Ushio & Tora Fan Fiction ❯ The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch ❯ Chapter 6

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Jaws That Bite, the Claws That Catch
Chapter VI of VI
By Ysabet
Imagine a bell made of iron ringing inside spheres of fractured
crystal; imagine that tone shivering its way up through flesh and
bone, through the living lightning-storm of nerve and synapse. Imagine
the Kemono No Yari calling to its bearer.
The wind whispered across the marsh grass, rippling the brackish water
of the canals; every bird was silent--- no other sound broke the quiet
that had settled over the afternoon landscape but the scrape of reed
against reed.
Except one: If you listened carefully, you could hear the faint sound
of flies buzzing on the stained earth behind two bakemonotachi and one
human woman.
Ushio stood rooted to the spot; Tora was staring past him with teeth
ever-so-slightly bared, sharp tips showing. His silver eyes narrowed
against the westering sun and his tail twitched in quick, nervous
flicks; however, when he spoke, the monster's tone was at its most
casual.
"Ahhhhhhrrrrrrrr......... we arrived to find the mistress of the house
gone. Should we come back some other time, then?"
Ushio turned slowly, slowly in place; behind him, no more than eight
or nine meters away, crouched the water youkai in a stand of reeds. If
possible, she was uglier than he remembered her to be:
unselfconsciously naked, slimy green-white, her withered dugs hanging
like empty leather sacks against her skinny ribs. One eyelid was
shrunken in her pallid face but the other eye shone like a baleful
moon deep in its socket. She brought long talons up to comb through
the wet tendrils of her scraggly hair, smiling and displaying a
disturbing number of needle-like yellowed teeth; the motion drew the
Spearbearer's eyes.
Those talons had killed his human self. Or very nearly.
And now that he got a better look at them, he could see why. They
hooked back onto themselves, like edged fish-hooks or jointing knives.
No wonder they had torn-------- *Oh, God........*
He could feel Mayuko flattening herself against his back as instinct
took over, the instinct of prey confronted with a predator. His own
instincts were a little confused; after all, he had *been* prey, but
now..... The water-youkai's scent, though; that wasn't confusing at
all: blood and fishscales, cold water and carrion--- it made the
Spearbearer's lips draw back, made his own talons twitch and curl
inwards to press against his black palms untile the blood ran.
She answered Tora then, and her voice was cold and hissing.
"Sssssooooo..... At lassst sssome of the localsss have deigned to
visssit. Sssshould I have provided refressshhments, Creature? Or have
you brought your own? How very nicssssssse." She laughed, single eye
flashing cold; if a snake could laugh, thought Ushio, it would sound
like that. Her words were oddly accented, all loose and liquid with
rolling consonants and slurred vowels.
Mayuko was shaking; Ushio could hardly blame her. He could feel a
tremor arising from deep within his own body as well, but not from
fear, not really. It had something to do with the faint red mist that
was slowly ghosting across his vision, something to do with the way
his fur was beginning to bristle and how his heart was beginning to
pound.....
Tora moved up, stepping carefully on the bloodstained mud to stand
(rather casually) beside Ushio. "Ahhhh, no, this one is not for
eating. Not today, anyway. She is something of a pet for myself and my
kin. Useful; humans can be that way on occasion." He spoke calmly,
indeed courteously for Tora. *Kin?..... I guess he means me* thought
Ushio grimly, turning a little to one side so that Mayuko was behind
both of their backs. She cautiously slid down to rest her feet on the
mud, still gripping Ushio's black mane tightly for comfort.
"A..... *pet*? The water-youkai said the word curiously and without
much comprehension. She stepped from the brackish water to the shore,
dragging something limp behind her.
A child.
And either unconscious or dead. A little boy, perhaps eight years old
or so from what Ushio could see. His black hair hung dripping and
disheveled over a pale, scratched face and his clothes were torn and
muddy. One hand lay outstretched pathetically beside his attacker's
feet, fingers curled. *Ohhhh.... shit....*
It could've been any little boy, he thought numbly; it could've been
him.
The river-hag dropped her toy to the mud and stepped a little closer,
eyeing what she could see of Mayuko speculatively with her one good
eye. "I have eaten young maidensss before, but thisssss" and she waved
towards the still form at her feet "is my chosssen food. But I have
never been ssso delicate that I would turn down sssuch an offering."
She chuckled thinly; the sound was enough to make Ushio's teeth
clench...... Ohhhh, *how* he ached to sink those teeth into her! Human
reason seemed very far away right now--- and he found that he really
didn't care, hell no, not at all. Not if he could just reach her with
his teeth..... and his claws.....
Tora edged a little closer; now his shoulder brushed against the
Spearbearer's. "Ahhhr. An interesting choice of words..... 'an
offering.' Are you a goddess or a demon, to have been given offerings
in the past?" His eyes narrowed a little; Tora seemed to be thinking
hard.
The hag grinned at them, a death's-head grin full of needles. "And how
persssceptive you are, Creature! Yesssss..... Oncssse upon a time I
wasss called a goddesssss...... and humansssss fed me my chosssen
meat! They threw fat animalssss and tender children to me in my river,
back in old Eire where I lived then. But... the river isss foul now,
too foul even for me; ssso I have traveled about. I have hunted for a
sssuitable territory for myssself." She waved a handful of knives
towards the canals. "Thissssss placssssse..... It will do."
"Or--- do you have a *difficulty* with that, Creature?" And she hissed
long and low between sharp teeth, still smiling.
Tora simply looked at her; but Ushio could feel him beginning to
crouch a little lower, feel the great body beginning to coil and tense
where it brushed against his. Again, though, when he spoke his voice
was mild. "Of territory there is plenty in this land; the humans no
longer think such as we real anymore--- would you believe it?
Hhhrrrrrhh, but bakemonotachi here are not..... fond of sharing
territory with others. You would be wise to seek another place." And
his claws unsheathed, slowly, slowly.....
The water-youkai spat on the mud. I do NOT choossssse to look
elsssewhere! I take sssuch asss I find, asss I will! Little
Creature....." she looked disdainfully up at Tora's huge bulk,
".....you are nothing to me, nor isss you litter-mate there....." and
she flicked cold eyes towards Ushio, who was breathing a little
harder. The hag stopped for a moment, a shade of annoyance passing
across her pallid face.
"Sssssssss..... Now that I get a better look at you both, there isss
sssomething *familiar* about you each and all. I wonder now,
Creature..... Did you *attack* me the other night? I recall
sssomething like you whossse meal I nearly ate, back on the river'sss
bank; foolisssh as *you* it wasss, to fight me in my element."
"And *you*, Black One. Jussst what isss that thing, there on your
back? Ssssss. It ssstinksss of blood and pain for lessssssser youkai
than I." She was staring narrowly at the Spear.
The Kemono No Yari's cry was ringing painfully through Ushio's blood;
he slipped the Spear down from its temporary sheath and smiled at the
river-hag with all of his teeth. "Would you like to see it? I can.....
*show* you, if you'd like." His own voice seemed oddly distant in his
ears, absurdly calm. As the Spear rested in his grip, he began to
feel..... something strange, coming on like the passing of wind
through his fur..... something familiar.....
Oh. he hadn't considered what the Change would be like NOW-----
**********and it began, rushing cold as rivers, hot as fire in his
flesh/ flesh into blood into bone, roaring through/ a breath of chill
lightning crackling from claw to brow/ from sharp tooth to tail-tip/
and the soul within the Spear whispering Change? Change? Already
Changed/ already changed/ wait/ wait/ wait.....**********
.......... and Ushio could feel the thunder of power within the Spear
hesitating, holding back, holding, biding its time.
(For an appalled second, he thought that it was because of his new
state; but no, not that. There was still that same caress of energy
that always came with the Change, that moment of maybe-affection,
still there; the Spear hadn't forsaken him).
In the meantime..... Ushio dropped the Spear low and held it at an
angle, haft against his body and butt braced against the mud. He
grinned again at the water-youkai, teeth shining. "C'mere; I'll show
you what this is, and what it can *do*....."
She watched the point as it dropped, following it with a baleful
glare. "Sss. I think not. That thing----- that isss an *abomination*
to sssuch as we. It ssssshinessssssssss-----" her words trailed off
into a lizard-like hiss, and Ushio felt the fur along his spine
rising, his tail lashing back and forth. Beside him Tora said very
softly "..... This one is more dangerous than I had thought..... She
will die, but she may die hard....."
"Torrrraaaaaa------" the Spearbearer snarled (he was finding it hard
to keep language; a growl seemed to be getting in the way). "----- she
owes me, she *killed* me and I'm going to GET herrrrrrrr-----"
The orange bakemono grinned sideways at him, eyes on fire, fur
bristling; "RRRrrrrrrrrrrr. Yesssssss..... But Brat----- be bakemono,
not human. Remember, Brat! Remember!!"
And he turned back to the water-youkai, who was regarding them both
coldly. "You, water-bitch. This is OUR territory. I have spoken to you
with my voice; shall I speak with my teeth?"
Her answer was hissing laughter; she crouched low and sprang.
***************************
Mayuko stumbled back away from her companions as they both roared with
one terrible voice and leaped forward like a charge of lions; this was
no place for her to be in, she wasn't a fighter! What was she doing
here, anyway? Why had she wanted to come with Ushio-kun so badly?!?
God, she was so stupid---! She had to get away, get safe----- WHY had
she so wanted to come?!?
.....and then she saw the hand of the pathetic little child-body
twitch, and she knew: the boy was still alive.
That was why she had to be here.
She tripped backwards over a bush, stumbled, recovered; crouching in
the little cover it offered, Mayuko watched horrified as the green,
slimy woman sprang past her two friends, claws tearing; God, she was
so fast!! Smaller, so much smaller, you wouldn't think she had a
chance, but she was mercury-quick and reached back to slash across
Tora's shoulder as she passed him; he snarled in pain and snapped with
wide jaws, just missing a finger. Ushio-kun spun in his charge, mane
wild in a black arc about him----- he threw himself towards her, Spear
and claws ready to rend! But the youkai ducked the Spear's thrust,
just missing his face with a swipe of living knives. The sound of
frustrated rage the Spearbearer made was terrible to hear.
But Mayuko couldn't think about that; she would have to trust that her
two friends would take care of themselves. She had to reach the
boy..... He was lying a little behind the fearful storm of claws and
long limbs, a heap of mud and pale skin; maybe if she crept around to
the side..... But she would have to pass behind that gruesome, noxious
nest, through the bones and tatters of cloth. Mayuko swallowed and
hoped she wouldn't throw up.
She began to circle around, slipping back towards the stench of bone
and decayed flesh; a crackle under her feet made her look down--- she
stared frozen for a second, then looked deliberately up at the
whirlwind of claws and blood before her. Only the greenish tinge to
the young woman's set face betrayed the sick feeling washing through
her. She could be ill later--- other things were more important just
now.
A howl of anger from the black bakemono before her told her that the
river-hag had struck home somewhere; Ushio-kun was crouched down low,
bleeding from a half-dozen shallow slashes. Tora had drawn back a
little and reared up onto his hind legs; he was laughing deep in his
throat, every teeth bared and horrifically white. Snarling something
in a dialect that she couldn't quite understand, he spread his claws
wide, crackling with electrical fire----- it grew wilder, grew
brighter, freezing Mayuko in her tracks----- WHAM!!!
Something hard caught her, scooped her up, threw her to land with a
crash among the bushes to her right!!! Mayuko's scream of terror came
out as a muffled "eeefph!!!" as she landed on her stomach, and she saw
that Ushio-kun was crouching between her and the battle as the
lightning crackled hotter, crackled higher-----
CRACK-A-BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!! The world was blotted out, ringing and
stinking of ozone.....
..... and then it was raining mud and grass and less identifyable
things; the water-youkai was nowhere to be seen. Dead?!? *Oh,
please...* she prayed; no, there it was, leaping in towards Tora with
a shriek, colliding feet-first with his head and knocking him
off-balance. God, God it was so fast!!! Ushio-kun was springing away
from her, roaring; there was nothing human in the sound!! She saw him
gather himself in the air, rise impossibly a little higher, bring the
Spear around, screaming-----
----- and Mayuko realized that she was not lying among bushes; she was
in the nest of bones. In the larder.
*Out, out, don't think, just get out and move and run towards the
boy-----* She was running now, terrible rattling things and crunching
things and rolling things underfoot (she would remember the sound long
years later, waking trembling and terrified from sleep)..... He was
ahead, poor half-dead child, so small and wet, but more than dried
bones and rags of cloth, something she could save. Mayuko's heart
pounded with her feet: thud, thud, thud, thud, no-time-for-subtlety,
thud-thud-thud!! And she was on him, and she scooped him up (such a
leggy bundle, long and dangling) to run even faster down the bank!!!
Behind her the battle went on, screams and howls and roars mingling in
a terrible harmony.....
******************************
Lightning wrapped Tora, cracking from claw to claw; his eyes blazed
with it, it dripped and sparked from every tooth and tipped every
strand of fur in a corona of death. The water-hag hissed like a dying
fire, talons spread wide, waiting for him.
And Ushio was waiting too. He had seen Mayuko sieze her chance and
run, though he hadn't realized that she was trying to get the boy too.
Good, though; well and good and gone. This was no place for her.....
she was just meat for monsters here. The two bakemonotachi were both
bleeding and torn by the youkai-bitch's claws (GodDAMMIT she was
fast!!!)--- he was missing a chunk of muscle from his right hind-leg
where she had fastened her teeth for a fortunately brief moment. But
so far, they had both gotten a few blows in too--- the bitch had a
long arc of burn down her ribs on one side, and Ushio had (for one
precious moment) managed to fasten his teeth in *her* shoulder. Pity
it hadn't been for longer.
He licked his lips; her blood was distinctly fishy, cool rather than
cold. Ushio decided that he liked it. "More....." he whispered to
himself, laughing softly despite his wounds.
He brought the Spear around. Tora was still crackling with a
firework's worth of lightning, keeping their foe back from the river;
for the last few minutes of the fight she had been trying to work
towards the water, where her advantage would be greater. They had to
keep her back, they needed a plan-----
The hell with plans. Ushio wanted her *blood*! He sprang forward
again, Spear point stabbing, trying to take her like a fisherman with
a gaff-----
But the goddam thing just wouldn't cooperate, would she? There she
went, darting like a lizard to the side, down the trail-----
*No---* down the trail towards Mayuko and the boy----- *NO---*
"TORRRRAAAAHHHH!!!" Ushio screamed, leaping after her. No way, no way,
she was *not* getting his friend!!! Behind him a little ways he could
feel the thunderstorm of Tora in his rage as he flew, crackling
through the early evening air-----
And Mayuko was a whitefaced figure just ahead of them, child in her
arms; the water-bitch was howling towards them, claws outstretched,
but Ushio was close, close, close; he could just grab her foot and
with a jerk pull her hard!! towards him into an embrace, close as
death----- the Spear fell from his grasp, landing behind him in a
tangle of branches-----
----- but she was spinning in his arms, raking him from throat to
belly with hooked knives, tearing and rending and ripping----
AAAARRRRRHHHhhhhhhhhh!!!!! It hurt, it hurt-----
Blood was running hot between them both as she fought to escape, as he
fought to hold her, despite the pain; *Not again, not this time, you
won't kill anyone else-----*
******** and then..... there was a moment, just a moment, when it
seemed that Ushio could see everything from outside..... How curious
it all looked: Tora, racing forward like the lightning incarnate (but
he would be too late, too late); Mayuko and the child in a frightened
heap; himself and the water-youkai spinning in the air, dancing in a
shower of his blood (so much blood), the Spear gleaming behind him,
propped point up against a fallen treetrunk, firmly
braced-----********
And Ushio knew what he had to do. In that moment of clarity, all the
bloodlust, all the burning hate and longing for revenge seemed to
drain away and distil down into a single point of resolve and intent:
he was there, she was thus, and the Spear, the Spear was right there,
yes, like that---- no other way.......
(***Yes, whispered the Spear, dammed-up power beginning to build, to
crest like a wave.... yes, now.....***)
.......no other way.......
*----- please.... don't let it hurt as much as before-----*
----- and still clutching his foe in an almost loving embrace, Ushio,
Spearbearer and bakemono, threw himself backwards..... onto the Spear.
His aim was perfect.
***It went right through them both.***
There wasn't enough breath in Ushio to even allow a scream, but the
water-youkai's shriek of agony made up for that.
********COLD-PAIN-COLD-PAIN-COLD********
And darkness. No lightning this time. No, not this time.
*********************************
..... but there was something else, something shining before him.
Aotsuki Ushio floated in the numbing dark, facing the bright thing
that called to him, called in a voice of iron bells inside crystal
spheres. Behind him was another brightness shining: pain-then-peace,
an end to the fighting, rest; before him was pain-then-home, and then
more pain.
But..... he understood pain by now, didn't he? It was a part of him,
of his life and of Tora's life; and in the darkness it seemed that he
could see home, with Mayuko and Asako and his dad and something huge
and terrible..... Tora, as bloodied as himself but part of home
nonetheless.
Ushio hung there in that brief and endless moment, a mote of air and
darkness. And then he chose, and gathered the brightness of
pain-then-home to himself. But as his spirit fell into the silver
splinter of light that was the Spear he asked it: *Please? Please,
just for a little while?!?*----- and there was no more time, and the
light wrapped itself around him, claiming him again, chaining his soul
once more with crystal and iron and the cutting edge of fate-------
**********************************
Darkness, laced with a glitter of silver. Wet, too; droplets on his
face, in his eyes, cold. He was lying on something soft that shifted
beneath him, something warm and damp beneath his naked skin. Something
else was lying across him, holding him firmly down, resting against
his chest, warm and fragrant and familiar-----
Oh. Stars above, a spatter of mist drifting down. Tora's back, soft
mane. Always so soft, but he had never said that to Tora; wouldn't,
couldn't. Bakemono. Wouldn't know how to take it, couldn't say it
anyway. Wanted to sometimes, though. Familiar scent? Oh yeah, Mayuko,
her head resting on his chest, hair in his face, her arms holding him
down, grasping Tora's mane.....
As coherant thought slowly returned, Ushio realized that he was lying
draped across Tora's back with Mayuko lying across him, her eyes
closed. They were soaring through a night sky thick with stars, and
the Spear was resting between them.
".....Mayuko?"
"Shhhhh. Just rest. Just..... rest. You're alright now, you're OK.
We're all OK......"
"Mayuko?"
"What? Shhhhh. Please, just rest......"
"Why won't you open your eyes?"
She shifted a little. "Because you are *naked*, Ushio-kun."
"Oh. Mayuko.....? Am I..... human again?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I thought so....." His head lolled back loosely.
"Ushio? Ushio---? Are you awake? Ushio, have you fainted---?
Ushio-kun?"
They flew on. Beneath them, Tora rumbled with contentment, holding the
unconscious child and occasionally licking his jaws.
************************************
Ushio awoke the next time in his bed, feeling stranger than he could
ever recall. Well, except for one time maybe..... He lay there for a
few moments, feeling oddly newborn; this was the second occasion he
could recall waking up when he thought he should be in agony and
wasn't. The last time he had thought he was dead. This time, he knew
he was alive. Again, he remembered *everything.*
It was morning, he could tell; the birds were singing on the eves,
that particular we're-awake-and-we're-loud song that he had heard each
day since his birth; he could see by the light slanting across his bed
that it couldn't be too long past dawn. Clattering noises and the
scent of coffee from the kitchen below told him that someone was
making breakfast; who---? Oh; that was Mayuko's voice, singing softly
to herself over the sound of the tap running. And out the window he
could make out Tora, lying like a lion across the tiles of the old
temple's roof, tail a-twitch. And, lastly, there was the Kemono No
Yari, leaning in its accustomed place against the headboard of the
bed.
Save for Mayuko's voice, all was blessedly, absurdly normal.
Except, of course, for the scars crossing his chest..... white lines,
clawmarks spidering from side to side, up and down in a gameboard of
whitened tissue; and centering them all like the jewel in the lotus, a
single white line, faintly diamond-shaped and exactly as wide as the
blade of the Spear.
(.....right through them...... his aim had been perfect.)
Ushio closed his eyes again. Dear God.
And then he opened them and began a rather frenzied self-inspection,
making absolutely positively *certain* that he had not one speck of
black fur or a single silver talon and not the least sign of a tail.
Among other things. And if Tora was watching through the window, or
Mayuko, or his entire assembly of classmates, well----- Aotsuki Ushio
did not give a damn.
**************************
When he made his way carefully down the stairs a little later, both
Mayuko and Tora were waiting for him. Ushio was wearing his bathrobe;
his legs were a little too weak and unsteady as yet to really be up to
the chore of dressing. Not important. Silently Mayuko handed him a
plate; barely tasting what was before him, Ushio watched his hands
(*human fingers--- so small!*) as he ate. Tora was watching him too,
equally silent; the bakemono's face held an expression that was very
hard to interpret. Silver eyes, sometimes so eloquent in their fury
and fierceness, sometimes so very noncommittal..... Ushio sighed and
reached for the mug of hot coffee that had been set down beside him;
it smelled wonderful even to what he now considered a truly pitiful
sense of smell. Expecting his former reaction of dislike, he found
himself sipping the hot liquid with appreciation; huh. Maybe some
things remained behind, after all.
"Ushio? How--- do you feel now?" Mayuko's blue-grey eyes were fixed on
his face.
He stretched carefully. ".... Wierd. Really wierd. Everything seems
so..... big. Larger. Back to normal, I guess. Everything but me. I
feel human again, outside anyway. Inside? ...... I wasn't very human,
there at the end. All I wanted was that bitch's blood." Tora grunted
in approval; there was the faintest hint of a smile on the great, grim
face as his silver eyes closed half-slitted.
"That was OK, I think..... I did what was... necessary... anyway. But
I wonder if the part of me that was bakemono will *ever* go away?" He
shifted restlessly, drinking down the rest of his coffee. Mayuko sat
back, stirring hers with a spoon. Ushio saw thankfully that she had
done a little picking up of the chaos that the kitchen had become over
the last few days; all the coffee-grounds had been swept up, the
broken crockery thrown out. Nothing much could be done about the holes
in the ceiling and wall, though, or the broken hinges, or the cabinet
he had pulled half apart while looking for clean dishes..... Oh well.
Small things. Dad would just have to understand.
Tora stirred from his usual sprawl across the couch; springs squeaked.
"You are what you are; human and bakemono and Spearbearer. And the
foreigner is what she is: very, very dead. Tasty...." and he licked
his chops, grinning. Ushio found himself remembering the taste of
cool, fishy blood; somehow it was *still* very satisfying. Maybe Tora
was right; he was..... what he was.
And the Spear was what it was, too. He had carried it down with him;
big surprise there. Slowly he brought it up and around from where he
had placed it on the floor, standing it upright before him. To Ushio's
astonishment Tora did not flinch back from it this time, but sat
regarding it with a cool gaze. Mayuko simply watched as he leaned
forward, resting his head against the smooth wood. "I..... need to ask
the Spear something. Wait......" and he closed his eyes.
*****Like sinking into cool water, like being enveloped in silver,
like falling forever without motion: darkness and darkness and
darkness, with unseen eyes watching him, always watching him.....
always. Soft brush of spirit like a hand across his brow, recognition
in the shadows, braille of soul branding him with his name: Aotsuki
Ushio Spearbearer. And then the question, springing from his heart,
asking, asking, asking, a single voice calling out into the sky:
What's going to happen now?.......... and the answer, just this once
in words, or in one word: *** respite *** and then, that brush of
spirit like gentle wings, a caress of ghosts, warm with approval,
tempered with power and time.....*****
Ushio came back to himself, still sitting there on the couch. Tora had
moved; he sat beside the door, gazing out into the morning. Mayuko was
still sitting beside him, cold coffee in her hands. She sat the cup
down and fixed a tired but curious gaze on his face. "..... What did
it say?"
He sat back. "Just one word: respite. A break? Time off? I..... guess
I don't have to worry about changing permanently now, do I?" Ushio
closed his eyes and sighed. Human again; but..... he would miss
certain things about being bakemono. The strength, the retractable
claws----- flight-----! That, most of all.
"Hhhhhrrrrrrr. I wouldn't be so certain, whelp." Startled, Ushio
looked up.
Tora was still sitting there, mane drifting around him in the morning
breeze. A scatter of swallows outside the door sent their shadows
across his face in gentle punctuation to his words. "What do you
mean?"
The bakemono stretched his length across the floor, claws dragging and
scraping the wood. "Is not 'respite' a word for a *temporary* pause?
Once the Spear has someone, it does not let go. I would not count on a
future as anything but the Spearbearer, Brat." In the silence that
followed, he slipped ghostlike through the wall out into the yard.
Ushio and Mayuko looked at each other; yes, but...... "Oh, shit." And
neither one could say later who had said it. The young woman slumped
back and rubbed her eyes. She was wearing one of Ushio's loose
t-shirts and sets of drawstring pants, he saw. Quietly he asked "Did
the kid make it?" She looked up and smiled wanely. "I don't know; all
I could do was ask Tora-chan to let me drop him off in front of the
nearest hospital and leave him there; I threw a rock through a window
and we flew away. I hope he'll be alright; he was breathing....." she
sighed and looked down at her lap. "I wanted to stay with him,
but..... Ushio, at first I didn't know what was happening to you; you
and that monster went backwards and the Spear went, went r-right
through you----" Mayuko paused and took a deep breath. "And then
everything went so bright, the Spear was crackling just like Tora---
it was beautiful in a way, like his lightning--- and that youkai was
screaming and screaming, and Tora just reached out and pulled you both
off the Spear and then yanked her up to his teeth and, and........"
she stopped, face white.
Ushio was silent. *So he got to find out if she tasted like fish,
anyway* he thought slowly.
Mayuko went on. "..... and then everything went so still, and so
quiet--- and you fell down to the ground and you were human. You had
all these white scars all over your chest---" (her eyes strayed to
where his robe hung a little open) "--- and you seemed OK, though you
were breathing so slowly. Tora-----" She glanced towards the door; the
orange bakemono was back up on the old temple roof.
"Tora just sat there for a little while, looking down at you with the
strangest expression. I guess he was thinking about what had just
happened; it's hard to tell sometimes. Then he told me to pick up the
Spear and he put you on his back---- and, well, we left." She flushed
and looked down again. "I, um, tried not to look at you too much......
You didn't have anything on....."
There was an awkward silence; then a peculiar noise made Mayuko look
up. Ushio had his hands over his mouth, trying to hold something back;
his face was red and his eyes were wide. He snorted, choked, then
broke up into helpless laughter that had more than a little of
hysteria in it...... His friend stared, then began to giggle
uncontrollably; the two eventually ended up holding each other as
laughter died away into chokes and gasps, and perhaps.... a few tears
on either side.
**********************
Outside, Tora watched from his rooftop. A bird sailed over, catching
his attention for a moment; he considered going hunting, but his heart
wasn't really in it. Enough hunting lately. With a pair of careful
talons he picked a few strands of long black mane from his coat and
then sat there for a moment, twisting and rolling them between his
fingers. Carefully he wrapped them around themselves in an intricate
knot, storing the strands in his private cache behind a little loose
tilework. *After all,* thought the bakemono, smiling to himself, *they
might be useful..... someday.*
He stepped off into the air, landing gently beside the house. Inside,
his two humans were still talking. The Hamburger Girl seemed to be
planning on sending a note to the local city guards to tell them about
the water-youkai's larder; Tora couldn't see why she should bother,
but whatever..... Ushio-Brat looked so much smaller; he had made a
good bakemono. A pity; in the depths of his heart of hearts, Tora
could admit that he would miss the companionship of another of his
kind.
But the other bakemono wasn't really gone, was he? It was as Tora
himself had said: when one becomes a monster, that is what one usually
stays, sharp claws or not. Over the ages he had known many a human who
were monsters at heart, and quite a few bakemonotachi that could have
passed in their souls for human. He shrugged; it made little
difference. One was what one was, and not all the worry in the world
could change that.
Perhaps things would be a little..... easier for him now; the
Spearbearer had tasted something that few others before him had. But
Tora would still miss the black bakemono.
Eh, well..... There was always tomorrow. And tomorrow, and tomorrow,
and tomorrow.....
**********************
Ushio sat on the stones beside the shrine gate; morning sunlight
flickered like gentle fire down through the branches of the almond
trees, patterning skin and clothing with shining warmth. He ran his
fingers along the haft of the Spear, unconciously tracing woodgrain
with his nails; a touch on his shoulder made him look up.
Mayuko stood there before him, a bag containing her filthy clothes in
hand. She would have to sneak in to her home to change (unless she
wanted her parents jumping to conclusions that *really* didn't bear
thinking about); God only knew what she was going to tell them about
the previous day's abscence. Maybe she could get Asako to cover for
her. But that would take possibly a little more disclosure than either
Mayuko or Ushio wanted to offer....... She sighed, brushing her tawney
hair back a little from her face. "Ushio-kun, will you be OK now? If I
don't get home soon, my parents will send out the police....."
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just going to take a little getting used to,
being human again." Not for anything in the world could Ushio tell her
that what he was really doing was mourning for what he had lost; no
matter how difficult and terrible it had been at first, he had fully
accepted what he had become, and now it was gone.
It was a little like mourning the dead.
Mayuko smiled down at her friend; he was pale, he looked a little
distraught, but he was Ushio again. She wished that there was some way
she could tell him the truth: That, really, there had been nothing in
the black bakemono that had not been in her friend Ushio-kun to begin
with. At heart, she thought, we are all beasts and all angels; it's
the balance that makes us what we are to others.
But she couldn't say that.
As the young woman turned to go, she paused a moment. "---- Oh; I
almost forgot to give you this. It's kind of a souvenir, I guess....."
she rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a small object: black,
black strands wrapped around a bit of stick. It lay in her palm like
an omen. Slowly Ushio reached out to pick it up-----
Only to be stopped by a large, striped hand. "I would not, Brat. I
would not indeed. Not unless you wish to be back where you were......"
Tora had slipped quietly into sight sitting there on the stone wall
beside him; his amber talons gripped Ushio's fingers.
The temple boy frowned. "What? Tora, what are you talking about?" The
black strands gleamed dully in Mayuko's palm.
Tora dropped his hand and leaned back, a little of his mane drifting
around him in the light breeze. "That is part of what you were; touch
it, and you will be so again. Take it and keep it, but wrap it in silk
and do not lay a finger on it....... unless your humanity becomes too
much to bear. Who knows? Perhaps you will find it necessary someday."
The bakemono looked over towards the old temple; the doors had never
been repaired and the daylight filtered softly in to illuminate an
opening in the floor and a staircase leading down..... "It is always
good to have an escape, is it not?"
Ushio started to speak, then stopped and swallowed the knot that had
formed in the back of his throat. He stared down at the temptation
lying in Mayuko's hand: flight, freedom, wildness..... lonliness,
fear, sorrow..... He closed her fingers over the strands, careful not
to touch. "You keep it, Mayuko. Tell Asako everything." Ushio winced a
little at the thought, but--- "She should know about it too. Like Tora
says, who knows?" And he turned away to look with the ancient bakemono
towards the old shrine. "Abayo, Mayuko-kun..... Domou Arigatou, my
very good friend...."
She slipped the small object back into her bag, hesitated, and smiled
back. He could hear her footsteps diminish as she walked away down the
road.
Swallows twittered and dived around them in the sweet air of morning;
Ushio followed their flight with his eyes, resisting the temptation to
try and catch one out of the air (it wouldn't work now, after all; his
hands were too small----- and besides, no claws). The Spear rested
lightly between his palms; maybe it wasn't so terrible a thing after
all, what was coming; he had withstood worse, hadn't he?
At least he'd be standing on only two feet this time. No shedding,
either.
Tora was watching him sidelong out of half-closed silver eyes, silent,
his expression a little mocking. "So..... Ushio-brat. Won't you miss
being bakemono, even a little? Large, fearful..... so much better than
*this* weak little body....." and he poked his partner in the ribs
with a sharp claw; Ushio swore and swatted at him with the Spear,
landing a flat blow on the top of the bakemono's head. Tora yelped and
cursed.
"Miss it? Yeah, sure; I'm going to miss clawing myself every time I
have to scratch, not being able to fit into the bathroom (and NO, I
don't want to know how you manage it!), all that kind of shit.....
What do you think, stupid?" There was silence for a few minutes or so;
two sets of eyes followed the flight of swallows, dark brown and
silver. "Well......."
"I might miss a few things. The flying was fun....... and I liked my
claws, they were pretty cool......"
Tora snorted. "Not as good as mine, though. Come......." and he
grinned. "Spar with me again, Brat, and I'll show you claws!" Eyes and
sharp teeth glinted in the sun; for a moment Ushio flashed back to the
first moment that he had seen those teeth, those eyes: down in the
darkness below the old temple. The bakemono looked no less terrifying
now than he had then, but.....
Well, hell, who gave a damn anyway? Lots of things were terrifying. So
what?
"Sure. And I'll show you what happens when I put the Spear through
your tail......" and, dodging a blow from a handful of claws, Ushio
caught up the Kemono No Yari and headed back towards the yard in front
of his home, still laughing. Tora followed after, threatening imminent
destruction (as usual); his shadow blended with Ushio's like a gray
afterthought, stretching behind them both all the way to the open
gate.
******************************************************** **************
******************************************************** *
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Whew! Finished! Man, that was fun....... Please,
y'all--- review; write me! I just finished working through the
collected manga tankoubon volumes 1 through 15, and I've got about 17
more to go (Oh eeeeww, you wouldn't BELIEVE how the Kemono No Yari was
made! Gruesome in the extreme.....) If I use this material as a
background, it'll go way beyond the stuff in the anime; so I'm in a
quandry. What do you think? And would you read it? Is my stuff worth
reading? If you don't review, I won't know..... Sigh. I sure need to
work on my Japanese...... Anyway, thanks for reading, thanks for
reviewing, and I'll write lots more (whether you want me to or not!!
Nyahh, nyahhh!!!). Abayo! ------- Ysabet (ysamingo@aol.com or
sbarnesdpr@hotmail.com) ..... That was So Much FUN.......... =^_^=