Wolf and Keeper

Chapter 33: The Magatama of the Dragon Gods

"Sen!" Yuzuha jumped up when he entered the guest room and quickly grabbed him by the shoulders, "Are you okay? Where in the hell did you run off to?"

"Watatsumikome's tomb," Sen supplied, prompting a concerned look from Emi.

"In this weather? Are you insane?" The nun quickly stood up and placed a hand to his forehead. "Thank the kami you don't have a fever..."

"Do you have a fever?" Naoyuki asked without ever standing up as he looked at Maru.

"Uh... No?"

"Then I don't care."

Nobuhiko slowly turned him and frowned, "Why are you always like this? I am happy that you're alright, Maru."

Naoyuki slowly turned his head to Nobuhiko with a half disgusted look, "Suck up."

Avery stood up and walked over to Maru with a smile, "Glad you're back."

Maru smiled and patted his arm before he turned to look over at Sen's group. They were all huddled around him and peppering him with questions about where he was and where Hashi was now, and part of him was reminded once again of his days in Kai. The closest he had been to that was his own happy little group, and frankly, he appreciated their concern.

"Maru," one of the voices drew his attention to Sen's group, and he saw Emi smiling at him. "Thank you for watching over Sen."

Maru wasn't particularly expecting that, but Hachirou also smiled and nodded at him as well. Yuzuha was glaring at him like usual, but he felt like it was lacking its usual bite. He smiled back with a small nod of his own before he joined his friends on the floor. It was when he was looking at the group that he realized that Aoi was missing. "Where's the old man?"

Nobuhiko spoke up first, "He went to speak with Lord Otomo and his father. He needed to speak with him about things that we apparently don't need to know."

"If Aoi feels like we don't need to be privy, then I trust his judgment," Emi chimed in with a nod.

Sen felt like all of the energy was leaving his body. He slumped against Yuzuha with a small groan, and she turned to look at him. "Hey," her voice softened as she turned to look at him, her hand going to the cheek that wasn't slumped against her shoulder, "are you alright?"

"My head feels like someone hit it with a mallet," Sen grumbled as he righted himself to keep people from staring at him. "That and... I'm tired."

---

Maru awoke the next morning to find everyone up but Sen. The quiet man was conspicuously absent from the assembled group the next morning, and even Hashi was still gone. He joined them sitting down to see Emi sitting next to Avery, drawing out images on a piece of paper and saying words after them like she was teaching a child to read. He saw Yuzuha propped up on a stack of tatami mats as she sharpened her naginata, and Nobuhiko sat nearby polishing his own sword, occasionally looking over at her to talk from time to time. She didn't seemed too impressed, but he also noticed that she wasn't trying to attack him either. Naoyuki was sitting just beyond the door, eyes locked on the stormy sky above as he stood on the veranda overlooking the estate grounds. Maru joined him, peering up from under the overhang to look at the rolling dark clouds above.

"Maru, I'm going to be honest," Naoyuki spoke without ever looking down from the clouds, "I'm not a super superstitious person, but... I genuinely think there's something going on on this island."

"You really believe the story about the bead?"

"Listen..." Naoyuki dropped his head and shook it before he looked over at Maru, "it's... It's just... I don't know. You don't think this is all weird? The magatama gets stolen, then umibozu show up, yokai come back... That's a lot of coincidences."