I know,” Brian said hesitantly, his voice so understanding that Yumiko wanted to punch him. “I saw it all. I never meant for you to go through those trials. But I can explain everything to you, if you give me a chance.”
“I’m not eighteen yet,” she protested, taking a step back. “You can’t have me yet. I haven’t…I haven’t had enough time.”
“I think you have,” he said. “I came to try to ease you into the transition, to make you see things properly. I know you misinterpreted things. I don’t want you to be scared. I never did. I was…angry when you rejected me initially, but I understand that you were just a child then. When I first laid eyes on you…everything changed for me. My perspective on life changed. You don’t know what you’ve done to me, Yumiko.”
“I have an idea,” Yumiko told him, looking away. “Everything changed for me too. My life became a nightmare. A time clock, ticking down to the moment when I would die at your hands.”
“Yumiko…”
“I know,” she snapped, not daring to meet his eyes. She could imagine the hurt she would see there, given the pleading she heard in his voice. But she just couldn’t. Instead, she laughed. “I should have seen it. Turning into a fox on the full moon. Very convenient cover. Inspired by the werewolf myth, were you? Of course, it would take time to figure out what to do with you, since that’s not even a thing. And since you claimed to only change once a month, it would be a very easy thing to fake. You must be able to shape-shift?”
“No. I traded places during the night, using a mirror. With a kitsune.”
She nodded. “Of course. Very bold using a known trickster as your cover. But appropriate. You’re just a different breed of trickster.”
“Yumiko, please don’t do this. You can’t deny what you felt just now.”
“I felt betrayal,” Yumiko shouted, looking up, eyes fiery. “That’s what I felt just now, a dagger buried in my back.”
Brian closed his eyes as if she’d slapped him, then opened them to gaze at the murky ground. “I love you, Yumiko. I’m sorry for the pain you’ve gone through. I want more than anything to make it go away, to take you away from here so that you never have to feel angry or hurt again.”
Yumiko clenched her jaw, pushing down any sympathetic emotions threatening to well up. “If
I marry you, it will be for the peace it brings. And then I will leave. But I’m not going near you again until I turn eighteen.”
“Yumiko…”
“Get out of here. Now.”
She looked away, but felt him standing there for a moment, watching her, unsure of how to proceed. She could feel his dejection in the distance between them, but she sloughed off the feelings of sympathy that clawed at her to take notice. She was so angry and sad and stunned that she was nearly shaking.
Brian must have realized that he wasn’t going to convince her of anything just then. A minute later, she looked up and he was gone. And everything she’d been holding in bubbled to the surface. She sank to her knees in the rainwater and choked out a cry from deep in her soul. She felt broken, and couldn’t stop crying, couldn’t get enough air.
Nothing made sense anymore.
She wouldn’t be destroyed at the hands of a yokai king. She should have been grateful for that. But she couldn’t help but feel a gaping wound in her heart, a loss for the man she’d thought Brian was, when he had merely been yet another monster in the end, the most cruel kind, having pretended to care for her.
Yumiko lost track of time as she headed home. Only when she found herself suddenly standing outside of the front doors, in the night air, damp but no longer raining, did she realize that she’d never asked about her mother. She’d been so caught up in what things meant for herself that she’d forgotten what she’d come home to that day. Her house in disarray, her mother missing. But if Kagami was indeed the noble yokai that he pretended to be, then perhaps her mother hadn’t been hurt. More than likely, he had whisked her back to his mirror world, one more reason for Yumiko to give in to him.
“What happened to you?” Reina asked when Yumiko stepped into the library. She stood up from a desk, looking almost frightened.
Shou was there, as well. He frowned when he saw her. “Where’s the were-fox?”
Yumiko scoffed. “What were-fox?”
Shou raised an eyebrow, then turned to Reina for an explanation. Reina shrugged in response. “Mr. Mathis?” he specified. “Or do you prefer I call him Brian too?”
“Call him whatever you want.”
Reina walked up to Yumiko, concern written on her face. “Yumiko? Did something happen?” Her face darkened. “Did he-?”
Yumiko exhaled loudly. “No, nothing like that. I…just need a little space. I’m tired and…I’ll fill you in in the morning, okay?”
“Okay,” Reina agreed, looking uncertain. “If you need anything, let me know.”
Yumiko saw the look that the two exchanged, but couldn’t bring herself to care. She dragged herself up to her room and quickly fell asleep.
***
When Yumiko awakened and looked out of her window, she assumed that she’d slept for a few hours. They sky was still dark, and the rain had returned, its gentle hum offering to lull Yumiko back to sleep, should she desire. But Yumiko felt awake and alert, and wasn’t going to let Brian – or Kagami – dictate how she felt. She dressed quickly and went down to the library, forcing an enthusiastic greeting with the Wadas that she didn’t feel. On her way, she saw a kappa lingering in the doorway, wide eyes blinking into the harsh light of the sake bar. Yumiko sent it a withering look as she passed it by, and it retreated into the shadows. Brian could send as many minions to watch over her as he liked, but she wasn’t going to go along with it happily. Nor was she going to kill the stupid beasts.
She’d been very reliant on her powers over mirrors as a yokai hunter, but of course sending Kagami to the mirror world with her sword wasn’t an option. He had more control over that realm than she did. She would have to destroy his totem, whatever that was, or exorcise him traditionally if she was going to defeat him. But did she even want to do that? If the entire world’s future hung on this union, could she just turn her back on it? As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t do that. Countless people would die because she couldn’t stomach the betrayal, the life he’d forced upon her. And that wasn’t an option.
Thinking about her mother again, Yumiko was annoyed that she’d thought of Brian as noble, how he wouldn’t kill her. She was being too kind to his memory, after what he’d done. If she didn’t harden herself to what he was, she might regret it. But then, why couldn’t she stop thinking about his lips on hers? About the look of desire on his face? About the shirt that clung to his body in the rain? She shook her head to disperse these thoughts. She was confused. She couldn’t think about this now. She wanted to discuss this with Mori to get a fresh perspective, if only she would hurry with her fool’s errand.
“There she is,” Shou greeted as Yumiko entered the library. “All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”
Reina stood from her desk. “Yumiko, we were getting worried about you.”
Yumiko scowled. “I’m fine.”
“You slept for a whole day!”
That gave Yumiko pause. Had she really spent an entire day in bed? She hadn’t spent more than six hours asleep for as long as she could remember.
Shou sauntered over to her. “You know, Madame Mori didn’t trust Mr. Mathis.”
Yumiko frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“That note you gave me. Mori told me to keep an eye on you, to watch Mr. Mathis. She didn’t believe he was who he said he was.”
“She could have told me that,” Yumiko snapped.
“I think she wanted somebody a little more removed from the situation to see how things played out.” Shou wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “The chemistry between the two of you was rather obvious.”
“I’m sorry,” Reina said, slowly walking over to them. “I thought I was helping. I thought you deserved…someone.” She looked away, and Yumiko couldn’t help but smile.
“I get it,” Yumiko told her. “You were trying to set me up.”
Reina looked up shyly and nodded.
“Even though you have terrible taste in men.”
Reina’s mouth dropped open, and Shou laughed. Yumiko joined him, then sent an apologetic smile her way. “Sorry. But that was a terrible move.”
“What happened?” Reina asked.
And Yumiko filled them in over tea. She left out the ways that Brian had been kind and flirtatious. She left out the kiss. But she told them everything else. The further into the story she got, the darker the look on Shou’s face. By the time she’d concluded her tale, Shou looked visibly angry, while Reina looked guilty and sad.
“I’m going to kill him,” Shou announced.
“Don’t be stupid,” Yumiko said, then sat back with a sigh. “He’s too powerful. And I have to do this.”
“It’s so tragic,” Reina murmured, not looking up from her teacup. “Like an arranged marriage.”
“It’s screwed up, is what it is,” Shou said.
“But,” Reina hesitated. “Maybe he does really like you.”
Yumiko looked up at the ceiling. “Even if he does, after this, all the lies and deceit…I could never return his feelings.”
“He’s a monster,” Shou said resolutely. “I say we kill him. And if the three evil yokai plan to try to take over the world, we meet them head-on and kill them too. I’d rather fight then watch you marry an evil bastard like Kagami.” He turned to Yumiko, eyes hard. “Wouldn’t you? Don’t you want to fight back?”
Yumiko hesitated. “I don’t know what I want. But I can’t let people be massacred because I have mixed feelings. Whether I want to or not, I’m going to Kagami when I turn eighteen, for the sake of peace.”
“How noble,” Shou returned bitterly, the word like a slap in the face, given how Yumiko had been throwing it around.
“What do you care?” Reina asked him. “That will leave you as Mori’s sole apprentice. Isn’t that what you want?”
Shou blinked. “It’s what I deserve. I don’t want to be her star pupil by default.”
Yumiko’s lips twitched and she laid a hand over Shou’s. “Thank you.”
Shou gaze
d down at her hand, and seemed to be warring with himself over something that he couldn’t give voice to, but it was written all over his face, a range of emotions that Yumiko couldn’t interpret.
Yumiko tilted her head, then looked around the room. “Where is Tanuki?”
“I don’t know,” Reina sighed. “I think I may have chased him off.”
“Small favors,” Shou murmured.
“He’s just gone?” Yumiko frowned.
“I haven’t seen him since you left with Brian,” Reina shrugged. “Maybe he’s around here somewhere and just isn’t showing himself to me, but I haven’t heard a peep.”
“And the Wadas aren’t missing any sake,” Shou added with a smirk.
“Hello?” a voice called out from the other room. “Madame Mori?”
Yumiko jumped up and traipsed into the library, a smile on her face as she bowed to the woman who stood in the middle of the open space, looking uncertain. Shou and Reina followed, mimicking her welcome. “Greetings,” Yumiko said. “My apologies, but Madame Mori is out at the moment. But I am here in her stead. I am Miss Sato, and these are my associates, Mr. Fujiwara and Miss Arai.”
The woman, in her early twenties and very pretty, bowed to them, and offered a shaky smile in return. “I am Miss Mie. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I work just a few doors down and I’ve talked to Madame Mori in passing a few times. I know that she…well, I wanted to warn her.”
“Warn her?” Yumiko frowned.
Miss Mie nodded and averted her eyes. “There have been men watching the entrance. I noticed them yesterday. They’re in samurai gear and they’re…” She hesitated. “There’s something wrong with their faces.”
Yumiko let out a deep breath. “Thank you for telling us. We will handle this. Go about your business as usual, Miss Mie.”
She bowed and turned to leave, but suddenly a form stood in the doorway, blocking her exit. In the shadows of the door, Yumiko couldn’t make out any features, but given its height and bulk, she had no doubt that it was an oni.
“Secure them,” a female voice ordered from behind the yokai.
