Hades

Chapter Twenty Nine - The Friend

'Whoa,whoa, whoa!' Uxi waved her hands, and Hades stopped talking. She felt as though her head were about to implode. 'Are you seriously talking,' she breathed, 'about abandoning the Underworld?' 

'Uh, yes and no. Except...not no.' 

'Master!'

'Come on, Ux, don't give me a hard time about this, okay?' Hades sighed. He had a shifty knack for looking youthful, cute and innocent when he wanted something; a trick which Uxi had become immune to after years of practice. 'I need you to be on board with this plan.My options here are kind of limited-'

'Your options are limited? Try living a life of servitude, Lord Hades!' 

It was the first time she had ever spoken his name, and it hung in the air between them like a poisonous cloud of gas. Her master looked wounded, but Uxi was beyond caring that she had crossed a line. 

'Tell me what this is all about, starting from the beginning,'she said in a low commanding tone that only the gods, very angry parents and incredibly irate angels pushed past their limit have mastered. 'And this had better be good.'

*

Dawson loved playing shogi in the park square, whatever the weather.He enjoyed the sights and sounds of the people passing by, and while his frustrated opponent tried to figure out his next move, the older man would lean back in his chair and observe the world with calm,detached interest. This trait was perhaps what connected him to Hades. 

As the young man in question joined him midday, looking utterly exhausted and throwing his head down on the shogi board,Dawson grinned sympathetically. 

'That bad, eh sonny?' 

'Women,' Hades grunted, raising his head. A game piece stuck to his cheek fell down with a clatter. 

'Can't live with em,can't live without em. Gorgeous, complex creatures they are indeed,' said Dawson sagely.

'I was doing just fine living without them,' Hades grumbled. 'Look old man, I didn't come here to chitchat. This might be my last game of shogi, so let's get started already.'

Dawson lifted his bushy eyebrows. He was saddened at losing his favourite and certainly most interesting opponent, but knew better than to pry.

'Yeh last game? We better make it a good one then.'

'I'm finally going to beat you,' grinned Hades smugly, and not for the first time Dawson felt a fatherly affectionate for the strange young man. What harm could it do to throw one game for the poor lad?

'Ah, so yeh been holding back all these years, eh sonny?'

*

Harusame was delighted to have a visit from her winged friend while Hades was gone, but she couldn't help noticing the bat seemed out of sorts. Uxi hung from one of her bookshelves and barely spoke a word to her. 

Weaker than ever but refusing to stay confined to bed, a pale Harusame was fully clothed and mending her father's yukata, the contents of her sewing kit littering the carpet.

'Are you mad at me about something, Uxi-chan?' she asked gently,peering at the bat. 

Uxi didn't move. She felt incredibly guilty for treating Harusame this way, but she couldn't help feeling the whole thing was the girl's fault. After all, things had been fine for years and probably would have continued that way forever if he'd never got involved with her...

Uxi felt softf ingers clasp around her and pull her from her shelf and hert houghts.

'Please tell me if I did something wrong?'Harusame's eyes were large and sad. 'Hades won't talk to me about it but I know my time is nearly up. I'd hate to die with you mad at me for some reason-'