“Who is Hisato?” That was the question but no one seemed to have an answer. Kaito had never heard of him, neither had Akira, Tsuki or Rin. The mystery had baffled them all. The group sat in a circle discussing the possibilities. Tsuki was in control and his and Akira’s body. The priests had started to trickle back into the temple after Kaito had torn the roof off the shrine. The second in command had taken over control of the temple. No one knew where the head priest had gone, and Suzume wasn’t going to tell them that some immortal had been masquerading as their head priest, for who knew how long. The priest were organizing the cleanup and rebuilding, it was going to be a massive undertaking. The shrine was torn to bits from three dragon attacks –Suzume counted the one where Kaito tore off the roof of the temple as an attack. Many of the dormitories were in ruins and the walkways were near impassable in some places.
The priests seemed trained to hospitality because despite the state of the temple, they still served Rin, Kaito, and Suzume a meal. For whatever reason, the priest still could not see Tsuki. Tsuki ate Suzume’s noodles noisily while Rin sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, scowling. We can’t stay here much longer. Suzume thought, we’ve destroyed enough of the shrine as it is. Where do we go from here?
Kaito paced back and forth, anger written in the lines of his body. Suzume watched him. She hadn’t said anything, but she thought she knew who Hisato was. The swamp creature had told her and Kaito about a shape shifter who was killing the other smaller immortals. That has to be him. She kept this knowledge to herself. Even though Hisato was not someone she could trust, she wasn’t sure she could trust the others either. They threw me into the line of fire without a second glance.
Tsuki slurped up the last of his noodles then said, “Could Hisato be a fake name?”
“Why give me a fake name? I think he wanted me to know him,” Suzume said. Along with her knowledge of his potential identity, she had withheld a majority of her conversation with Hisato. She didn’t dare incur Kaito’s wrath. If he thought she was going to try and kill him, he might not be as forgiving as he had been.
“So the question is: how do we find out who this Hisato is?” Tsuki said. He leaned back on his forearms and watched the group with a half-lidded gaze.
“There are plenty of people we could ask,” Kaito said. He stopped pacing and considered Tsuki. “What about Yasuharu?”
“Dead.” Tsuki replied with a shake of his head.
Kaito’s brows shot up to his hairline. “Really?” he shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. What about Bunmei?”
“Also dead.”
“You’re kidding? That guy was the size of a mountain, literally! He was some sort of massive stone creature. ” Kaito’s shoulders had relaxed but it was more of slump of defeat. “What about, Naoaki, Gengo, and Chiyuu?”
“Dead, dead, and headless.” Tsuki ticked off on his fingers.
“Shouldn’t he be dead if he’s headless?” Suzume asked. She scrunched up her nose just thinking about it.
Tsuki grinned. “Not for an immortal. Sometimes they just wander round without heads crashing into things. Seeing as he’s missing a head though, he cannot give us much in the way of information.”
I cannot get my mind around this world, headless creatures living without a head? She considered telling them what she had deduced about Hisato, but seeing the pain in Kaito’s eyes held her tongue. Everyone he knew is dead. Did Hisato kill them? Why does he want me to kill Kaito? If he could kill someone as large as a mountain, then why not Kaito?
Kaito and Tsuki were going down a list of names and Tsuki was ticking off more deaths to Kaito’s continued horror. Kaito crouched down on the ground, his head resting in his hands. He kept asking about more people, while Tsuki recounted numerous gruesome deaths, his descriptions getting more graphic with each new name. Suzume felt a sudden urge to be away. She needed fresh air she decided. She stood up and slipped out of the room. Kaito and Tsuki were so ensconced in their conversation, neither of them noticed her leaving.
Outside the night was closing in. Cicadas sung in the dark, their shrill cries rising up to the moon and stars above. Suzume walked towards the decimated temple where she had talked with Hisato. In the dark, the beams and broken shards of wood look like a barren forest. Would I be willing to join Hisato, if it meant I would be free of all of this? The thought kept popping up in her head. Kaito, Akira and Tsuki, even Rin all saw her as Kazue. I’m not her. I’m Suzume. Hisato said he knew her, the real Suzume, no one had said that to her before. No one knew the real her, she hid it deep down where no one could touch it, yet Hisato had spoken her thoughts. He was right; she did have a blood lust, a boiling anger that sometimes threatened to swallow her whole. How can he know me? Or am I Kazue? And he is just telling me what Kazue was like before me? She growled and raked her hands through her hair.
Footsteps fell on the landing behind her. Suzume spun around expecting another attack. She left the staff behind and she felt naked without it. There was no light in this part of the temple but the stars above. The shadows were long and reaching Suzume. She squinted in the dark looking for a possible attacker. Rin approached, materializing from the darkness and shadows Suzume had been cloaked in. Rin had her arms wrapped around her torso, as if she was fighting off a chill. Now that the clouds had dissipated, however, it was humid, the heat and moisture stuck to the skin and sweat rolled down to the small of Suzume’s back.
“What do you want?” Suzume said. She would rather be alone.
“You’re not going to do it, are you?”
Suzume froze up. Did Rin suspect Suzume of wanting to go over to Hisato? Suzume wanted to learn more about him, like how he knew things about her that no one else knew.
“What are you talking about?” Suzume’s voice was high and squeaky.
Rin sighed. She walked over and surveyed the dark temple grounds. She was close to Suzume but not close enough to be considered a threat. Rin spoke to the darkness, “You’re not really going to try and seal Kaito away again, are you?”
Rin looked at Suzume from the corner of her eyes. Suzume turned away. Even though she wasn’t looking at her directly, Suzume got the impression Rin could see right through her, as if she were transparent. “Not if he doesn’t give me a reason to,” Suzume said.
The wind rustled through the gingko trees and there was nothing said for a few moments.
Rin exhaled. “I’m glad, I was worried...”
The relief in her voice irked Suzume for some reason. Rin had insisted there was nothing between Kaito and her but Suzume couldn’t help but wonder. What does it matter if there’s something between them? Maybe if there was, he wouldn’t look at me like I’m Kazue, his reincarnated lover. No matter what she told herself, however, she felt a twinge of jealousy.
“What do you think about this Hisato guy?” Suzume asked Rin just for want of a change of subject.
Rin did not answer right away. She leaned on an intact pole that was held up what was left of the covered walkway.
“I don’t know but he gives me a bad feeling. He’s very powerful, if he can create an illusion that realistic. Not to mention, he fought you while maintaining two illusions at once. I wouldn’t say this to Kaito but I don’t think even he could do that.”
Suzume laughed and Rin smiled. They shared a brief moment of camaraderie before Suzume cleared her throat and said, “What does he want with me?” She knew of course but she wanted to see what Rin thought.
Rin turned to face Suzume and she had narrowed her green eyes at Suzume. “I’m not sure, are you sure he didn’t say anything more to you while you were inside the shrine?”
Suzume met Rin’s gaze, not flinching lest she realize she was hiding information. “No, he just taunted me without giving me much information.
Rin stared for a moment more, her eyes searching Suzume’s face looking for the answers there. She flashed a smile again. “I guess Hisato is a bit like Kaito in that --maybe he’s one of the first immortals.”
Suzume laughed, “I don’t know about that; why would an immortal that powerful want to taunt me?”
“Maybe he’s in love with you,” Rin replied with a smirk.
Suzume’s grew wide and she shoved Rin hard as if pushing her away would avoid the truth. “That’s not funny, Kaito loved Kazue, not me.”
Rin’s smirk only grew wider. “I know. I meant maybe Hisato is in love with you.”
Suzume’s neck was burning with embarrassment and she was glad it was dark out and Rin couldn’t see. “I know, that’s what I meant. They’re both so similar I got mixed up for a moment.”
Suzume had to get away from this topic and fast before this conversation went down a road, she did not want to take it.
“Uh –huh.” Rin chuckled.
Suzume was in desperate need of a change of subject. “Where do we go from here? How do we find out more about Hisato?” How can I find out more about him?
“Well as you may have noticed there are not a lot of people left to ask questions.” There was a hint of sadness in her voice. Rin had lost friends, just as Kaito had. “A lot of powerful immortals have gone missing or have died since Kaito was gone, and lower level immortals tend to keep to themselves. They wouldn’t know much.”
“Why is that? Where are they all going?”
“My guess is someone is killing them and trying to gather power,”
“But why?”
“Why else do people look for power? To be in control.”
Suzume frowned. It made sense, she supposed. Where did Kazue fit in with all of this, and Kaito. Hisato had to be the one killing the other immortals. I wonder what he’s collecting power for? Kaito had told Suzume once that he ruled over a region, and the priests seemed to pray to him in some capacity.
“Do you have leaders, among the immortals I mean?” Suzume asked.
“Not in the human sense. We have powerful immortals: some of the original eight have been known to keep greedy creatures from gaining too much power but no one has seen them in centuries.”
“Where did they go?”
“No one knows; maybe to sleep. They’ve lived for centuries, since the beginning of time, and they tend to view time differently than us.”
This is all incredibly boring and unhelpful. None of it tells me what Hisato wants, do I dare trust him?
“Hey girls, come back in here, we found some rice-wine!” Tsuki appeared in the hallway down the way. He was illuminated by the light spilling from the open door. He carried a jug of rice-wine in his hand. His smile stretched from ear to ear.
“Please come and make him show some restraint,” Akira said using Tsuki’s form. “It’s been a long time since he’s drank and I fear he will get out of hand.”
Rin laughed. “We’re coming.”
By the time Rin and Suzume were back, Kaito and Tsuki were already pouring rice-wine into small porcelain cups. Kaito and Tsuki clinked glasses and cheered. Kaito tossed back his rice-wine in one gulp, Suzume watched his throat work as he swallowed. His early anger had melted away but there was a sadness there that she hadn’t seen before. I’d want to drown myself in drink if everyone I knew was dead, too.
Kaito saw her staring and instead of scowling or pretending to flirt he gave her a smile, a rare genuine smile. His eyes crinkled at the corners and he gestured to her with the cup. Suzume took a seat beside him and took the offered cup.
“Bottoms up, priestess,” Kaito said, before drinking another cup.
Suzume drank it down, the liquid fire burning its way down her throat. She was no stranger to drinking. She had more than a few late night rendezvous with rice-wine involved. Somehow, this time she felt like she needed to hold back. The others were not as reserved with their drinking and soon they were singing rowdy songs with lyrics that made even Suzume want to blush.
At some point, Rin passed out. A cup fell from her hand and liquid was poured out, soaking the bamboo floors. Tsuki had gotten up saying something about wanting to relieve himself. Suzume and Kaito were alone for the first time since they had found out she was Kazue’s reincarnation.
Kaito took a swig of the rice wine and set the jug down with a plunk. “How long did you know?” he said, his words sloshing together like the wine in the jug. Despite his drunken state, his eyes were focused and intent on Suzume. It was disarming.
“Know what?” Suzume asked. She twirled her cup in her hands, avoiding his gaze.
“That you were Kazue.”
She shot her head up preparing to defend herself. Instead she saw him looking at her with a strange expression. He leaned forward. Crouched on all fours, he crawled over to her wobbling slightly as he did so. Suzume scooted back against a wall to try and avoid him but he came over and hovered over her. His arms were placed on either side of her legs. They weren’t touching but she could feel that crackle of their powers colliding. She could smell the drink on his breath and she turned her face away from him.
“Your breath stinks. And I’m not Kazue, we just share a soul.”
Kaito reached out and tried to touch Suzume’s face. “You look like her, especially when I’ve been drinking.”
She slapped his hand away spark erupted where their hands contacted in blue and red. “As flattering as that is, I’d rather you didn’t touch me.”
He laughed; it was intimidating and thrilling at the same time.
“What’s so funny?”
He leaned in close and Suzume felt the sizzles of commingling power, the heat that their combined energy seemed to create.
“You’re funny, Suzume.” He so rarely said her given name that is was always a shock to hear him say it. She spun her head sideways to look at him and found his lips very close to hers. Even though he was drunk, even though knew it was a stupid idea, she thought about kissing him. Just to see what his lips would taste like, and to see if the sparks would erupt between them when there flesh met for real.
She closed her eyes and leaned in, intent on trying. He won’t remember; he’s too drunk. Kaito moved closer as well she could feel his energy wrapping around her. The combat had ended and instead their powers were melding together, swirling and becoming something different entirely.
The sliding door crashed open and Tsuki called out a drunken slur. Suzume wrenched her head back just in time to crack it against the wall. She rubbed her sore spot staring at Kaito who was looking at her with a strange expression.
She looked away. “Your breath really stinks,” She said.
“You were going to kiss me and we both know it,” he said in a husky whisper in her ear.” He chuckled and sat back on his haunches.
Suzume’s face was burning with embarrassment. I’m an idiot. I am not going to be Kazue, no matter what they tell me.
A/N: Before you all get your firey torches for interupting their kiss, I have to say I have a reason for everything I do. And it's not just for the enjoyment of torturing my readers, though that is a fun perk. In all seriousness what do you think? Love it? Mad at Suzume for being an idiot and considering going over to the dark side? Let me know, I love hearing from you.