Ink Stained

76: first blood*

最初の血

"Do you have a death wish? I am sure Shin-san would not mind sending you to Yomi-no-Kuni. I think he would be glad to."

"Whatever do you mean? Poor little old me has done nothing to warrant such violent behaviour. Breakfast's in roughly an hour, by the way."

She gave him an entirely unamused look, even though her heart clenched when she met his unearthly eyes. "You know exactly what I mean. He hates you more than I can even understand. He might actually try to kill you if you push him too far."

Kagetora burst out in rancorous laughter, as if her words rhymed with some private joke only he was privy to, and leaned against the wooden frame of the doorway as his eyes twinkled down merrily at her. He gestured widely with his arm sweeping out, bowing his head before looking back up at her with a wink. "I invite him to try."

Her lips twitched in irritation as she twisted around on her heels and walked across the length of her needlessly large room to the window, set opposite from the door. Her room was plain and undecorated, but with lots of closet-space (so maybe it was not a bad thing that she packed so much. At least she had somewhere to put it all). Her bed was a simple futon rolled out on the tatami mats. She had been led to her room just yesterday by a floating ball of purple-tinged fire that vanished into smoke as soon as it showed her to her room, and Shin to his.

She reached out on either side of her and shut the wooden window, giving the beautiful view of a massive swathe of forest stretching out endlessly before her one last longing look. She had thought to spend at least most of her day just staring out at the forest the way she had her first days at Ayashi House.

It wasn't often that one was treated to such an amazing view, albeit dark and mysterious. She often found herself staring at things unseeingly when her mind wandered aimlessly. She liked to look at nature when she did, something her mother had encouraged her to do when she noticed Pai's inclination to staring while deep in thought.

Her mother always said, Better to look at something beautiful, created by nature, than at the steel and stone structures made by man.

Or maybe she would have gone to sleep. She hadn't been sleeping well lately, and it was starting to show in the bags that nestled under her eyes, gaining weight every day. She'd been especially too keyed-up to sleep well last night.

The upside was that no memories plagued her that way. Neither did Kuniumi torment her with her questions and riddles. Usually she had at least a few nights without a memory immediately after having one. She wanted to relish in the little peace she was awarded for as long as she possible could. But, of course, nothing ever went her way.

She didn't look at Kagetora as she walked out of her room, spun around, and slammed the rattling door shut. He just managed to leap out of the way, and he put a hand up to his chest, giving her a look of affront. "Why, you could have killed me right here and now."

"It is not like you did not try to kill me yesterday," she retorted. "When you knew I cannot fly."

"And where would that leave you, I wonder," he asked contemplatively, tapping his chin with a single finger. Her attention was momentarily diverted by the sight of a long red thread wound around his pinkie finger, double-knotted and then tied off with a small, neat rabbit-eared bow. Not for the first time, she wondered what the story behind why he wore that red thread was. "Me, dead, and Shin without the knowledge to control his Makashi."