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CHAPTER SEVEN

Ryuichi heard the sound of fluttering wings. They seemed both far away and right next to him. Simultaneously.

It didn’t make sense.

Tengu?

He had that same feeling he’d had the night of his arrival to the school. As if something or someone was pulling him toward the sound.

As if someone was calling out to him.

Suddenly, Masaru rose up, cutting off his path. “Who are you?”

He stared at Masaru. “You know who I am.”

The dark spirit shook his head. “No. I don’t, and that bothers me. I thought you were demon-born. But you’re not. What are you?”

Ryuichi said what he knew. “I’m a student.”

Masaru laughed bitterly. “So many titles and roles, yet none of them fit you. It must be tiring.”

“No more so than one of your ilk hiding in a samurai school. Did you have nothing better to do?”

That literally went over Masaru like a tsunami. He could see the yōkai’s skin rippling as if he were a bird with ruffled feathers. “Careful, boy. Or there won’t be anything left of you.”

“I’m not afraid of your threats.”

Masaru snorted at that. “It’s not my threats that should scare you...” He rose up and transformed into an oni. “It’s my powers you need to kneel before.”

A flicker of fear went through Ryuichi, and then...

It stopped.

Without rhyme. Without reason.

He didn’t understand it. He should be terrified of the yōkai’s powers. As an oni, Masaru was larger than a house, with tusks and red, fiery eyes. He was a sight to behold.

Yet Ryuichi felt nothing.

It’s a dream . Only that would explain his lack of fear. That made sense.

But it felt real. Not the muted emotions of slumber or the dim colors he experienced in sleep.

Do you know what you are?

Ryuichi grimaced at the disembodied voice. “I’m a samurai.”

Cruel laughter taunted him.

Still in oni form, Masaru moved closer. Ryuichi stood his ground.

Refusing to cower, Ryuichi swung out his left hand, and from the shadows, he drew a sword.

With a hiss, Masaru stepped back. “Kendo-kage,” he breathed. “It’s not possible.”

Ryuichi angled his sword at the yōkai. “Anything is possible in a dream.”

Masaru moved to corner him, but suddenly a shadow appeared in his path, cutting him off so that it could protect Ryuichi.

“Stop!” it cried.

Ryuichi froze at the sight of a young warrior woman, dressed in full armor. He didn’t recognize her, but her voice was one he knew well. “Keiko?”

Flaming red hair fell over her shoulders from beneath her kabuto. Those familiar dark eyes stared at him. “This isn’t you, Ryuichi-chan. Put down your sword.”

He refused to believe what he was seeing. “It’s not real. You’re not really here.”

She ran her hand along the blade of his shadow sword, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. “It is real, child. Now put the sword down.”

He stared at the stark red against the shadowy black, mesmerized by it. It seemed familiar and strange at the same time. Like déjà vu.

The blood faded into the sword as if the blade was feasting on it.

His breathing ragged, Ryuichi turned his frown from her to Masaru. “I don’t understand.”

The expression on Masaru’s face as he returned to his usual form said he understood what was happening to Ryuichi. “He’s the Kage-taro, isn’t he?”

Keiko nodded as she looked at Masaru over her shoulder. “And if you breathe a word of this, so help me... it will be your last.”

Ryuichi lowered the sword. “We’re still in my dream.”

“We are.” Keiko took the weapon from his hand and let it evaporate back into the shadows. “And I need you to wake up, now , before those seeking you find you in this realm, where you’re weakest.”

Masaru laughed. “Where he’s weakest? This is where he rules everything. Everyone.”

“But they can sense him here, and they will come for him. He’s not ready to fight.”

“Then he better get ready.” Masaru raked a scathing glare over Ryuichi. “Have you any idea how many creatures are after you?”

“No one wants me.”

“Everyone wants you.” Masaru quirked a grin. “You’re the greatest prize in the land.”

Keiko turned toward him. “Don’t even think it. You chose him, and now you are honor bound to help your charge. To protect him with your life. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Masaru scoffed. “When does an abandoned scoundrel have honor?”

“When he’s being watched by an inari.” She tapped the center of her chest to emphasize those words. “You’ve bound yourself to our lord, and now his fate is yours. I will hold you to that with everything I have.”

Masaru cursed. “That’s unfortunate, isn’t it? To fail twice in one lifetime with the same prodigy?”

Keiko’s eyes narrowed. “You might have failed me, but you will not fail him . Not this time.”

“You’re a fool.”

Ryuichi rubbed his aching head. “I’m so confused.”

“Don’t be.” Keiko leaned in to give him a comforting hug. “It’s simple. As your mother lay dying, she handed you off to my master and begged him to see you hidden away from your father’s grasp. To make sure that no one used your powers for evil. That you grew up away from”—she cast a pointed stare toward Masaru—“those who would corrupt you. It’s been my task to make sure that you were never harmed.”

She’d certainly failed at that. If memory served—and it did—he’d been harmed every day of his life. Kicked by everyone around him.

But he didn’t want to dwell on that.

Right now he had a much more important question he wanted answered. “Who was my mother?”

“Lady Haruka. She was the Goddess of the Gates and, in particular, the Kimon. It was her honor to hold back all the evil she could from this world.”

Ryuichi’s eyes widened as he digested the last thing he expected to hear. And here he’d thought the greatest thing his mother could be was a warrior.

I’m descended from the kami.

The kami...

Him! And here he’d thought himself worthless. He was so far beyond that, that it staggered his mind.

“And my father?”

Keiko flinched.

“The Ryukage,” Masaru answered. “He was bewitched by your mother’s sister Haruki, an evil?—”

“Masaru!” Keiko cut him off before he said what he intended.

“Witch,” he said smoothly. “She was jealous of your mother and of Ryu’s love for her. So with the help of her rotten little buddy, kegare, they corrupted your father.”

“How?”

Masaru scoffed. “How does anyone get corrupted? They pinpointed his weaknesses, exploited them, and then catered to his ego.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” They were kami. How could anyone corrupt them?

Keiko brushed the hair back from Ryuichi’s face. “Your father’s worst fear was losing your mother. She was his sole weakness.”

Masaru scoffed. “Be careful where you lay your trust, little one. Seldom do we choose to give it to those who accord it the honor it deserves.” He drew closer. “Haruki told your father that if he were more powerful, he could keep Haruka by his side and never lose her. She convinced him that all he needed was to control the dark forces Haruka held back from the world.”

Keiko’s eyes turned sad. “What she didn’t tell him was that the shadows he courted would devour his heart and soul. The price for controlling evil was to become evil.”

How terrifying. “What did my mother do?”

Sighing, Keiko looked away. “At first she fought against those trying to turn your father evil, but they teamed up against her and used their powers to enchant her instead.” Tears welled in her eyes. “They used her shadow to overcome her goodness and replace her with a hollow shell who was incapable of feeling anything for anyone.”

“Until you were born.” Masaru knelt so that he could study Ryuichi’s features. “It’s said that the moment she first saw your face and held you in her arms you returned her heart to its purity. You sent her shadow back into the darkness and allowed her soul to return to her.”

Keiko nodded. “I was there. The moment she saw you, she remembered why it was so important to keep the Kimon locked away. To stop the Ryukage and her sister from contaminating everything pure in this world.”

Ryuichi sucked his breath in sharply at what they were implying. Surely it wasn’t true. Please let me be wrong ...

“My father killed my mother?”

“He tried.”

Keiko slapped at Masaru’s stomach.

“What? He did!”

“Have some feeling, would you? Those are his parents you’re speaking about. Not random strangers.”

Masaru gestured at himself. “Renegade? Hello? What part of compassion do you think I have?”

Shoving him away, Keiko turned back toward Ryuichi. “Your father truly loved your mother— never forget that. And a part of him loves you.”

“But he will kill you.”

She glared at Masaru.

“Seriously, nice fairy tale,” he said. “But while you’re dancing around his feelings, the boy needs to understand that his father will not spare his life. Unlike his mother, Ryukage isn’t going to see his cute little face and think, ‘Ah, that’s my boy!’ and be overcome with parental love. The Ryukage will pull his heart out and eat it and feel no remorse. They. Are. Enemies. The sooner the boy gets that through his head, the longer he might live. Take it from someone who’s been bargaining with death gods. We tend to know a lot about death and those who like to kill things.”

Keiko had to agree. “He’s right. Not just Ryukage but Haruki too. They want your powers, and they will do whatever they must to get them.”

Ryuichi cringed as a thought went through his head. “They can’t have my powers if I’m dead, right?”

“Well...” Masaru hedged.

Keiko glared at him.

“You want me to lie to the kid?”

Fear pierced him. Hard. “Wait... what? If I’m dead, my powers are gone. They won’t be able to use them. Right?”

Masaru screwed his face up. “Well... there’s dead, and then there’s dead .”

“Meaning?”

Masaru manifested a torch and held it up over his head. He turned Ryuichi around so that he could see the wall behind him.

More confused than ever, he tried to understand what Masaru was doing. “What am I looking at?”

Masaru lifted his arm. “See that shadow?” He forced Ryuichi to wave at it by lifting his arm and shaking it.

Irritating, but whatever. “Yes?”

“Ryuichi-kage, say hi.”

His shadow waved back.

Ryuichi stumbled and fell into Keiko.

His shadow continued to stand.

What the ... ?

Masaru moved over to Ryuichi. “You and your shadow aren’t the same being. That’s why it’s not always in the same place you are. Why it continually tries to leave you. Your shadow knows everything you know. It’s the part of you that you never acknowledge. Where you store all those deep, dark things that you tell no one. Those awful feelings that you don’t want others to know you think and feel. But you know what your shadow doesn’t have?”

Ryuichi shook his head.

“Your conscience.”