Ink Stained

82: shi no kami*

Her mouth fell open in surprise at the wild fury burning in eyes long gone blood-red, crow's feet at the corners set against a deathly pale skin. His face was painted in harsh lines that made him look like someone else entirely – and not just any random stranger, but Shinigami. He looked barbaric, feral, wild and dangerous as he teetered on the brink of losing all control.

Her stomach churned as her eyes roved over him, trying to pick out any tell-tale sign that he was cut somewhere. He only looked like this, anywhere close to this, when Kagetora cut him with one of his many poisoned blades, and he was still trying to keep fighting through the pain. But Shin, despite the way he looked, wasn't injured. Kagetora hadn't stopped the fight as he did when he cut Shin, either.

But she wasn't so slow-witted to not realize that there was something different this time. Something had changed, was changing, in their battle. She just couldn't see what it was.

"Kagetora," Shin spoke in a harsh, doubling voice that wasn't entirely his alone. Her gaze sharpened when a flicker of something red ran down the length of his hair on one side, before disappearing in a flash. "Get the hell away from her."

"One week, Shin." Kagetora ignored the cold fury directed at him. "In the outside world it's been three days. Here, it's been one week since we started this training. Why won't you let him out? Do you really think I can't face him?"

"Get away from Pai," he snapped. He lips pulled over his teeth, and she stared blankly at his canines, sharper than they usually were. She couldn't bring herself to say anything as she watched this carnal side to him that she'd never seen before. Even Shinigami never looked like this.

Kagetora shook his head over hers. "Answer me, and maybe I will."

Shin pursed his lips tight, eyes narrowing in suspicion as he clenched his hands around his katanas. A spasm rocked through his body and he tensed, eyes shutting for a brief moment before he snapped them open to focus on Kagetora once more. She could see him fight with himself, torn between his stubborn refusal to heed anything Kagetora said, and the need to get her away from the Kitsune as fast as possible.

Finally, with an aggravated growl resounding deep from his chest, he snarled, "I can't."

"Why ever not?" Kagetora pressed, stepping forward in such a way that Pai did as well, moving with him as though they were one person. "You still can't bring yourself to trust my ability to train you?"

"Not you," he begrudgingly acquiesced. He looked at Pai, staring at him with her eyes wide as saucers, before going back to Kagetora. "It's him."

"The whole point of this training," here, where she hadn't before, she could hear faint traces of irritation in Kagetora's voice. "Is to learn to control your Makashi. You're not going to do that if you keep him locked away where he can't be controlled, Shin, where he can't be trained."

She stopped breathing when Kagetora whipped his odachi up to settle on his elbow, right at her neck. Its razor sharp edge kissed the side of her neck, cold as ice and sharp as the deadliest blade, and she dared not move an inch. Shin started when Kagetora held his odachi to her neck, eyes blazing in rage. He lifted his katanas as if he was about to attack him right then, but Kagetora clicked his tongue in faint warning, and he halted.