Ink Stained

82: shi no kami*

死の神 

Pai didn't know if she should have seen it coming.

On one of the training days, Kagetora told her to stay longer and watch the fight in its entirety, right to the end. She didn't notice the bright gleam in his eye, and she missed the little smile playing about his lips when he watched Shin struggle not to throw his knife straight at Kagetora's eye for putting her in unnecessary risk by making her stay.

She sat atop her designated boulder and watched the two Hengen's open clash against one another. Kuniumi wasn't there to spectate with her. She'd vanished seconds before their fight began, on to wherever it was she went to when she didn't hang around in Pai's mind to play with her sanity like it was a breakable toy. Pai didn't know why, and when she called out only silence echoed back.

Her heart sat lodged in her throat as she watched, lips pressed to an invisible line. She tried to keep track of Kagetora's insane speed, to spot Shin when he darted this way and that in defensive twirls or lunges that should have struck Kagetora, yet didn't. They moved so deadly fast, it was close to impossible to see anything more than their outlines.

They raced through the clearing, leaping up in the trees, coming down to land before they went right back at it again. Their blades sang as they swung through the air in deadly arcs meant only to maim, to kill. Sometimes Shin used his Ability and blinked out of sight, startling her, but Kagetora always seemed to be two steps ahead and anticipated every coming attack, without using any special abilities of that she could see.

She didn't notice that there was something different about this fight.

Her only hint that something changed was when a gust of wind blew over her when one of them whipped past her. She only had time to register confusion – they never, ever came close to the boulder when they fought, part of some unspoken deal they'd made – before she was yanked to her feet. She went, stumbling before she was swiftly righted with an arm coming up and around her shoulders in a blatant move to keep her in place.

Startled, she looked back and saw it was Kagetora holding her in an unbreakable grip. In the circle of his arms he kept her prisoner, preventing her when she tried to move by tightening his hold around her shoulders. There was a faint scratch of metal on stone, and she looked down to see he'd lowered the tip of his odachi to the ground.

"What are you – "

"Shh," he whispered, breath so close to her ear that she shivered in intense discomfort. Her skin itched where he touched her, even though it was through her clothes.

She hated people touching her. Her palms dampened, and perspiration beaded her forehead just below her hairline, sweat inching down her spine. She hated when another's skin came close to hers. Still, she instinctively reached up to keep her hands on his forearm over her throat, a pathetic attempt to keep him from strangling her if he tried to. She had had one too many experiences with asphyxiation already.

"What are you doing?" she hissed under her breath, ignoring his call for her compliance. She might look meek and obedient, but she sure as hell wasn't going to bend over backwards for anyone.

"Pull the trigger," she felt his answering grin at her back. "Kill the beast."

"What – " her eyes widened in realization, and her gaze dropped. Standing frozen in front of the boulder below, glaring up at the Kitsune, was Shin.

Half a second later, his form blurred before her eyes. Between one blink and the next Shin was standing right in front of her, a few feet away. The only sign that he'd moved was the tension in his wiry body halting his momentum, the stir of hair on his head ruffling from an unseen breeze.