by Jasmine Walt
“I think you’ve got me confused with yourself,” Raiden snarled, his face reddening with anger. “You are the one who brought ruin and disappointment on us all when you killed Kaga!”
Kai flinched. “I admit that killing Kaga was a mistake,” he said. “Amatsu whispered lies in my ear and convinced me that Kaga was going to kill Fumiko once the four of us completed the marriage ritual.”
“Wait a damn second.” Shota held up a hand. “The four of us? What does that mean? I thought she was marrying Haruki!”
Kai shook his head. “You really don’t remember anything, do you?” His gaze locked with mine. “Do you truly recall nothing of our time together, Fumiko?”
“I…” I wracked my brain for something, anything, that linked me to him. But though I felt that same tug in my heart I felt for Raiden and Shota, I was drawing a blank. How was all of this possible? Was I somehow imprinting on every male shaman I ran across? But then again, I’d felt no connection at all when I’d first met Mamoru, and he was a shaman.
Thank the gods for that. The very idea of being forcibly attracted to that old man made me shudder.
“I can see you are familiar with all the players in our story,” Kai said silkily, “but clearly you all have the wrong version. Fumiko did not choose Haruki. She chose all of us.”
“All?” Raiden said in a strangled voice. “She was going to marry all three clan leaders?”
“Well that explains a lot,” Shota said weakly. He was staring at me as if he’d never seen me before. “A shaman queen with three husbands. That has to be a first.”
“There were some who protested, but Queen Himiko approved of Fumiko’s decision,” Kai said. He smiled proudly at me. “You were strong like your mother, Fumiko, but you did not have her head or passion for battle. You knew that choosing only one of us for your husband would not be enough to quell the hostilities, so you decided to bind yourself to all of us.”
“You’re lying,” Raiden growled. He took a step toward Kai, gripping his katana tighter. “There is no way she was meant to marry all of us.”
“For once, you and I are in agreement,” Kai said, raising his sword. “Fumiko is mine, and I shall complete the marriage ritual once and for all and break this curse!”
“Stop it!” I shrieked as the two of them charged at each other. Raiden’s dragon blade flashed with white-hot energy, and he launched a lightning bolt at Kai.
Kai stepped back, his sword arcing up in a flash to catch the crackling blast of energy. It slammed into the flat edge of his blade in a flurry of sparks, and as he stepped sideways, deflecting it harmlessly, Shota attacked.
Fire sprang from his kusarigama and shot through the air like a white-hot comet. Kai’s other hand came up, a scrap of paper in it.
The paper flared like the sun, the symbols on it exploding with light as a nearly translucent shield of energy appeared just as the fireball would have hit him. Fire washed over the shield, but it didn’t matter. Shota was already charging in.
The chain of his kusarigama whipped through the air, and as Kai brought his sword up to block it, the chain wrapped around the sword. Shota tugged on the weapon, and as Kai stumbled forward, Raiden launched another volley of electricity at him.
As Kai tried to react, releasing his sword and going for more paper magic, the lightning bolt slammed into his chest, lifting him from his feet and flinging him backward. He crashed into the dais, right next to my mother, in a flash of light and sound that shook the room.
“No! My mom is too close!” My heart leapt into my throat.
“Get her,” Shota said, his voice icily calm as he watched Kai lay there, his robes smoking.
“Yeah, we’ll keep you safe,” Raiden promised as my mother shook her head, the fog clearing from her eyes.
“W-what’s happening?” she asked in a trembling voice as she looked around.
“Mom!” I sprinted across the room to her, desperate to get to her before Kai recovered or the boys decided to fling around more elemental power. Either could result in her getting hurt by proximity, and I couldn’t let that happen.
“Aika?” my mom asked, eyes flitting toward me as I pulled her frail body into my arms.
“Mom, I’m so glad you’re okay!” My voice cracked, and relief rushed through me as I pulled her away from Kai, trying my best to shield her and hug her at the same time.
“Aika, you shouldn’t have come,” she said, her voice full of worry. Her body sagged against mine, and I was alarmed at how cold her skin was. “Kai is not going to let you go now that he is here. He needs—”
“Be silent,” Kai snarled, his voice laced with pain and anger. Gasping, I twisted around to see him staggering to his feet. “Did you think that was enough to kill me?” A small smile flitted across his lips. “You’re both so much weaker than before, and you couldn’t stop me then.”
“Trust me, Kai. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead,” Raiden snarled. Katsu’s red aura flared out all around him, making him look even more deadly. “I was just trying to knock some sense into you.”
“Then you are more foolish than I thought possible, Haruki.” Darkness swirled around the wound in Kai’s chest as he spoke, and my mouth dropped in horror as I realized the darkness was healing him. “Amaterasu’s curse has ensured I will never die. There is no way for you to defeat me, even with that impressive weapon of yours. Despite how much help you have.” A twisted smile filled his face as his eyes flicked to Shota.
“Dammit, will you all stop fighting already!” I cried as Kai took a step forward, all traces of damage gone.
“No,” Kai replied, his eyes twisted with darkness and hatred as they settled back on me. “Know that I do this for you. For us. Once they are gone, you’ll see that.”
He leapt forward, charging across the distance in a flash of concentrated darkness. His fist leapt like a striking serpent, smashing into the underside of Shota’s chin, and as he staggered backward, his kusarigama slipped from his hand.
Kai snatched it from the air as he pivoted, blocking Raiden’s sword strike with the chain. Then, before the lightning shaman could recover, Kai twisted the chain, binding up the sword and ripping it from Raiden’s grip.
As the weapon clattered uselessly to the ground, Kai slammed his knee into Raiden’s gut, doubling him over. Breath exploded from Raiden’s lips in a cry of pain right before Kai grabbed him by the hair and flung him into the still-recovering Shota.
Both men went down in a heap, crashing to the ground like a pair of broken mannequins as Kai calmly scooped up his fallen sword. Darkness rippled off him in waves as he turned to face me.
“I know it seems harsh, Fumiko, but once they are gone, you’ll realize the truth.” He turned back to them and raised his sword, rage and anger flashing in his dark eyes.
There is no point in trying to reason with him, the kyuubi growled in my head. Let me out, and we shall finish this the old-fashioned way.
She was right. If I didn’t stop Kai, he’d kill them, and if the only way to do that was with brute force, then so be it. Gently, I pushed my mother aside and summoned the kyuubi from my body. The fire fox appeared in a flash of sapphire flame, towering over us all in her true form, causing Kai to stop mid-step.
“What are you doing?” he asked, turning to look at me, brows drawn in confusion.
“Attack Kai!” I ordered her.
“Wait—”
The kyuubi cut off the rest of his words with a surge of flame that hit him like a nuclear blast. Flame swirled around him, engulfing him in an inferno that melted the stones beneath his feet… only that was all it did.
Smoky darkness burst out of his hands as the flames raged around him, wrapping him in a protective layer of…something. He stood there, fire seething all around him as the darkness pouring from him exploded outward in a rage of wind and chaos, snuffing out the fire and leaving Kai standing there completely unharmed.
“As I said,” he said, looking at me, and if anything he jus
t seemed annoyed. “Your attacks will not hurt me. The cursed sun goddess saw to that.” He snorted. “It’s funny, in a way,” he added, turning back to look at Shota and Raiden, who had done little more than disentangle themselves. “By cursing me, she has ensured their destruction.”
“That may be true,” Raiden growled, finally getting to his feet. “But I still have to try.”
Shota nodded, his hands outstretched as he tried to summon fire. It snapped and popped around his palms and fingers, but Kai merely laughed.
“Should I let you strike me just to prove how weak you are?” He spread his arms wide, giving his chest. “Go on. Hit me with everything you have.” His lips curled into a satisfied smile. “And when you have exhausted every last effort, I will break your legs so that you can only crawl like the treacherous dogs you both are.”
“Stop!” I threw up my hands as I stepped between them. I might not be able to hurt Kai, but I still couldn’t let him hurt Shota or Raiden. “Don’t you want to be free, Kai?”
His eyes flicked to me, and his features softened.
“Aika, what are you—”
I cut off Shota’s words with a wave of one hand as I met Kai’s gaze.
“Well?” I raised an eyebrow at the dark shaman.
“I do.” He nodded once, voice strained with emotion.
“So how do you expect us to set you free?” I put my hands on my hips. “You are a tool of Amatsu Mikaboshi. If we free you, what is to stop you from draining the power from every last shaman and allowing Amatsu Mikaboshi to take over the world?”
Kai looked as though I’d struck him in the face. “Is that why you thought I brought you here?”
I put my hands on my hips. “Is there another reason?”
“I do not wish for Amatsu Mikaboshi to rule the world.” Kai finally lowered his sword. “I brought you here to help me break Amaterasu’s curse,” he added quietly, his voice tinged with sadness. “You’re the only one who can help.”
The moonbeam in my hand remained still, telling me that Kai spoke the truth.
“Are you nuts? Why would I help you?” I asked, even as I started to feel sympathetic for him. “You’ve hurt and killed so many innocent people.”
“Yes, and now I’m trying to atone for that,” Kai said desperately. “Didn’t you see the shrine I made to Amaterasu? And all the flowers I left for you?”
“You think flowers are enough to make up for all the damage you’ve done?” I asked incredulously. “You kidnapped my mother!”
“You don’t understand…” Kai sheathed his katana and moved toward me. “I just…” His throat bobbed, and he reached out and took my hands in his. “The only way to break the curse is for the two of us to marry. Please, Fumiko.” He got down on his knees. “Take me as your husband, just as we were meant to do all those years ago. The gods will take that as a sign that you have forgiven me, and I will finally be free of Amatsu.”
Raiden let out an incredulous laugh, and the sound of it wrenched my gaze away from Kai.
“Are you kidding me?” he snarled, hands clenched into a white-knuckled grip on his dragon blade. “You think that forcing Aika to marry you by holding her mother hostage will motivate Amaterasu to break the curse?” He shook his head. “You really haven’t learned anything at all.”
“Be silent!” Kai snapped, his eyes flaring with anger again. “You shouldn’t even be here, Haruki.”
“No, he’s right.” I tugged my hands free from Kai’s, stepping back. “You’ve done evil things, Kai. Even if I did marry you, it wouldn’t be enough to absolve you.”
“And you’re still draining shamans,” Shota added, nodding his head toward the way we’d come. “If we hadn’t saved them, they’d all be dead now.”
“I didn’t drain those shamans,” Kai protested, his eyes flicking between the three of us. “Amatsu did. And I haven’t hurt your mother at all. She’s been well taken care of. I didn’t even put her in the dungeon with all the others.”
“My mother is dying from an incurable disease!” I snapped. “You put her in danger just by taking her!” I glanced toward where my mother was still sitting, and my stomach dropped at the sight of her shivering, clutching her arms around her body. “If I really was Fumiko, I don’t know how I could have ever trusted you.”
Kai’s eyes flickered, as if a light bulb had gone off in his head. “Ogama,” he snapped. The giant frog appeared at his side in a puff of purple smoke. “Take Fumiko’s mother back to her home.”
“No!” my mom cried, reaching for me. But it was too late—the ogama pounced on her, and the two of them disappeared in another puff of smoke.
“There,” Kai said, a satisfied look on his face. “Your mother is out of danger. I no longer hold any leverage over you.”
“You mean except for the fact that you won’t let her leave,” Shota said dryly. “Real class act, you are.”
“You are incorrect.” Kai spread his hands wide. “You are free to leave if you wish, Aika. But it is only a matter of time before Amatsu comes back, and when he does, he will take over my body again and kill you all. We must act before that happens.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “If Amatsu isn’t here, where is he?”
“In the Reikai.” Kai glowered. “Lucky bastard, such as he is, was able to dive right back through the barrier as soon as he was free. That’s how he’s been able to summon yokai here, and into the rest of the world, to do our bidding. He’s in the Reikai right now, resting after glutting himself on all those shamans he drained.” He sheathed his sword and took a step toward us. “Amaterasu bound my life to his so that he wouldn’t be able to escape into the human world when she sealed us away in the tomb. That’s why I can’t be killed. If I died, he would be free.”
Raiden, Shota, and I exchanged puzzled looks. “So, if the curse is broken, doesn’t that mean you’ll die?” Shota asked cautiously. “And that Amatsu will be stuck in the Reikai?”
Kai shook his head. “I’ll live out my normal lifespan happily with Fumiko as husband and wife.” He beamed at me. “Just as we were meant to be.”
The moonbeam pulsed in my hand.
“You’re lying about something,” I said, backing away. “You’re never going to be able to just live with me in peace as husband and wife, even if the curse is broken. You’re too attached to Amatsu, aren’t you?”
Kai opened his mouth to argue, but I shook my head. “I can’t do this,” I said, my gut churning with anxiety. “I can’t marry you.”
Kai’s eyes narrowed to slits. “It’s because of him, isn’t it?” he hissed, turning on Raiden. “You still have feelings for this sorry excuse of a man, a man who couldn’t bring himself to tell you the truth when he had the chance!” Anger poured off him in waves as he yanked his sword from its sheath. “You have always been in the way of our happiness, Haruki, and I will not stand for it any longer. Prepare yourself!”
24
Kai’s sword lashed out through the air, and I instinctively cringed away as the clang of it smashing into Raiden’s dragon blade filled my ears.
Kai bore down, pressing on Raiden’s sword and forcing him backward a half step. The image of Katsu flared around Raiden as he swiveled, whipping his wrist around and using Kai’s momentum against him. Kai’s sword twisted out of his grip, and before he had a chance to react, Raiden delivered a well-placed kick to his knee.
The sickening sound of bone snapping echoed in the room, and Kai screamed. He crumpled to the ground as Raiden brought his blade back around, smashing the edge into Kai’s face. The blow should have sliced straight through him, but as it struck, darkness writhed around Kai’s body, absorbing the killing intent of the blow even as Kai went flying across the room.
As Kai skidded across the ground, Raiden pointed the dragon blade at him and unleashed another blast of lightning. Electricity tore from the sky, slamming into Kai. Arcs of electricity leapt across his flesh, but as before, the darkness kept most of the damage at bay.
/> Raiden sucked in a breath, his chest heaving, and as he did, Shota raised his kusarigama and unleashed hell. Fire rained from the sky, once again engulfing Kai, but even as the stones melted and the room flared like a dying sun, I could tell it didn’t matter.
As the blaze died away, Kai chuckled darkly. He got to his feet without a care in the world and then very intentionally put his weight on his ruined knee—it was already healed.
“Not good enough. Not by a longshot.”
Raiden’s eyes narrowed as he pointed his sword at Kai. “Stop, Kai. You aren’t good enough to beat me on your own.” He spat. “You never were. Not then and not now.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Kai said slowly, lifting his hands. “I won last time.”
Kai lifted a hand toward the sky, gathering tendrils of darkness around it. The darkness swirled into a pitch-black katana that seemed to suck all the light from the room into it. He whipped it through the air, and tendrils of black ink trailed from the blade as he strode forward.
“Siding with darkness isn’t going to help you,” Raiden said right before Kai struck again. Raiden sidestepped, moving out of the blade’s reach before lunging in and jabbing Kai in the stomach with the point of his dragon blade. But the attack didn’t affect Kai, and worse, it left Raiden’s side exposed.
“I’ve got you,” Kai crowed, swinging his blade back around to end the fight. But before it could connect, Shota whipped one hand up, brandishing an ofuda. A blast of superheated steam exploded from the paper, catching Kai in the face.
Kai staggered back, his screams mingling with the sound of searing flesh, but Shota didn’t stop there. He lashed out once again with his kusarigama, wrapping the flaming chain around Kai’s sword and jerking him forward. Despite his sword turning molten hot, Kai held it fast even as he lost his balance and toppled forward.
Raiden took a deep breath, pushing himself back into the fight and summoning more lightning to his sword. He flung the crackling energy at Kai. The bolt slammed into Kai in a burst of snapping electricity, sending him skidding across the ground.
