Chapter 45

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...

(Red Barchetta, Moving Pictures, Rush)

Keisuke could feel a headache coming on. His temples throbbed. Rubbing them didn't help much in light of the back and forth arguing between Michiko and Tetsuya. It was like that from the time Tetsuya had got the ticket for speeding – his first one ever; and he wasn't about to let anyone forget it – until they got to the Yuuki household. It had been decided that taking Miaka home and surrounding her with familiar settings after the attack would be the best idea.

He had called ahead to ensure that their mother wasn't there. He knew she had said something about visiting her youngest sister in Kyoto, but he couldn't remember how long she would be staying there. A quick long distance phone call on his cell phone quickly resolved that question. Their mother was indeed staying out of town for a while. It seemed her sister had a nervous breakdown; the husband had left her and the sister had five children to care for.

He couldn't help but to smile as he listen to his mother speak. She sounded like she had taken charge the second she stepped in the door. She had turned away from the phone to yell at two of his cousins who were fighting over the remote control. She sighed and returned her attention back to him and asked him to ensure Miaka kept up with her studies while she was gone.

He gave her affirmation that he would make sure Miaka didn't fall behind.

It was then his mother informed him she was going to need him to bring her more of her clothes. Staying for a week was out of the question, she was going have to stay a lot longer. She had already made arrangements to work out of her company's office in Kyoto so she could stay near her sister until her sister got her act together.

He snickered as he listen to his mother use rather colourful language to describe his aunt as a lethargic blight on society; a layabout who was mooching off the system and couldn't be arsed to do something for herself.

Keisuke couldn't hold this against his mother. She had been a strong woman. When her husband had left, she had immediately acquired divorce papers and made it well known she didn't need his support and promptly took on work hours that were typically expected of men. This left Keisuke to care for Miaka. Though, they did see their mother for dinner every night. She was home on the weekend. She didn't travel. It made up for her long work hours.

Finally hanging up his cell phone as they approached the apartment, Keisuke returned it to the clip on his pants and unbuckled his seat belt as Tetsuya pulled into the parking lot, promptly taking up two spaces. He always did. No one bothered to try and tell him not to. The efforts would be futile.

Opening the door, he blinked as the cat jumped out and turned around, blinking at him.

Why couldn't be associate with nice, normal people? Why did everyone he knew have to be weird?

He watched Michiko climb out of the back seat holding Miaka.

She was pretty; nay, attractive. She was possibly one of the best looking girl he ever laid eyes upon. He could see how she could easily be into power. That much physical beauty could easily command power.

He was drawn out of his stare as he felt something climbing his leg. It was Tama. The cat dig its claws into Keisuke's jeans as it deftly climbed up the leg, eventually coming to rest on his shoulder. Once satisfied, the cat pointed toward the building and meowed as if to say, "forward march!"

The cat was really something else. It was strange to think that the cat was really a human who happened to be the parent of three people he was acquainted with; one of which was now the new miko. The cat had the capacity to be in its human form, yet seemed to prefer to be in cat form. It made communication difficult, though it surely entertained the cat.

Tama, perched happily, and purring, on Keisuke's shoulders gazed around serenely. It didn't dig its claws in; something Keisuke was inwardly grateful for. If the cat was, the cat would have no doubt been thrown off and left to walk on the ground or find another way of getting around.

'Why doesn't he just take on a bird form and fly…?' Keisuke wondered to himself as the group walked up the outside stairs to the apartment. 'I wouldn't have to carry it.'

Upon entering, Tetsuya yelped, dropping the book he had been carrying. A light shot out from the book. It wasn't the same light that had taken in Meike. It was the light that had grabbed Miaka once upon a time, and it was once again aiming for her. Not about to be left behind, Tetsuya grabbed onto Michiko, who held Miaka. Michiko could only stand there stunned by the sudden turn of events.

The cat jumped down from Keisuke's shoulder, and jumped into the light, which then vanished back into the book. The brilliant, crimson red light faded out as fast it as it appeared. Keisuke once again couldn't only stare dumbfounded at the book. It took a minute for it to sink in before he realised, he had missed his chance to go. Everyone, including that cat, got to go. He was once again going to be outside looking in. He was only an observer.

He slowly reached down and picked up the book, gingerly turning to where the newest batch of text was manifesting itself on the page and began to read. The last thing he had remembered was that there was some strange individual with strange powers that had encountered the twins, Yui and someone by the name of Houjun. The stranger's name had been Shen and according to the text was something of a demon hybrid, half kitsune, and half kyuuketsuki. From the way the events unfolded, Keisuke's instincts told him that this Shen fellow was hiding something of greater value.

What puzzled Keisuke the most was the interest Shen had shown in Shannon. Why had the demon chosen Shannon? The text never made it clear. After there had been an exchange of words, followed by a strange, foreign language appeared on the page. It appeared to be a dead language. It was only momentary before it went back to the character set that Keisuke recognised.

The events tapered off, with the group, minus the stranger, heading toward Konan in order to eventually arrive in Kousei. There had been little mention of Meike since she had made her daring escape with the aid of Katsui and Ariboshi. The last he had read she had found the house where the meeting was to take place. Tetsuya had taken over reading at that point. Tetsuya hadn't finished bringing him up to date when the attack happened at the university.

Being the sole reader and observer left, Keisuke found himself madly backtracking in the book in order to find out what had previously happened that hadn't been succinctly summarised for him by Tetsuya. It took a few more minutes that he thought, but satisfied he knew what had happened to this point, he turned back to the book, surprised to find its focus now on Miaka and her entourage.

The priestess and her group were stunned to find themselves in a small village. They got odd stares from the local people. They were unable to move as the locals moved around them. The leader of the group was hostile toward them, and brandished a pitchfork in the direction of the man wearing shades.

Tetsuya grinned sheepishly, holding his hands up. "Look...we're not demons or any—"

"Shut yer face! We don't wanna hear it! Yer one of them you is!" The young man growled as he thrust the pitchfork threateningly at Tetsuya, who whimpered and backed up, standing closer to Michiko. "Help me!" he whispered plaintively.

She groaned, handed him Miaka and stepped forward. She balled her right hand into a fist. "All right, which one of you morons wants to eat lightening?" Electricity crackled around her hand. She pointed her hand at the young man. "You! You are ready to fight!"

The young man took a step back, but didn't appear to show any sign of letting up.

He kept his aggressive stand up and hoisted up the pitchfork.

At that moment, fire ignited, flying between the two groups.

"Back off now, Ren. They ain't a threat. You and your asshole friends are the trouble makers, now get before I sending you crying back to mama!" a raspy, aged voice boomed. The owner of the voice stood just beyond where the fire originated from.

The man walked forward. He was quite elderly. He had long, mangy hair. It fell in his face. He wore a faded, well fitted tunic. In his hand, he held a large metal fan. Despite his aged stature, he still had something of a presence.

Michiko unclenched her fist. The cat tilted its head then took on his regular human form, and Tetsuya whimpered. He was already questioning his reason for coming here. He had acted on impulse, and hadn't coherently considered the consequences of his actions.

The others that had been lurking around, left with the young man. This left the elderly man with the newcomers, who he regarded passively. He walked toward the group, eventually stopping in front of Tetsuya, who held Miaka. The elderly man eyed her then glanced up at Tetsuya.

"Where's Tamahome?"

"Oh god no..." Michiko muttered under her breath.

"I thought there was something familiar about his chi..." Kieran mused, chuckling to him. He smirked, his blue eyes twinkling.

The elderly man grunted. "Why'd you bring him with you?" He thumbed in Kieran's direction.

Kieran arched an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?" He tilted his head. "Do you wish for me to be in a form you recognise, Tasuki?"

The elderly man glared hard at Kieran. "You wanna start a fight you're gonna lose?"

Kieran chuckled softly. "You are not any kind of threat. The tessan is just a fan. When you can hurl random objects at me while snarling obscenities in my mother language then I will take notice." He patted Genrou condescendingly on the cheek. "Until then, I will just enjoy the fact that you aren't my eldest son who if he had his way would disembowel me with a mere glance."

Genrou raised the tessen and entered a battle stance.

Kieran grinned gleefully and turned back into a cat. He blinked at Genrou and meowed.

Genrou blinked stupidly; where had the other man gone. He glanced down, notcing a cat. "There's a cat??" He poked Tama with the tessen and the cat indignantly meowed and swatted the tessen with a paw.

Michiko smirked. "You've mistaken Amefuri for one of the twins."

"Huh?" Genrou glanced up and over at Michiko. His expression went from confused to hostile in a microsecond. "Another one of you? Goddamnit! How many morons are there?" he snarled, which fingers curling tightly around the handle of the tessen.

"Just me. I don't know where the others are, and the cat is Byakko Seishi Amefuri... and one of the longest living Seishi. He outlived the Genbu and Byakko Seishi."

The cat nodded and immediately took on its human form again. He smiled friendly. "Well, it's not so much that I outlived them. I would have been sharing my time with Iname if she hadn't gone off the deep end thanks to her blood curse." He added a matter-of-fact. He finished with a short, curt nod.

Michiko sighed. "Does that really matter? She's a psychopath anyway. I would not want to be near her ever. I value my life far too much."

Genrou who had been previously in an aggressive stance, stumbled back. He wasn't used to people who changed form on whim so efficiently. Then again, it had been years since Houjun had done it. Consequently, he had lost his immunity to this kind of impulsive behaviour. He had assumed that shape-shifting wasn't a commonly given power to Seishi, and that Houjun had been the only one to receive it.

"You...you're Tama?" Genrou squeaked. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the cat was more human than any of them ever thought.

Kieran placed his hands on his hips and cockily inclined his head. He smirked, the crows' feet in the corners of his eyes notable. He chortled. "You're just—"He was promptly cut off as a rope manifested around him, constricted immediately and knocked him to the ground.

A triumphant "Hah!" was heard from behind. "Told you I could and he would never know!"

"I didn't know you were good with a rope."

"If you paid attention more, you'd know."

"Maybe if you didn't purposely hide everything from me, I'd know!"

"It's not like I am. You can read my mind at any time, Koutoku."

"You bitched at me the last time I did."

"That's because you were filling my head with your gutter-minded non-sense."

"I can't help it when I'm around you."

"It's called 'censoring' your thoughts; try it some time."

"I thought you would have appreciated knowing just what I was thinking and feeling." There was a pause. "Like now, aren't you just dying to know?"

"Not when you talk to me like that."

"How would you prefer it, dirty? Because I like dirty…"

"Don't…even… go there."

Kieran groaned and sighed, briefly lifting his head from the ground. "I hate my children..." he dropped it, resigning himself to the fact that if he was to get out of it, he would have to catch Shannon off guard.

Genrou smirked. "I don't pity you one bit." He hoisted his tessen up and returned it to its holster on his back.

Kieran groaned. He hadn't anticipated any of this; and at the moment was at the mercy of his eldest son's whim. Something he didn't enjoy, ever. He could shape-shift his way out of it, but it wouldn't change the current odds. He was at a clear disadvantage. He resigned to being inconvenienced for the short term.

At that moment, a female voice broke through. Distress was obvious. "Miaka!" Yui cried out, running over to the group. She hadn't noticed immediately but when she did, she felt her stomach knot up. She knelt next to her friend who was being held by Tetsuya. Her blue eyes filled with tears. "What happened?"

"Taka happened…" Tetsuya whispered; his voice barely audible.

"What?" she gasped out incredulously.

"I don't know who he was after, but he attacked the room, taking out a good chunk of wall. I'm guessing Miaka was either the intended target or just collateral damage for him. He showed no remorse." Tetsuya hissed scathingly under his breath.

"Was anyone else hurt?" Yui asked frantically.

He shook his head. "No. Not as far as I know. Keisuke, Michiko and I were there as well, but didn't suffer any injury."

Her expression turned from shock and dismay to one of sadness. "Why…"

Silence fell as Genrou walked over to where the three were. He too knelt. "Poor kid…" he lamented, and glanced up at Tetsuya. "You said… 'Taka happened'…?"

"Yes…"

Genrou's lip curled into a sneer. "If I ever meet this… 'Taka', he will pay for this."

Keisuke glanced up. He thought he heard something. He looked around, searching for the source of the noise. His eyes narrowed. He knew he had heard something.

His eyes moved to the window. It was opened. He hadn't imagined it; he had heard a noise. He stood up quickly. "Who's there?"

Two men walked around to face him. The first hand out a professionally manicured hand; the nails were long. He made a simple gesture and spoke in a foreign language. The only think Keisuke understood was the use of his name, but even then, that was questionable.

The man's hand again gestured in the direction of the book. His gaze was steady. Keisuke kept his eyes trained on those golden eyes. There was something eerily familiar about this person...

His partner stepped forward. He man spoke Japanese, but he had an obvious Chinese accent on it. "You will surrender the book to us, Yuuki."

"No!" Keisuke turned sharply and clutched the book to his chest.

The first turned to the second and asked something. Keisuke sighed; he hated when people conferred with each other in foreign languages. There was one thing that caught his ear, the mention of Shannon's surname.

He arched an eyebrow and addressed the one who spoke Japanese. "What do you want with O'Kelly?"

"He gave us instructions to rendez-vous." The man replied. He reached up, tucking loose strands of chocolate brown hair behind his ears.

"In the book?"

"Indeed."

The other hand out his hand to reach for the book; Keisuke pulled back. "Why should I give it to you? I don't either of you!"

The golden-eyed man rolled his eyes and sighed. He muttered something that appeared to be an insult.

"No, I don't speak Italian, so don't expect me to translate, Yuuki." The brown-haired man remarked, turning his gaze to Keisuke. He then held out his hand. "It would be in your interest to just give the book. We won't be taking it with us."

"I am not doing it until I know who..." Keisuke was cut off. His arms were pulled out. The book fell to the ground. He was being held down by vines. He panicked, struggling against the vines. "Let me go!"

He was furious.

The golden-eyed man smirked and cackled. In his hand was a small shell. A soft blue light emanated from it.

"Don't bother, Yuuki. You won't get out of it." The brown-haired man replied, as he knelt, reaching for the book. Gingerly picking it up, his fingers caressed the cover, before turning the page. Flipping through the book nonchalantly, he calmly sought out the last place where the tale left off and handed it to his colleague.

"Who...who are you?" Keisuke demanded, his voice quivering.

The brown-haired man holding the book glanced at Keisuke. "We are colleagues of O'Kelly and Anderson. We are expected to rendez-vous in order to secure the last pillar."

The golden-eyed man snorted derisively, and made a callous remark, to which the brown-haired man sighed in reply. He gave a response, but it didn't seem to have any affect.

"If you're working with them, why didn't you just tell me what I wanted to know?" Keisuke spat, struggling against the restraints.

The golden eyed man smirked.

His companion sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't struggle; you'll only make it worse." He paused then added. "We were told to just take the book from you; we were given no instruction as to being able to trust you."

Keisuke stubbornly pulled on the vines. His sights were dead set on the book. He wasn't about to let it get away. He wasn't about to give into this.

A sudden spark of inspiration of struck him. 'I wonder...' He glanced around and immediately ceased his struggle and relaxed. His mind remained alert.

He feigned resignation and dropped his head. "Do what you will..." he whispered.

"It will only take a moment." The brown-haired man assured him. Keisuke was certain he detected a hint of condescending derision in the man's voice.

The two men turned away from him, and he took that as his cue. There was a trick once used by another person who had once been in his position, trapped by the same vines. Keisuke strained against the holds but was sure he could do it. He lifted his hands to each other. Taking the pinkie of his left hand in his right bent it back as far as it would go.

He bit his lip, attempting to stifle any noise. His teeth cut through the flesh; a slight trickle of blood shimmered. His attempt quickly proved to not be in vain.

Giving little if any thought to his next course of action, he flung himself, tackling the golden-eyed man to the ground. He aggressively attacked the man, grabbing him by the charcoal black hair and lifting the head, so he could drive his fist into the man's face. Blood dripped from the man's nose.

The attack lasted mere seconds before Keisuke felt the cold tip of what would be a sword pressed against the base of his neck.

"You are audacious, Yuuki."

Keisuke glowered at the man. He wasn't about to let these people take the book…

"You know, O'Kelly did say to properly introduce ourselves, no da…" a third voice remarked. It belonged to a man of fair height. He had spiky blue hair and long bangs. His lips were trapped in what seemed like permanent smile. The man spoke with an air of elegance. His English was flawless; the accent was melodic. "This is exactly what he told us not to do. In fact, no da, he said that we were to introduce ourselves to Mr. Yuuki here and tell him what is going on."

The two other men turned to their colleague. Neither appeared to completely understand what had been spoken but appeared to pick up on key words. It was enough to make it easier for the third man to approach Keisuke, who was regarding the newcomer with immense distrust.

The third man walked over. He placed his hand on the sword, forcing his colleague to lower it. Once the sword was away, he held out a hand to Keisuke. "Please forgive us, no da. I am Winchester Richard."

More relieved than anything to see a friendly face, Keisuke took the hand that was held out to him. He was promptly helped to his feet by the ever-smiling Richard; a man with a sunny disposition. He was quite different than the other two.

Richard gestured at his companions. "The sword wielding gentleman is Andy Won and his non-English speaking friend is Marius Bartecelli, no da." He nodded with a smile, and added as an aside, "They aren't happy about taking instructions from someone who lacks their social status, no da."

Keisuke nodded meekly and glanced back toward Richard. "What did you need?" His English was heavily accented but he mostly comprehended what Richard had been saying.

"We only need to borrow the book for about thirty seconds, no da." Richard explained calmly, reaching for a cellphone clipped to his belt. "I just need to confirm one thing, no da."

Keisuke arched an eyebrow.

Andy kept his sword out. Marius seemed bored suddenly.

Richard pressed a key and held up the phone. There was a moment of silence. He smiled. "It's ringing, no da." He announced.

Keisuke shrugged. "So?" Why would it matter if the phone was ringing?

Richard pointed to the book. "Look." He instructed.

Finding it strange, Keisuke slowly picked up the book.

It was then he heard Richard speak. "Ah good, I was wondering if you'd pick up, no da."

"Huh, so it works…"

"Yes it does no da."

"Are Bartecelli and Won with you?"

"Yes they are no da."

"Tell them not to hurt Keisuke."

"That might be too late…"

"What fucking assholes."

Richard smiled. "They don't like taking instructions from you."

"Well, that's just fucking tough. Do you have the book?"

"Mr. Yuuki has it, no da."

"So, he's seeing this?"

Richard glanced over at Keisuke who seemed to be in shock. He just sat, clutching the book; the conversation as it was being spoken was appearing on the page. A small amused smile crossed his lips. "Yes he is no da, and he doesn't know what to make of it."

"Ask him what the hell happened to Miaka. She's unconscious. Taka's being weird, and for some reason… ah! Fucking son of a bitch!"

Richard's expression became concerned; there sounded like there was a struggle happening on the other end of the phone. "What's wrong?" His tone inflected to reflect the concern that danced across his face.

Before his colleague could answer, in the background he heard what sounded like, "leeka shinen!"

There was only one person who would use such an incantation. He couldn't stay here, not mow. "Hold on! We're coming!"

"Don't! Stay there! We've already lost Tereskova; we can't lose anyone else!"

There was another loud curse. Followed by the sound of crashing and what sounded like quickly moving footsteps. There was another sound in the background; the sound of fire crackling.

"We're coming! We're not letting you fight alone, no da!"

"I gave you instruct—fuck!"

"Tasuki's going to try and kill you!"

There was no reply for a moment; all he heard was the sound of a growing fight. It had grown; there was more than one Seishi fighting now. Worried, Richard turned to Keisuke. He pulled the phone away from his ear, gazing at it for a moment. He was about to request a translation, but it dawned on him. He flipped it shut; turned to Marius and Andy, barking instructions in Russian. He then aggressively seized the book from a still stunned Keisuke, took it over to the other two, who placed their hands on it. Almost instantly the three vanished and the book fell to the floor.