リクト
[pai]
[wake up]
[pai]
[wake up]
[paipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipaipai]
[WAKE UP]
"Lisyonak!"
Her eyes snapped open and pain immediately hit her head, eyes creaking from being stitched together from a night of fitful tossing and turning in her attempts to sleep. She woke with her heart thudding in her chest as the swirling pool of her [ability] subsided, screaming echo fading away, its job in rousing her done.
She'd barely slept that night to begin with. Several times she'd nodded off for but a few seconds, body weary and eyes drooping as sleep stretched its eager fingers out to her, only to be violently rejected as she startled awake moments later, memories of red dots flowering on pale foreheads plaguing her mind, and the whole cycle would repeat itself endlessly.
Shin was there every time she jerked awake, holding her in his arms, soothing her with his touch and his voice reassuring her that he was there, she was safe, they were okay. She thought that maybe, at one point, he'd sung a lullaby to her. Now in her half-asleep state, she was frustrated to realize that she didn't remember what words he sang, how he sounded.
She'd finally managed to snatch a few hours' sleep some minutes before Shin had left the room, kissing her temple softly as he told her to rest when she tried to sit up. Her slumber, aided by Kuniumi this time, was so deep that it was like she'd been swimming in a dark ocean that had no beginning and no end, surrounded by a white void that unsettled her, even though she wasn't exactly afraid of it.
Then it came again.
The sound of that name – her name, his name – being called, desperate, pleading, scared.
"Lisyonak – Pai!"
She shot out of bed faster than she'd ever moved in her entire life, tears springing out of nowhere to blur her vision at the incredible weakness pervading her bones, hair a puffy cloud of snow. Her heart thudded in her chest as she miscalculated and fell to the floor with a painful thump!, legs tangled in the blanket Shin had covered her in when he left earlier.
Her arms shook as she shoved the blanket away and stood with knees wobbling uncertainly as she stumbled to the door. She put a hand to the wall as she gasped harshly, pulling air into lungs that felt deprived of it. Fear pumped like poison through her veins, fear that she was still dreaming, that the voice calling her name endlessly wasn't real, that she was hallucinating, that every possible thing that could go wrong now, was.
He's here, Kuniumi whispered.
The wavering hope inside her blossomed at the quaver in Kuniumi's voice. It gave her the strength she needed to lurch upright and reach for the door. Her feet were bare on the cold floorboards, but she didn't care about that, heartbeat banging up a riot in the confines of her ribcage as she flung the door open – to be met with Shiori's startled face.
The two stared at each other. Shiori gaped at her coming out of Shin's room. She looked like a fish, eyes blown wide open, mouth hanging as her jaw worked to try and speak. Pai could only imagine how she looked to inspire such a reaction; her hair was a bird's nest, she knew there were still imprints of the bed on the side of her cheek, she was barefoot, and her clothes were rumpled from a spasmodic night's sleep.
"It is not what you are thinking," she muttered heatedly as she turned and set off down the hall in a brisk walk, going as fast as she could without outright running. Part of her wanted to escape Shiori's ogling, and to hide the fierce blush glowing in her cheeks. Most of her just wanted to reach the source of the anguished cry of her name before it disappeared.
It wasn't difficult for Shiori to catch up to her pace. Her legs were unfairly long.
"Okay," Shiori agreed, placating. "It's not what I'm thinking. Of course not."
They passed people's doors, catching the sounds of those within stirring at the disruption of morning peace that was not because of the children. Shiori made an irate sound as they turned a corner, almost at the entrance of the house, where all the shouting came from.
"Who the hell's that shouting this early? I woke up because they're making so much noise," Shiori grumbled. It was Saturday. Her sleep-in day. Anyone who disturbed it did so on pain of death.
Pai didn't say anything, moving down the corridor with single-minded focused. Her heart pounded, her stomach was a shivering ball of nerves, and her palms were damp as she rubbed them against her pyjama trousers. She needed to get there. She needed to get there before he disappeared.
He's here, Kuniumi whispered again. Another spike of urgency lanced through her, and she picked up her pace.
"Got any idea what that's about?" Shiori tried again, frowning at the look of worry on Pai's face, hurrying to keep up. "Whoever it is, they're calling your name."
Pai didn't reply.
They walked on for seconds longer in silence, awkward on Shiori's part, oblivious on Pai's. They rounded one last corner, and then they were at the front doors, wide open to reveal what was going on in the courtyard ahead.
Standing a little ways before the ajar gates of Ayashi House was a small group of people. Shin was there, and an ineffable part of her unravelled at the sight of him, his presence soothing Pai's frazzled nerves instantaneously. The little ball of worry she'd woken up with when seeing Shin wasn't in his room with her, unnoticed until now, unravelled.
Kouta was there, too, with Kaede, Daichi, and Karasatengu. Shin stood closest to the gate, on the left, his wiry body tense as a drawn bowstring. He looked like he was ready to fight at a moment's notice, eyes no longer the diamond blue he kept up for appearance's sake, but Kamigami red.
Karasatengu was on the right, watching Kouta with a dark and defensive look in his eye, standing tall and imposing before the open gates. His face was a carefully blank mask, but Pai could almost feel his irate disapproval. Kaede was close to Kouta, standing protectively in front of his Heir despite the fact that said Heir could very well protect himself. Kouta was slightly behind him, accepting the protection as what it was; the fulfilment of Kaede's duty as Daitengu.
Her attention snagged on Kouta for a brief moment. He stood still, accepting Kaede's protective stance, and he seemed calm – but the slight furrow of his brows had Pai's heart sinking with dread, even though she had no idea what she had to fear from him. There was no smile on his face, and his eyes held a level of serious regard in them that had the hairs on the back of her neck raising.
He looked like Kurama.
The two stood between Karasatengu and Shin, both still dressed in their night clothes. Kouta was talking to a young man in a pacifying manner, trying to calm him down as the man snapped back in clear irritation at whatever it was Kouta had just said to him. Kaede said nothing, only quietly watching and glaring at the intruder. Daichi was closer to the house, standing at the foot of the stairs.
Pai staggered at the threshold of the front doors, knees jerking as she came to a dead stop. Shiori walked on ahead and came to a stop by Daichi. He turned to look down at her, shaking his head in response to the befuddlement on her face, silently answering the question she asked him. His arms were crossed over his chest as he pensively watched the proceeds before him.
The man Kouta was talking to was a few inches shorter than Kouta's six feet, of a slighter build, but no less strong for it. She'd seen him flip a man twice his size before, breaking bones and grinning through it all.
"Oi, Pai, let's have a match," he says, flashing her a pirate's smile. "Whoever wins gets next week's shitty rations for two days."
He's here.
He was dressed all in black; practical combat boots at his feet, jeans, a t-shirt that fit snug over his lean frame. He wore no other accessory except for a single earring pierced through his left ear. Fingerless gloves, plain and undecorated, were on his hands, extending to midway up his forearm like braces.
She looks into his eyes for another moment. They are bright, and the shadows nestled under his eyes are more like bruises. He still smiles at her, and she wonders how much it must hurt to keep such a bright smile on his face for so long.
He's here.
His hair was not entirely the dark brown she remembered. It was shot through with streaks of white, especially close to his temples, as if he was an ageing old man instead of the youth he really was, thrown into wild disarray from what must have been a run up the mountain to get here, if the faint line of perspiration beaded at his forehead was any indication. Her heart warbled at the sight of his hair, the unnaturalness of the white in it.
"Tell her who I am. Tell her who the hell I am to her!"
Pai tripped forward, almost falling down the stairs. She was only stopped by Shiori's quick reflexes at she spun around at the gasp behind her. Shiori caught her before she could fall, keeping her steady.
"Pai? What's – "
She didn't get further than that before Pai shoved herself away, desperate to get to him, to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
You're not. He's here.
"Pai-chan?" Shiori repeated, eyes wide in shock at the rejection.
She ignored her. She ignored Daichi as she twisted on nimble feet, out of reach when he tried to stop her from going any further. She ignored Kaede's flashing mint green eyes turning to her, his mouth opening to tell her to stay back. She ignored the knowing look Shin gave her when she moved.
Her eyes were pinned on the man, on the achingly familiar glare he aimed at Kaede and Kouta, the tense set of his shoulders, the way he held his hands curled into fists at his side, hands that once shook with rage when she committed an unspeakable act in the name of protecting him.
The man shook his head roughly at what Kouta said, in refusal. He turned to the house again, opening his mouth to shout again, to call her name in that way, that way that was so specific to their kind, but then his eyes met hers. Those eyes she'd killed for, to keep the light of life in them. They went wide as he saw her walking slowly to him, only a few feet away.
"Lisyonak," he breathed, tears springing to his eyes and falling down his cheeks, unashamed.
And when she heard his nickname for her, the one he started using when they found out what they were, she started crying.
They were heaving sobs that didn't sound like they belonged to her. Droplets of ice chilled her to the bone as they slipped out of her eyes and tracked down her face in silver trails. She was running before she knew it, hair flying in a white cloud behind her.
Before anyone could move, to try and get in his way, to stop him, the man was running too, on feet that flew so inhumanly fast, hardly anyone saw him move as he vanished from Kouta and Kaede's side and made straight for her.
Kaede turned, made to approach her, to stop her mad dash, but he wasn't fast enough. He was too far away – and he stopped dead when she ignored everyone and everything around her and threw herself into the open arms of the only other person she trusted more than Shin, the only one who mattered as much, his name falling from her lips in a broken, ecstatic cry because he wasn't dead.
"Rikuto!"
×
Like every single person in the wide world, Shiori had been confused many times in her life.
She was confused when she found her best friend unconscious at the foot of the elm tree outside Ayashi House, after living three years thinking Pai might be dead.
She was confused when she was in her own subconscious and aided by the twisted counsel of a Kitsune who hid his face from her and gifted her a watch from an era she hated.
She was confused by the strange woman in Pai's subconscious, who warned her of the hatred she would receive from Pai one day for saving her, when Pai had been trying to kill herself.
Shiori had been ecstatic when she realized Pai and Shin were finally together – of course she was. She'd rooted for them to be together almost fanatically, and was glad for them despite her initial confusion when Shin walked into the infirmary, exactly two weeks ago, and made a beeline straight for Pai, holding her and comforting her when she needed it, in a way that was definitely more than 'just friends'.
She'd been mortally confused, and angry, and scared by everything Pai told her and Kouta that same day, of the things Pai said she'd done in the three years she was missing, of the fact that Pai had actually thought the best way to protect the people she loved was by leaving them as she disappeared, again.
But now, more than ever, nothing made sense to her. At all.
The tears that streamed down Pai's face were not those of anger, or pain. They were happy. Happier than Shiori had seen her in a long time.
Pai was laughing, voice choked as if an ocean whirlpooled inside her. She was crying and smiling and laughing all at the same time as the man, with hair that looked like it was turning into what Pai's was now, lifted her clear off the ground and swung her around in a circle, shouting that weird name he kept calling her, like she was the source of all his happiness in the world. Pai had her arms wrapped around his neck, and they hugged each other so fiercely that they looked melded together.
By that point, almost everyone in the house had come out, drawn by the commotion. Kouta and Kaede shared a flabbergasted look at the sight before them, Daichi by her side standing and staring with wide eyes. The silence that echoed in the baffled hollows left behind in the wake of their gasping, laughing, crying, was felt by everyone else in the courtyard as they stared in shock.
Ryu stood at her elbow, sleepily rubbing his eyes. "Shii-chan? what's going on?"
Does it look like I know, she thought bluntly. She shook her head and said, "I have no idea."
"Who's that?" he asked, as if she hadn't just spoken.
"Little man," she grumbled, shooting him a disgruntled glare. "What did I just say?"
She merely moved to the side when he aimed a half-hearted punch at her, still gaping at the scene unfolding.
The other Daitengu were at the door, or on the porch, looking at each other for answers, only to find confusion looking back at them. Haru stood on the bottom stair, almost protectively standing in front of Yukiji, who was staring with an odd mixture of hurt and anger at Pai.
Shiori wondered about that. She had been there when Yukiji stormed into the house last night, the first drops of the night's rain showered on her dark hair, making her look like she wore a crown of crystals. She'd been crying, her eyes puffy and red, face pale as death as she went to her room and slammed the door shut, ignoring Shiori's cheery call of greeting.
Shiori didn't know what had happened to make Yukiji look like that. She was always the calm one, always smiling at anyone, kindness exuding from her very being. In the three years Shiori had been living at Ayashi House, called it her home, not once had she ever seen Yukiji raise her voice in anger with the impossibly rowdy kids, or look more than good-naturedly irate at Haru's and the other Daitengu's shenanigans.
Shiori had felt uncomfortable to see the parallels in the way Yukiji had looked like Pai in that moment; wounded, in pain, and refusing to let anyone know of it. But why was Yukiji looking at Pai like that now? Had they had an argument or something? What could it have been about that Yukiji could still be angry, could look so sad and heartbroken as she watched Pai now?
Shiori glanced at Shin – and she saw that he didn't look all that concerned. He didn't even look irritated, or ruffled by the appearance of this strange man who held on to Pai like he would never let go. She'd noticed that he hadn't made so much as a step toward Pai to stop her when she dashed toward the stranger.
Shin looked...oddly at peace. As if things were falling into place, pieces of a puzzle whose picture only he could see. He caught her look, gave her a small smile, and then the look of serenity was wiped off as his poker face settled in place.
What the hell is this? She thought. What the hell is this?
She walked down the stairs and headed straight to Kouta's side, touching his arm. He looked down at her, saw the confusion on her face. He shrugged helplessly, eyebrows raised high and furrowed. He didn't know what to make of this either.
Everyone was thinking the same thing, at the same time, as they watched the two who seemed to have fallen into their own world.
Who the hell is this?
She'd have thought Shin would be jealous of another man being anywhere near Pai. Even before they got together, Pai might not have, but Shiori had noticed the warning glares Shin would give any man who so much as looked at Pai too long. In school, before Pai had to stop coming, Shin spoke so curtly to the boys he'd overheard talking about Pai like love-struck buffoons that she knew those boys would forever remember that iron in their high school Math teacher's voice.
For goodness sake, Shin became a Math teacher to be closer to Pai.
Yet there he stood, completely at ease, katanas nowhere in sight the way they always suspiciously appeared out of nowhere when he didn't like any given situation. He crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the woman he loved cling to the strange man who'd appeared out of nowhere – quite literally, it seemed, because otherwise there was no way Karasatengu would have been caught unawares by his appearance, especially with those crows of his cawing in agitation in the trees.
Finally, the man set Pai down, but she didn't step away from him as he kept his arms firmly wrapped around her waist, her forearms resting on his. They were still stuck in that private world of theirs, shared with a heavy understanding of things no one else could comprehend. They were oblivious to all the staring going on – an impressive feat, considering there were at least twenty pairs of eyes stuck fast on them.
With a hand that shook, her eyes glimmering with tears she was fighting to control, Pai reached up and pushed her fingers through his messy brown-white hair.
"Why?" she whispered hoarsely. "Why's it like this? What did they do to you?"
He looked down at her with such sadness that Shiori's heart grew heavy with unease. She'd seen that look before.
"Was it – " her voice cracked. "Was it Yamato?"
Shiori blanched at the name, eyes widening as she looked at the man's hair. Pictures flashed by her, memories of Pai's subconscious Shiori kept repressing, the pain of them too much to bear.
The man sighed in annoyance, took his cigarette out, inspecting the glowing orange end. He blew on it. Then he jabbed it into Pai's cheek.
Pai screamed.
White bone filament soaked in blood tore through the skin, but the Pai in front of her didn't even seem to notice that she had just broken her own wrists.
"Want her to say sorry? Break us from these chains and you will see how sorry we are."
The man shook his head, alarm flashing across his face. "I didn't – I didn't know Kiku faked it." There was a strange roll in the way he said the words, as if Japanese wasn't his first language, even though he looked Japanese. "He didn't tell me. He didn't tell anyone. I thought I lost you, Pai. For real."
What the fuck, what the fuckity fuck, what the actual fuck, Shiori chanted in her head.
She peered over at Shin again. He still stood back from Pai and the man, watching them contemplatively. She looked up at Kouta. He had a puzzled frown on his face; she could practically see the gears turning in his brain as he tried to figure out what was going on from the few puzzle pieces he had.
The man ran a trembling hand down Pai's hair, leaning back just enough so he could look at all of her without letting go. He touched the bruised shadows under her eyes with fingers that shook. "You've been crying."
Pai smiled emptily at him.
Shiori hated that smile. It worried her.
Kouta spoke up then, unable to keep his silence any longer. He warily eyed the man's arm around Pai's waist, and then looked at Shin, perfectly calm behind the two. Shin nodded reassuringly at Kouta, giving him a look laden with knowing.
Shin appeared to be more aware of what was happened than anyone else. That knowledge wasn't bothering him in the least. If anything – and this was pure guesswork because, unlike Pai, Shiori wasn't good at figuring out what the man was thinking – he looked relieved by what was happening.
Kouta refocused his intent yellow gaze on Pai again, and asked the question that was on all their minds.
"Pai-chan, who is this?"
She turned to him, blinking dazedly, as if she was only just coming to realize the audience before her. A pink blush tinged her cheeks, but it wasn't one of shame, or embarrassment. She averted her gaze from the keenly curious eyes all around her, opened her mouth to speak, and then stopped.
She lifted her eyes from the ground to look across the courtyard at Yukiji, who hadn't stopped staring at Pai with an aggrieved expression strewn across her face. Sorrow, guilt, and relief warred in equal measures in Pai's eyes. She was torn, not knowing what to do, biting her lip when it trembled.
Then her eyes glazed over, in that way Shiori noticed when Pai went deep inside her head, that way that unsettled her because it made her wonder – unlikely as it was – if Pai was talking to the strange woman from the cloud-ground world of Pai's subconscious.
But that wasn't possible.
Right?
Pai shut her eyes momentarily. It was only then that Shin gave her a dark look, as if he knew what she was thinking. The man looked at her strangely as well, sharing an almost identical look of worry with Shin despite being turned away from the Daitengu. Neither made a move to stop her, or speak for her, as if they could both see that she needed to do this on her own.
Whatever this was.
After a long second, she opened her eyes again. She looked up at the man beside her, glanced at Shin, who nodded encouragingly at her, silently urging her on. She turned to Kouta again. Shiori saw her squeeze the young man's hand as he stood next to her, solid and immovable as a mountain. He squeezed back, and that seemed to give Pai the strength to speak. He didn't introduce himself, realizing the same thing Shin had; she needed to do this herself.
"This is Rikuto." Pai started before trailing off, hesitant, resolve wavering. She glanced at Shiori, a pleading look that she cut off by looking away before it could become something more.
In a sudden moment of clarity, at the sight of the two turned to her and Kouta, looking at him with the exact same pair of eyes set under hair gone and going white from the secrets tucked away in their pasts, it hit her. Years of looking at the same face gender-swapped into two people had the realization striking her with lightning force.
Impossible as it was, as all of it was, Shiori knew what Pai was going to say a second before she did.
"He is my brother."
Rikuto turned to Pai, blatantly ignoring shocked looks on the faces of everyone there, looks she was trying hard not to let affect her. The knowing of who he was had only just come to her when she saw his face again after so long spent apart from one another, recognizing herself in the shape of his nose, his lips, in the bleak look in eyes a colour unique to them alone.
She may not have heard the words said in her memories, she didn't know how it could be possible that they knew nothing of each other practically their whole lives growing up apart, but she knew it, deep in her bones; Rikuto was her brother. Her twin brother.
She noticed there was a wild look in his eyes now, a desperation to say something before it was too late.
"Lisyonak," he said. There was the faintest tremor in his voice, in the way his words rolled, hinting at the Russian that was his mother tongue.
Ice curled like a dragon crackling awake. Something was wrong. Rikuto was scared; not of anyone here, she could tell that he simply disregarded them from the way he only gave them cursory glances – except Kaede, who still stood glaring silently at Kouta's side. No, Rikuto was scared of something else.
And it had something to do with her. He wasn't scared of her; she knew that...but something was wrong for him to be looking at her so warily.
They're here, Kuniumi whispered.
She frowned, at her brother, at Kuniumi. Who?
Who?
Who?
In a flash, Kuniumi was gone, leaving proverbial dust in her wake. Pai startled at the sudden absence. This was different to other times when Kuniumi left. This was something else.
Kuniumi was – she was running.
Pai lifted a hand, ignoring her unease at the fright she'd sensed from Kuniumi before she disappeared, and pushed at his forehead, at the wrinkled brows meeting in a deep, concerned frown. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Rikuto blinked. He looked just as torn as she had only moments ago when she struggled to find the words to tell Kouta who he was. That was wrong, though. Rikuto always knew what to say. He was never at a loss for words, even if they were just to tease or to annoy someone or to just swear endlessly as he was prone to.
"I'm...not alone," he said quietly. "I didn't come alone."
She stilled, heart turning to stone. Worst-case scenarios flew past her mind, every possible thing that could go wrong with their reunion playing out in her mind as she instinctively tried to figure out ways out of each terrible scene.
Images of militaristic black gear-clad bodies wielding guns and comms hooked in their ears as they stormed through the wide open gates of Ayashi House plagued her; lying on a cold, steel table under a circle of harsh white light that blinded her to the sharp blade coming down on her for another round of testing, another round of reassurances for them that their favourite killing toy wasn't broken beyond repair.
Rikuto saw the fear in her eyes, felt the tension in her body as she went into fight-or-flight mode. He shook his head quickly, immediately knowing the cause.
The kill chip.
"No – " he started, recognizing the fear. "It's not them – "
The kill chip.
"But the kill chip – "
"I got it out a long time ago," he reassured her. He reached back and tapped his nape to show her what he meant, then ran a hand down her messy hair. "They're not here, Pai. They don't know about this place. We're safe," he tightened his arms around her, trying to assure her that his words were true.
She held her breath for a moment, staring up at her brother, her twin brother, at the eyes that were exactly like hers, wounded and dark with things they were too young to know about. Safe. The word echoed like a bad joke to her; safe was the last thing she could think of when it came to anything that stepped out of her past.
Even Rikuto was not exempt from that.
He was her brother. She knew, she knew she would kill again to protect him, but the man was a dangerous beast in his own right. His [ability] was geared just right for what So Fu did. He was just like her. He was So Fu's killing toy as well, even if he wasn't as broken as she, even if he'd gotten away from them.
He was just like her.
"Then what?" she asked quietly, unease laced in every fibre of her being. "Who did you come with?"
"Le moi," a gratingly familiar voice called out.
Everyone in the courtyard was startled as they swung their astounded gazes from the brownwhite-haired twins to the man sauntering past the gates like he owned them. He wore jeans coupled with a loose white shirt, a shimmering silver scarf wrapped around his neck. A white Kitsune Mask sat comfortably in the dark curls of his head. Flashing crimson eyes met hers, and Pai stopped breathing.
Relief filled her at the sight of him. Anything, anything was better than So Fu.
That relief was short-lived once her terrified brain caught up with her eyes and she realized who it was strolling through the gates; the man Shin had stabbed through the chest as both Shinigami and himself to become what he was now. The man who'd merely pulled the blade from his chest as if it was a toothpick he was removing from getting stuck between his teeth. The man who literally wiped his own blood off his hands with a handkerchief.
Kagetora.
He blew past in a whirlwind with a conspiratorial wink at Shin, a sunny wave at her, a good-natured clap to the back for Rikuto, before coming to a stop in front of Kouta. He brought with him the trailing smell of a particular brand of cigarette smoke mixed with some kind of mint that had a wave of intense nostalgia rolling through her, nose twitching at the scent.
The Heir immediately moved to stand in front of Shiori, shielding her as Kagetora grinned at him in obvious amusement. Shiori stood tense as a wounded bird facing a large land predator, staring the Kitsune down from behind Kouta, even though she was a good number of inches shorter. Kagetora smirked gaily, ignoring the daggers Kouta glared at him.
Kagetora swept into a low, exaggerated bow. "Good morning, Hiyori-hime."
Even though he used the name belonging to Shiori's first incarnation, with the appropriate honorific attached, he sounded like he was mocking her with it.
Shiori paled. Odd recognition flashed in her eyes as she faced the King. Before anyone could so much as breathe, she said, "You were in my head. It was you."
Kouta looked down at her. Pai saw that he knew what she was talking about, even though he looked surprised. He turned back to the Kitsune, waiting for an answer.
Kagetora smiled at them. He reached up with overinflated ease, as if he had all the time in the world, and pushed the Kitsune Mask over his face. Shiori's breath caught, and she stepped back just a little. Kouta glanced at her when she did, and when he looked back at Kagetora, fury had his eyes glowing as golden disks.
"Nice to meet again, eh?" Kagetora spoke through the Mask, red eyes pinned on Shiori for another drawn-out moment, before he pushed the Mask back up to his head. "Under dubiously better circumstances." He turned to Kouta, somehow ignoring the mingled looks of shock, surprise, fear, and wariness he received from those standing mute in the courtyard, trying to process what was happening so quickly before them. "I'd apologize for intruding so early in the morning, but then again, I'm not sorry."
Kouta, to his credit, reigned in his surprise and choler, and scowled menacingly at the Kitsune. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Kagetora's crimson eyes twinkled in merriment. "Bringing surprises. Admittedly a little late for Easter, but better late than never, eh?" his eyebrows rose, as if in surprise. "Oh no, wait – wasn't it just someone's birthday? Let's say I brought a present for that."
"Don't give me that bullshit," Kouta snapped. "You shouldn't have come here like this."
"Oh? How should I have come, then? With a parade trailing behind me?" he smirked. "It'd be a bit difficult getting them up here. Such a winding path you've got to fight through to get here. I'm sure it can be arranged, however."
Kouta's lips twitched in irritation. "You should have sent a message." It was clear from the tone of his voice that he was struggling not to add some choice expletive labels for the Kitsune.
Kagetora managed to look suitably uninterested as he shrugged and pronounced, "Didn't have time."
"This is an era of instant messaging."
"I couldn't care less about what era it is. They're all the same," he tossed over his shoulder as he spun around, manically gleaming eyes landing on Rikuto and Pai. "I brought your dearly beloved brother here. Figured it'd be a good sending off present. It is, isn't it?"
Pai was stunned to muteness by the suddenness of his appearance, the way he came in like a tornado and whirled everything and everyone into chaotic mayhem. It was Rikuto who answered, grumbling in irritation, and more familiar than he was supposed to be with the King of the Kitsune.
"For chickenshit hell's sake, Kagetora," he growled, taking a step forward. "I thought we fucking agreed – "
Kagetora put a hand to his cheek, shaking his head in sorrow. "After all this time, dear boy, and you still don't realize – you don't make agreements with Kitsune unless you actually want a knife in your back." He cocked his head to the side like a curious owl. "Do you?"
"That's fucking hypocritical coming from you," Rikuto snapped back.
Kagetora gasped in dramatic offence. "Sato's the hypocritical one, not me."
"I'm going to throw you off a building one day."
Kagetora winked. "I'd like to see you try. Which one would you like to do it from? JR Tower? Wonderful view up there."
Rikuto stiffened, and she blanched at that, remembering the last time she was on that building, with Rikuto. The day she'd killed Yukiji's sister and sister's husband.
Did...did Kagetora know? Did he know, somehow, what happened there?
Pai turned to Rikuto, a question on the tip of her tongue, struggling to understand what was happening. How did he know Kagetora, speak to him with such familiarity when her last clear memory was that of Kagetora using her like a puppet to aim a gun at Rikuto? Why had he come with Kagetora? How did Kagetora know about what happened at JR Tower?
Who brought who here?
And why did Kuniumi run away, with not just fear trailing in her wake, but worry, as well? Kuniumi had been excited that Rikuto was here, finally here, but uneasy by Kagetora's appearance.
Why?
She didn't get a chance to voice any of her questions when she caught movement from the corner of her eye, and instinctively looked to see what it was.
Her body turned into a block of ice beside Rikuto. Her entire being screamed, nerve endings lit with the fire of pure rage and grief. Everything in time stopped moving. All ceased to exist in that moment.
"Oh, yes," Kagetora added, as if this came to him as an afterthought when he caught the direction she was looking in, when he saw the look in her eyes, the sudden pallor to her face. "It's your lucky day. You get one more present for your little family. Ho-ho-ho. Or is that the wrong holiday?"
Standing a few feet from the gates, dressed in black jeans and a dark blue shirt under a leather jacket, hovering uncertainly as she looked at all the unfamiliar faces around her, was Midori.