Ushio & Tora Fan Fiction ❯ The I Of the Beholder ❯ Bindings and Illusions ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: You all know the drill----- the monster is mine, but
nobody else is! The rest all belong to Kazuhiro Fujita, who is a
fiendishly evil plotter and actually one of the Secret Masters of
Fandom (now THERE's an old reference for you). Ahem. Don't sue me.

And, just to let you know..... the origin of the Beast Spear (as told
herein) is DIRECTLY from the pages of the manga! Right from the
horse's mouth..... I figured, 'Hey, why not?' So there you go. I left
out the smaller details (like WHY U & T ended up 2,000 years in the
past and all that), but it is correct in the basics. Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Bindings and Illusions

Red is the color of warning.

Red lights mean 'stop', red cones on a road mean 'beware', red flames
mean 'burning'...... Red means keep-away, go-no-further, watch-out,
be-afraid.

And the red blood inside? It means all of these things, when released.
*Especially* 'stop'.

***************************************

The ancient bakemono *roared* as he burst through the jagged doorway
to the old shrine, eyes burning white. His talons were outstretched
eagerly to rend and tear the thing that was winding its way through
the gate like some sort of hell-spun tangle of scarlet yarn.
"RRRRRRRHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHH!!!" he screamed, hatred
shattering the air.

Tora had something *special* planned for THIS enemy; it had *hurt*
him!

As Asako stumbled to the old shrine entrance, he began; clearing the
scarlet drifts of mouths and eyes in a single leap, he barred the way
out, laughing harshly. Then, hissing like rain on a forge the monster
raised his huge hands high, lightning crackling from talon-tip to
talon-tip--- lightning that behaved as no lightning should. This time,
rather than exploding outwards, it.... RAN. It trickled in electric
eye-watering streams down the length of his arms, across his body,
quivering like a live thing from the tip of every hair until Tora was
sheathed in fire, wrapped in a second skin of white-hot, shining
death.

He could *HURT* the Donshoku now---- and, from the way it dodged his
first strike, it knew it. It wheeled in the air, scarlet tentacles
whipping angrily about, mouths snapping and shrilling their fury.
Shigure shouted something unintelligible from the main shrine steps,
flinging something overhead towards the gate: a dorje, impaling a
single ofuda. The seal smacked into the wood, binding the Donshoku
in-----

Tora laughed again, deep and wicked, each tooth sparking with fire. He
looked impossibly huge, every hair standing out straight and stiff
with current; his claws were lightning themselves as he raked them
along a curling arm, which reared back in pain before wrapping around
his wrist. The bakemono howled in turn as red blood arced out in a
glittering spray..... Beyond him, the priest took careful aim with his
dorje, sending one shooting across the yard to impact on a single
gleaming eye. The thing screeched in a dozen voices, slashing at him;
he cried out as blood bloomed across his leg--- he hadn't been quite
fast enough to avoid the edge of a gaping mouth. Shrilling with this
new taste, the Donshoku surged forward.....

..... only to be blocked by a lightning-bright handful of claws. Tora
growled something hissing and dripping with menace, something in a
dialect so old that even Shigure couldn't quite understand it; the
beast spread his arms wide, gathering power, gathering power,
releasing it-----

"KA-BOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!"

The air was rent apart, ripping like silk in a terrific cataclysm of
sundered substance; an echoing roll of thunder shivered through the
yard, rattling the tiles on the roofs. The Donshoku seemed to.....
*dance*, quivering apart into particles of scarlet, tongues of angry
red fire..... and then to reform, darker red than before. Its eyes
were wide, glowing; each mouth gaped and hissed, shrill whines of
hatred promising anguish and extinguishment.

And then it seemed to pause, to turn; it had seen Asako, half-hiding
at the edge of the old shrine, her hands covering her mouth. She was
staring in terror at her nightmare, the thing that ate souls and
wanted HERS as it gathered itself up to charge. A crackle of lightning
distracted it for a moment, and Asako unfroze enough to thud past at a
dead run towards Shigure; he moved aside just enough to allow her to
streak past, readying another dorje for throwing.

As she skidded into the shrine, something occurred to her: running in
wet shoes across a smooth wooden floor tends to bring about only one
result..... CRASH! She landed in an ungainly sprawl atop Ushio's
juzu-wrapped form. Groaning, Asako began to pick herself up, but
Shigure wheeled around and hissed "STAY THERE!! You'll be safer there
than out here, child!" as he threw something hard, "Thwack!" at the
floor by her foot.

The girl froze as bright, flickering lines of blue fire snapped into
place running from dorje to dorje, surrounding herself and the
Spearbearer in a square of neon light; flailing back from this, she
felt her hand smack down on something COLD-----

----- and caught the briefest glimpse of what she was gripping as she
turned to look, just before her limbs flooded with a chill numbness:
the Spear.....

Then everything, the shrine, Shigure, the battle--- everything was
lost in a rush of blackness as Asako fell down out of the world.

***************************************

Time passed..... or maybe it didn't. You have to be able to be
*within* the realm of time for it to pass. And still she fell.

***************************************

Darkness and darkness and darkness, cold as a metal blade.

How far can you fall before falling ends and flight begins? Asako knew
she was still falling, but it felt almost as she was frozen in place,
arms outstretched. She had lost the worst of her fear by now; it had
seemed..... pointless, being afraid. You could only sustain terror for
so long before it just sort of wore away under the relentless passing
of time. Like trying to scream--- after a bit, you ran out of air;
after a while, you realized that screaming served no purpose other
than that of blocking out what was terrifying you in the first place.

So she fell. Or flew--- she was going *someplace,* she was certain of
that.

To Ushio-kun, maybe? Far, far below she could see a spark, a glimmer
of fire; it shone like a single star in an empty universe, drawing her
eyes (if she *had* eyes--- hadn't she left her body behind or
something like that?). Was he down there, or over there, or wherever
the hell the spark was?

She sure hoped so. Asako crossed her arms as she fell, staring fixedly
out into the darkness, frowning.

In fact, there were *several* things she found herself hoping for. For
instance, a chance of stopping in her flight or fall or whatever this
was before she went SPLAT would be nice----- Especially since the
spark seemed to be getting closer really, *really* fast-----

She was (she thought) falling head downwards; it was hard to tell.
*Well.... maybe I can slow myself if I spread my arms out wider----
no, Asako, you idiot, there's nothing to slow yourself WITH. You're
inside the Kemono No Yari, remember? No air, no gravity, no arms or
body for that matter..... This is all metaphysical or symbolic or
something stupid like that.*

It didn't feel metaphysical; it felt like falling. And pretty soon now
it was going to feel like LANDING-----

----- and then, suddenly as a heart attack, she was there. No jolt, no
pain, no 'splat'. Just..... there.

On a street, cracked cobblestones underfoot in full sunlight, walls
and buildings and people all about her. Asako blinked and blinked in
shock, wavering in her tracks (she was standing upright?!? How had
THAT happened?!?) as, with a determined cluck-cluck-squawk, a chicken
ran directly in front of her. An ordinary chicken, just like any
other; it was pursued a moment later by a small, laughing boy,
definitely Asian in features but not wearing anything particularly
identifiable, just some sort of patched-looking tunic---- WHERE THE
HELL WAS SHE?!? What had happened to the *falling* bit?

She was in a market.

A sort of old, rural-looking market, with tile-roofed stone buildings
and stalls made entirely of wood and cloth, thronged with people
jabbering away in some dialect that sounded vaguely familiar but
wasn't understandable. Asako watched bemusedly as people straight out
of a World History documentary went past, talking and carrying bales
and bundles, driving pigs and goats, dressed in robes and skirts
and--- and why weren't they paying attention to her? No one was even
looking.....

So many people, passing her by as if she were a ghost. Old men, young
women in shawls, kids---- there was even a guy in some sort of---
armor?--- riding a horse over there by what looked like a city
wall..... Asako wheeled around, staring; *well, whatever I expected to
find inside the Spear, THIS wasn't it,* she thought with a certain
apprehension.

What next?

It was kind of ludicrous, really; Asako could feel panic beginning to
spiral upwards, riding the rising uncertainty and worry in her heart.
She hadn't planned on falling into the Spear or whatever she had
done----- it had just happened. And now here she was, stuck inside
some sort of ancient city and no-one seemed to be able to see her, and
outside of this that hideous monster was probably EATING her
body--------

"Asako......? Hey---- Asako?"

----- and she spun around, snapping "WHAT?!?" before her eyes could
really register what they were seeing:

Ushio-kun. Leaning against the city wall, arms crossed. Looking
*ridiculously* glad to see her, with that huge grin on his face that
she had always secretly loved.

Ushio-kun. Asako stumbled forward, barely aware that *she* was passing
through the crowd like a ghost----- and then he was holding her
tightly for a long moment, his hands on her back, her head against his
shoulder.....

He felt so good. His hands were strong, and his touch was real, not
something imagined. To hell with the
being-out-of-your-body-and-inside-the-Spear idea, the feeling of his
body in her arms was *real.*

In her arms..... Oh. They both broke apart at the same moment; Asako
could feel herself flushing somewhat with embarrassment, but somehow
she just didn't care quite as much as she usually would. Ushio looked
a little red about the ears too----- Well, never mind that; she'd deal
with it later. Right now----

Right now she wanted to do one thing in particular. Asako planted a
hand on each of her friend's shoulders and *shook* him, hard. He
staggered slightly back as she let go, and she faced him down
fiercely. "Ushio-kun, what the *hell* do you mean by worrying
everybody like this?!? We've been fighting for our lives while you
stayed safe and sound here inside the Spear? What kind of hero does
that, huh? Idiot! All this time we've been...." She continued on in
this theme for a few minutes, while Ushio just stood there taking it
all in, his eyes large. Gradually Asako ran out of steam, slowing to a
grouchy silence..... She stood there for a moment, trying to frown
angrily; but the frown had defects built into it from the beginning,
and they finally took their toll as her face quivered, drew itself up,
and then broke into laughter.

And Ushio just stood there, grinning from ear to ear. This *was*
Asako, after all; if she hadn't been mad at him, it wouldn't have been
Asako.

Finally she brushed strands of hair back from her eyes, blinking. "Um,
Ushio--- It's not that I'm *complaining*, but-----?" she said,
gesturing at the buildings and people around her. "--- where are we? I
mean..... I don't know what the inside of the Spear is *supposed* to
look like, but, um....." Asako raised one eyebrow, trying to seem as
calm as possible.

Inside, though, some part of her was still busy just being happy that
she had found him.

Ushio shrugged a little, leaning back once again against the wall
behind him. "So you know that we're in the Spear? Huh; that'll help
some....." He sighed, his dark eyes shadowing as he looked out over
the market. "This place..... Well, it isn't *really* a place, you
know; it's sort of a memory, I guess." The Spearbearer ran one hand
through his tousled black hair;

Asako noticed for the first time that it was short, not long; he
looked human, too, not..... And where was the Spear?

Oh; all around them, of course..... What had he said? A 'memory'? She
cocked her head to one side curiously. "Whose memory?"

He drew a deep breath, his head turning to look out the open city
gates towards the plain and the hills beyond. "The..... spirit inside
the Spear's. The maker of the Spear's memory. *I* remember, too. It
was just like this-----"

For a moment a look of infinite sadness crossed Ushio's face, a sorrow
so profound that he seemed almost unable to express it in words. Then
he looked back at Asako and sighed. "I guess you should hear about
him, and how the Spear got made; maybe it'll make some sense of all
this." And he laughed ruefully; "Who knows? Maybe *you* can figure
some way for us to get out of this mess--- I'm all out of ideas. And
you can tell *me* what's been happening--- I've kinda been out of the
loop. C'mon." He caught her hand in his, then paused, reddening a
little. But Asako just linked her fingers in his, smiling a little
inwardly. They began walking through the crowd, carefully skirting the
busy, ghostly throng that passed them by unnoticing.

***************************************

"It was a long, long time ago, you know," said Ushio softly, stopping
for a moment before they crossed through the city gates; he looked
back towards the market, staring at a huge building in the distance;
some sort of palace, perhaps..... Asako looked behind her at the
building, then at her friend's face. "Ushio-kun..... you don't have to
talk about it if you don't want to....." He turned back towards her at
that, shaking his head. "Uh uh; it's just that--- it's, well, kind of
hard. Even though it happened so long ago....." They began to walk
again, passing through the gates and crossing carefully through the
people that streamed forward on all sides.

He sighed. "Where we are..... This is China, two thousand years or so
ago." Asako blinked at that, but kept silent. "The big shot back there
in that palace had this premonition or dream or whatever that this
huge monster was going to come and destroy everything here. Well--- he
was right about that..... Anyway, he *also* had this idea about some
sort of magical weapon that could be made to defeat the monster. So he
had all the local smiths put to work making the best weapons that they
could." Ushio was quiet for a moment, his face distant. "There were
these two smiths, a father and a son..... They were really good, and
they got working on a weapon. Problem was, everything that they
made----- well, all the weapons were great, but they were just
ordinary. But they made the best one they could, and on the day that
the bigshot had said was the deadline, they took it to the palace
along with all the other smiths and *their* weapons."

Now he looked down as they walked; his fingers were still linked with
Asako's, and she could feel his heart beating in his palm. Why, she
wondered, could she feel him so--- so *physically*, if they were
supposed to be out of their bodies? She supposed it was just one of
those things..... They had passed beyond the city's structures now,
and were following a dirt track that veered away from the main road
and slanted towards a nearby range of hills. Asako narrowed her eyes a
bit; was that a house in the distance?

Beside her Ushio spoke again, his voice low and hesitant. "The older
smith--- he had a wife, this really great woman. She was so kind.....
Asako, I wish you could've met her." He smiled a little to himself;
"She was, well, kind of like what I always thought my mom would've
been like..... You know, really caring and all that. And she had a
daughter, named Jieme."

He was silent again; when he spoke next, his voice was unexpectedly
gentle. "Jieme----- Asako, you would recognize Jieme. She looked
exactly like Mayuko." The girl turned to stare at him, not quite
certain what he was saying. He shrugged; "I don't know *why* they
looked so much alike, not all the details..... but she did. She was a
*lot* like her..... Maybe a little older. And she was----- she went
and----" Ushio's voice broke unexpectedly, and he stopped in his
tracks, staring at the ground. Asako was startled to see a single tear
beginning to trace its way down his cheek; she touched it gently with
her fingertip. "Ushio?" Her hand lingered on his cheek.

He wiped the droplet away and then looked straight at her, pain in his
dark eyes. Funny; somehow she had never really paid attention to how
much those eyes could hold..... They were like cups, brimming with
emotion. Most of the guys that she knew would rather cut their throats
than show what they were feeling (or at least, that's how it seemed at
school); but right now-----

He took a deep breath, looking back up at the hills beyond. "The
monster that the weapons were supposed to fight----- It was hiding in
the bigshot's court, among his, um, wives. It was pretty damned
hideous--- big white thing, huge, sort of like what you'd get if you
crossed a dragon with a fox, made it a hundred feet long, and gave it
nine tails." Asako struggled with this concept for a moment, then
passed it off. She'd think about it later. "Anyway, it..... destroyed
the palace, the bigshot, the weapons, and just about all of the city.
Only a few people survived..... The smith's wife died, and so did the
smith. But his son--- Giryou--- survived, and Jieme did too."

Ushio stopped walking again, closing his eyes; the girl could tell
that he had come to the crux of the matter. "Ushio..... how do you
know all this?" He opened his eyes and smiled a little weakly at her.
"Hey, you wouldn't *believe* where I've been since I got the
Spear..... I was here for all this; it's kind of complicated, but Tora
and I..... We were sent back in time to see this. We had to be here,
y'see." For a moment he bowed his head, a look of anguish crossing his
face. "We were in the palace when it was destroyed; I--- Asako, it was
horrible. Horrible."

They stood there for a few minutes; far overhead a pair of swallows
swooped and dived, their calls the only sound besides the wind.

"The smith's son, Giryou..... he was a pretty damned good smith
himself. But he was in shock after the attack, and I don't think he
was really sane anymore. I mean, he saw both of his parents cut down
before his eyes..... And Jieme was in pretty bad shape too. It was
weird, though; she was so calm. It was like she *knew* what was going
to happen, *knew* what she had to do." He drew another deep breath and
they walked further along.

"I had been staying with them--- hell, I practically landed on their
doorstep when I arrived in the past, and I helped 'em out with a
monster. I didn't have the Spear----- it hadn't been *made* yet-----
but I did pretty good." He smiled sadly to himself. "I remember....
they used the Chinese form of 'Aotsuki'; they used to call me
'Tsuanyue'..... That night, after I made sure Jieme was as comfortable
as possible, I went looking for Giryou. And I found him. He was in the
forge, and..... he'd pretty much lost his mind. He was beating his
fists against the anvil----- See, he *knew* a way to make the weapon
that was needed to kill the monster, but there was this one little
catch....."

Unnoticed, his fingers tightened their grip on Asako's hand. He spoke
carefully, almost tonelessly. "There had been this legendary smith
from a long time before that had made a bell that would repel demons.
But to make the bell, somebody had to die. That was part of it; you
had to have somebody willing to *die* to make it strong enough. So the
old smith's wife---- she----" He stopped for a moment. When he
continued, his voice was oddly casual. "You ever seen an old-time
forge, Asako? I don't mean something you'd use to shoe a horse with or
anything like that; I mean one where you melted down a lot of ore,
something that could make a *lot* of molten metal all at once.....
They look like big brick boxes with open tops, about six feet tall or
so; you have a really hot coal-fire burning inside it all around the
edges, and the ore is put in the hollow inside. It melts sooner or
later, and then you've got this huge pool of molten metal inside it,
about six feet across and just as deep..... There's a place at the
bottom of the forge where the smith gets the metal out. So----- so
this legendary smith needed a sacrifice to make his demon-repelling
bell, and his wife..... well, she threw herself into the forge."

Asako stopped dead still, not letting go of Ushio's hand. He stopped
too, looking back at her. For a long minute there was no sound again
save for the birds and the wind. Then the Spearbearer tugged gently
and they began walking again. His voice was very quiet, steadier now.

"Giryou told me the story about the legendary smith and his bell and
his wife's sacrifice, and I--- I couldn't say anything. Not that it
would've made any damned difference, 'cause Jieme had followed me into
the forge and had heard everything." He laughed a little, bitterly.
"We were sitting there, not saying a word, and then we both turned
around and there was Jieme, standing way up there on the edge of the
forge."

Silence. Asako turned to look at his profile as this sank in.
"Ushio..... you don't mean she---- oh, no way, she *didn't*---"

Ushio kept walking, trudging towards the hills. When he spoke again,
his voice was very calm, very matter-of-fact. "Oh yes she did. She had
heard the whole thing..... and you know? I think somehow she knew what
to do anyway. We both tried to stop her, but she just said that the
weapon had to be made--- that the world would be better for it. And
then she just smiled at us..... and she-----"

He stopped. So did Asako. Neither said anything for a very long
moment, but Ushio's grip was painfully tight. And Asako would not have
let go for the world.

"Asako..... I tried to save her. I really tried! But I wasn't fast
enough--- I just couldn't----" he broke off, a thin trickle of sweat
running down the side of his temple. "She..... went into the forge.
And her brother, well, he *really* lost it then. That was the last
straw. And there was nothing I could do but sit there and watch.....
After a while he just started working, making the weapon. He was--- I
don't know, he was *way* past being in shock by now; it was like there
was nothing else in the world LEFT for him but to make this weapon."

"He said--- he said that, since there were demons everywhere..... He
would be a demon to them."

"So he made the spear-head, and it was perfect. But he kept hammering,
and then--- I don't really know how to explain this bit, but he
started sort of *merging* with the spearhead, and he..... "

"He became the Kemono No Yari."

They had reached the treeline at the base of the hills now, and they
stopped. Ushio was gazing up at the thatched house on the hillside
above with a look of terrible sadness in his eyes. He took a ragged
breath. "This was their house..... that's the forge up there. I'd
guess that's where Giryou is right now--- it's where he *always* is;
and I suppose that's where *we'll* have to go to get back to the real
world..... Asako, he's not really very sane, you know. All the power
in the Spear comes from what he and Jieme did, how the Spear was made,
and what people like me give up to the Spear when we use it--- parts
of our souls, I guess; it *all* boils down to sacrifices. But.....
I've seen him a time or two since he became the Spear, and he's hard
to communicate with; there's no telling what's going to be happening
inside the forge when we go in there. I mean, he might be----- Asako?
Hey, *Asako?*"

She kept her face turned away, saying nothing. Ushio tentatively laid
his hand gently on her shoulder; she turned back towards him a little,
looking down towards the ground.

"Ushio..... I didn't know. About the Spear, I mean. If I had known it
was going to hurt you so much to talk about it----" She stopped at
that; this was Ushio-kun, and it was hard to break the rules. She
understood those rules--- they were the unwritten ones, the important
ones like: Thou Shalt Not Show Any Real Affection For Ushio; or Thou
Shalt Fight With Him Before Getting Too Close. Breaking them.... made
her heart hurt.

But maybe it was time to break some rules. Those rules had been made
(in a totally nonverbal way, of course) when they were younger;
now..... maybe it was time for a change.

He was looking at her again, really *looking* at her, and those dark
eyes were so gentle..... so sad. He was always laughing, always making
fun of things: of her, of Tora, of the whole world. How long had that
sadness been there under the laughter? And now Ushio was just smiling
kind of crookedly, like always. Just shaking his head and taking her
hand back in his again. Funny; he didn't blush this time.

The boy--- the young man--- sighed, glancing back up at the small
thatched house up the hill. "Never mind; it's OK--- you needed to know
what you'd be going into. Howzabout you tell *me* a little about
what's been going on before we head up there? Remember, the last *I*
knew, me and Tora were fighting that thing in the hills. He could
smell your scent, so I knew you were there...... Hell; I don't even
know where my BODY is!!" He cocked an eyebrow at her, that same rather
goofy smile back on his face again.

That was okay; she understood. It looked like they both knew that it
was time to change the rules--- and they wouldn't say any of the *new*
ones out loud, either. Making up those new ones would be.....
interesting.....

Asako settled down on a rock, sighed, and began: "Ushio-kun, you're an
idiot. Well, first off, that 'thing' is called the Seki Donshoku Mono,
and it nearly ate your soul....."

***************************************

"Shit. "

Well, that pretty much summed things up. Ushio sat beside Asako, chin
propped on hand; his brow was furrowed as he thought hard about the
situation in what they both had started calling the Real World. He
glanced over at her, his dark eyes questioning. She had slid down to
sit cross-legged on the grassy turf with her back against the stone,
and she stared out over the plain back towards the city gates off in
the distance.

She hadn't *quite* told him everything; something (common sense,
probably) had made her 'edit' the transaction between Tora and
herself----- Asako was quite certain that a full disclosure of *that*
little matter would lead to one very unhappy bakemono. Why, she asked
herself, did she care what happened to Tora? Well..... She couldn't
really say; she just did. It was funny how your feelings could change
so quickly, like a leaf flipping over in the wind.

That thought made her glance up at Ushio, and she had a smile. Yeah,
it was a funny thing.

Suddenly she felt a 'clunk' on her forehead; her friend had reached
out and thumped her gently with his knuckles. "Hey----- Earth to
Asako-kun. You gonna sit and stare at me all day or what? We need to
get moving." He stood, turning to look up at the thatched building
above them.

"Yeah, I guess we do. Can't keep monsters waiting, can we?" She stood
and stretched, brushing bits of grass from the seat of her jeans. A
thought occurred to her then; "Um, Ushio? If we're not really in our
bodies, why do I feel so, so *real*? I mean, I don't feel ANY
different! I thought I'd feel, I don't know..... sort of spiritual or
something? Having to dust off my butt isn't very spiritual....."

He grimaced, then shrugged; "No idea. I've been here before---- inside
the Spear, I mean----- and it was different. It was all black, for one
thing, and I wasn't wearing anything..... I guess I was just a soul or
something like that." He paused for a second, looking over one
shoulder to take in the wide view of grassy plain, city and sky. He
turned, beginning to climb up the short path to the buildings above;
Asako moved up to climb behind him. "Maybe it has something to do with
the Donshoku" she suggested, thinking idly that Ushio really looked
pretty good from behind. She caught herself up with a jerk after a
moment, sputtering mentally at her own thoughts. This was *no* time
for that sort of thing! But he *did*......

Oblivious to her mental confusion, he continued climbing. "Maybe. I
remember Tora saying something about it hunting people through their
dreams. You said that my Dad mentioned something about mirrors?"

Asako slid a little on the rocky path, then recovered. "Yeah; he said
that we have to trap it in a reflective surface of some kind, and that
it would keep coming after us until we did." She shivered, but
continued climbing. Ushio glanced back at her, his expressive eyes
catching the look of apprehension on her own face. "One thing at a
time, Asako-kun; one thing at a time. Let's get out of here first." He
hauled himself up the last steep incline and stopped, staring at the
yard before him. "..... It's just like it was when I was here
before....."

The girl climbed up to stand beside him. The yard was small, dusty; a
stone well stood to one side with the bucket lying on the ground
beside it. Beyond the rise of ground the small house had a strangely
occupied air, as if its owners had just stepped out and would be right
back any moment; chickens clucked and scratched in the dirt before the
steps.

And beyond *that* stood the forge. It was a small building, not very
impressive. But..... Asako hung back for a moment; it looked so
*lonely*, so peculiarly dark there..... The door was half-ajar and she
could see not light beyond it, could hear no sound. But Ushio-kun was
moving towards it, a determined set to his jaw. She stepped up to walk
beside him, taking his hand in her own as unobtrusively as possible.

His palms were sweating. He could feel it too, that lonliness. He
pushed the door further open.....

Blackness, like a pool of ink, like the inside of a stone; they were
supposed to walk into *that?* Asako swallowed and looked at Ushio. For
a moment it seemed as if she could see his Spearbearer-face overlaying
his human one like a shadow, the eyes hard and feral and bright. Then
that passed, and the two of them stepped forward into the darkness.

***************************************

..... cold, it was COLD, as cold as the blade of the Spear had been;
Asako gripped Ushio's hand tightly as a spreading numbness seemed to
drain most of the feeling from her skin. And it was so dark; nothing
to see, nothing to walk on, no path to follow..... nothing but that
faint spark off in the distance, wavering red-gold-white flicker of a
distant fire. And the ringing noise; a sharp, high sound, the sounds
of metal on metal.

It was a long walk; she could feel nothing except for the touch of
Ushio's hand on hers, not even when she reached up to push her hair
back from her face; nothing. She had wondered why she hadn't felt more
'spiritual' if she was out of her body, hadn't she? Well, now she had
an inkling of what that felt like. It felt like nothing.

And the sounds went on, clanging rhythmically through the darkness,
growing louder.

They were almost there (wherever 'there' was); she could begin to make
out details. The light *was* that of fire, but it seemed to be coming
in.... jets? Like you'd get from a blowtorch? And there was a figure,
hunched over, working on..... something. Something long and
red-silver, burning in the darkness.....

The Kemono No Yari. The Spear's blade lay against the man's knees as
he brought his hammer down, "CLANG!!", a long gush of brilliant flame
streaming from his mouth to heat the blade again.....

His face----- that was the most terrible part. He was weeping; tears
of blood streaked his cheeks, ran down his face and dripped off into
the darkness which (Asako was suddenly certain) was surely made up
mostly of his tears. And his eyes were terrible; burning, burning,
hotter than the fires that he used to continually heat the blade of
his forging, dreadful eyes filled with a grief that surpassed
*anything* anyone should ever, ever have to bear. Asako watched,
beyond horror, as he brought the hammer down again: "CLANG!!"

For a second she faltered, turning to hide her face against Ushio's
shoulder. But she was Asako; so, ashamed of her moment of weakness,
she straightend, looking back at the smith. He paid them no attention,
just continued on with his terrible forging, gripping the cherry-red
metal in his bare hands. "CLANG!!" It was like a heartbeat.

Tentatively they approached him. Ushio, his face barely outlined in
the changing red light said softly "Giryou-sama?" Then, when no
response was forthcoming, "Smith? It's me..... Tsuanyue. Do you
remember me?"

"CLANG!!" Silence. Then..... "I remember you, boy. I know you." The
smith's voice was unexpectedly soft, barely there; yet it raised
echoes and shivers of sound in the lonely darkness around them,
resonating harshly. "You are one of mine."

Ushio's eyes were fixed on the terrible face before him. "Yeah..... I
am." He sighed, a sad sound. "Giryou-sama? Can you send us back? We
need to return to our bodies----- there's a fight going on-----"

"CLANG!!" The smith turned the Spear's blade over; another gust of
flame poured over it, heating the edges to a paler red. "Why? If you
go, you'll just die. Everything dies....." The pain in the soft, weary
voice was hot enough to melt stone.

The Spearbearer's voice hardened. "Why?!? Because that's what I *DO*,
Giryou! Did you make the Kemono No Yari so people like me could just
give up? You made me what I *am*, Smith!!"

At that the burning eyes turned to look at him for the first time;
Asako caught her breath at the lack of sanity there. No, not a lack;
it was more like what you might find if you passed through madness and
came out the other side..... something altogether above and beyond
insanity. She gripped Ushio's hand tightly, clearing her throat.
"Giryou-sama..... Please."

For a moment Giryou's gaze fixed on her; a halo of fire seemed to
flare around the smith, illuminating the darkness around them.
"Girl..... You know nothing of this. You should not even be here! I do
not know you..... Why are you here?"

Asako swallowed hard. "I'm with your Spearbearer; I'm one of the
people he protects. He told me about you, and about your sister.
Please, send us back! People will die--- some have already died! If we
can get back to our bodies we can help-----"

But his attention was wavering; the moment of clarity was fading with
the aura of fire. The shadows crept back to engulf the smith, only
receeding a little as he brought his hammer down again in a flash of
fire: "CLANG!!" Asako felt Ushio's hand grip hers cruelly tight.

Speaking quietly, desperately, the boy said at last: "Giryou-sama.....
Would your *sister* want us to give up?"

Silence, then a dreadful, echoing whisper. "..... *What* did you say,
boy?"

Ushio stepped forward, pulling Asako behind him; his eyes were fixed
intently on the Smith's face. "You heard me. We were both there when
she gave everything she had so that *this*----" and he pointed at the
weapon "----- could be made." The boy knelt beside Giryou, not quite
touching. "Are you going to waste what she did?!?"

They crouched there, the both of them, for an endless moment; Asako
stood over them in silent witness. If she was breathing she couldn't
feel it; if her heart was beating, she couldn't hear it. There was
only the crackle of flames and the scent of burning.

Finally the Smith turned his gaze back to the Spear's blade where it
lay cooling. "Go, then. Go away and let me be. Fight your battles." As
Ushio slowly stood he brought the hammer down again: "CLANG!!" Far
away in the distance a single point of white light flickered,
glimmered, then held steady. "That is your door. Go back to the world
and be my tool again, boy..... just like all the others that came
before you." For a moment Giryou's pain burned through as raw as
before in his words, but silence swallowed up the echoes.

Asako pulled Ushio to his feet. They backed away, bowing; the Smith
paid them no attention; his eyes were all for the weapon that he had
been forging over and over for two thousand years, created endlessly
from his own obsessed will and the souls of all those who had become
his. But as Asako and Ushio began to move away, he spoke: "Tsuanyue."
The name was nearly inaudible, a mere brush of echoes. The boy paused.
"..... yes, Giryou-sama?"

"..... Be careful. What you face----- if it cannot harm your body, it
seeks out your dreams. It tried to catch me up in mine, giving my old
world back to me as a lure..... But I have no dreams anymore, only
memories; and so it could not take me. But beware....." The Smith
brought his hammer down hard, turning the blade again. "CLANG!!"

Ushio was silent, ducking his head a little; Asako could just make out
his profile against the redness of the forging. "Yeah, I will,
Giryou-sama. And..... thank you."

The Smith laughed briefly, the ragged, soft sound worse than weeping.
"'Thank you'? You are a fool, Tsuanyue, even more than most of my
tools were." And then he turned back to his endless work, ignoring
them.

The two bowed again, then turned to walk through the blackness towards
the spark of light. Behind them they could hear the hammer come down
once more.

They walked in silence; as they approached the light, it widened and
took shape: tall, pointed, triangular..... Asako shivered a little,
recognizing the shape. Of course it was the Spear's blade; how not?
She turned to Ushio, still holding his hand tightly. In the silvery
glow she could see him clearly now and his face was that of the
Spearbearer, not the human boy she had grown up with; his long, long
hair trailed down around him and his eyes reflected back the
illumination, blindingly blue-purple.

The shining traced the lines of his jaw, the angle of his cheekbones;
he looked..... feral, like something out of an old tale, not like the
boy she had always known. He looked..... wild. In a moment they would
step through, back to the real world and the battle there; but first
she had something she wanted to do. She might not have a chance
later.....

Asako could feel the old Rules trying to hold her back, keeping her
frozen in embarassment; to hell with them. She reached up and touched
his cheek with one hand. "Ushio-kun..... Ushio?" He turned his lambent
eyes towards her then, and she kissed him.

It was very quick, a half-frightened brush of her lips on his; but she
could feel him the same way she could feel his fingers tightening
where they gripped hers: warmth in the cold darkness. He stared at
her; they were nearly the same height. "...... Asako? Why did you do
that...?" The words were faint, barely there.

She ducked her head, staring at the blackness beneath her feet.
"I----- wanted to; I just did. I don't know what we're going to go
back to, so..... I guess I'm an idiot. But I wanted to do this before
we went back, just in case-----." Asako sighed, feeling a little sad.
She supposed that she shouldn't have done that, but..... Then she felt
his fingers under her chin, raising her head so that she looked her
friend straight in the eye. He was smiling, and there was something
new in that smile..... something that had *nothing* to do with the old
Rules. It made her heart catch somewhere in her, made her breath stop
in her throat.

Very hesitantly Ushio leaned forward; Asako's eyes widened as he
kissed her gently. His lips were warm against hers, and she could see
that he had closed his own eyes; his touch made something shiver
through her, bringing back a momentary wash of feeling throughout
whatever was passing for her body. Ushio drew back; his slit pupils
were dialated in the silvery brilliance, his expression softened,
wondering.

He took a rather ragged breath then, running one hand through his long
hair; he looked a little shaken. Had her kiss made *him* shiver?
Maybe..... "Um, Asako----- we need to go. I mean, I'd like to----- uh,
I mean I want to see where this is going and all, but----" She stopped
him, one finger against his lips. "It's okay, Ushio. I know what you
mean. Maybe we'll get the chance to..... later. Let's just *survive*
this first."

"But..... I'm glad I did that."

He darted a glance at her; he was smiling still, that new smile,
strange and wonderful. "Yeah. Me too....." Ushio stepped towards the
silver luminescense, still holding Asako's hand. She walked with him,
step for step, and they passed from the darkness into the light......

****************************************************** ****************
****************************************************** ************

Aaaaand..... yet another cliffhanger. C'mon y'all, review! (I write
faster if you review..... =^_^=)...... Ysabet, grinning a lot