StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Chapter Sixteen : Spirits that Move Us

The graveyard was immaculately kept, the green grass dotted with countless monuments to Japan's ancient families. Some of the markers had siblings, added when the original marker ran out of room for the names of newer members joining the Honored Ancestors. Some monuments had ancient trees, carefully cultivated, that both shaded and supported the stone markers. The Horoto stone was one of these.

Ryou and Leena were clad in white, the Japanese symbol for mourning. Ryu had explained to Leena the traditions of a Japanese funeral on the flight over. Normally, the family would set up a ceremonial hall with lanterns and flowers and hold the main funeral there, but Ryu's death in America had prevented that step. Thus, they had to skip to the burial, where the small urn with a portion of Ryu's ashes would be set beneath the family monument, and his name inscribed upon the stone. In seven days they would go to the temple for a purification ceremony, and to give gifts to the temple in thanks for their service.

It was all new to Leena. Her mother Jasmina, had practiced Islam in her own way, praying and fasting at night. Now Leena knew the differences came from her mother's vampirism, yet in those younger days, it had all seemed so wonderously formal. Jasmina had never stopped her from exploring other religions, encouraging her to learn all she could ... but the Japanese fusion of Shinto and Buddhism was something beyond her experiences.

The priest met them at graveside, a bowl of incense carved into the wood of the ancient tree already lit. Leena could only follow Ryou's lead in the ceremony, bowing as he did, then kneeling for the priest to bless them. The priest took the urn from Ryou and reverently entombed it, saying many sutras and prayers over urn, tree, and stone. She refused to fidget, trying to be respectful and quiet, but she couldn't help noticing that a small cat was perched on top of another monument not far away. Leena couldn't shake the feeling it was watching them...

***

"Dammit... No, I'm not going to warn your son not to overwork himself," Shadrick hissed, a darker shadow under the monument. "If he can't learn by seeing you kill yourself by working too hard, what makes you think he'll listen to me?"

SeanEric looked down at the shadow from his perch atop the stone. **What -are- you jabberin' 'bout nowe?** he asked.

"Can't you hear them? This damn place is full of spirits!" Shadrick complained. "They're all wanting -me-, the shadow god, to give their families a last message. As if they'd listen to me!" Shadrick hissed, more to the petitioning spirits than to his cat-shaped cousin. "Do you really think I can find out who pushed you in front of the train at the platform? You've been dead -five years-. The way you crowd onto the trains, are you surprised that someone bumped you on the platform? No... no I am -not- a nice god/demon. When was the last time -any- of you burnt incense at my temple? So why should I help you now?"

SeanEric couldn't help but snicker. It was just too damn funny, Shadrick as a god/demon of Japanese myths. Maybe they'd have to visit the temple, wherever it was, just so they can learn the full story. A drift of the incense from the funeral ceremony tickled his nose, and he sneezed, pawing at his nose. **Gahh.. that stuff smells worse'n th' stuff Father Angus had us swingin' in th' censors.**

***

Leena heard the sneeze, and her eyes flickered over towards the cat. It was a very nice looking cat, all black but for a white bib under the chin. But the priest was nearly finished with the ceremony. She and Ryou were given sticks of incense and she followed his lead, rising and bowing to her honored ancestors within the stone before placing the incense sticks in the cup provided. It was the first time she had a chance to look at the names on the stone, and it nearly froze her blood to see Lina Hotoro written there.

She remembered then what Jasmina had written: that Leena had been switched with another child, one that died in the hospital. So... here was that other child, buried as their own. "Gomen nasai...." she whispered to the child. I'm very sorry. Sorry that for me to live, you had to die. Sorry that you are here, instead of with your true family.

Above her head, a tree branch creaked, as if under a heavy weight.

***

**How d'ye knowe what they're sayin', an'way? You n'er spoke Japanese 'til ye got here.** SeanEric asked absently. **Looks like th'e show's nearly o'er.**

"I never got stuck in a shadow form before I got here either..." Shadrick hissed in annoyance. "I think I'm going to have a long talk with Dad when I get home so he can explain just what...." the shadow trailed off as the spirits around him started getting agitated. "Uhoh.."

**I hate it when ye get that tone o' voice...** SeanEric said, sitting up on the monument and giving his shadowy cousin his full attention. **What's hittin' which fan?**

"Get to your girlfriend. Before the very angry little girl gets to her." Shadrick answered. "I'll try to stop her, but she's very pissed about dying and blames Leena for some reason."

**ooookay...** SeanEric said as he leapt off the monument and started running for Ryou and Leena. **What'm I suppos'd ta do if she gets there first?**

"Keep her from dying. Badly." Shadrick answered as he moved to block the coming attack, flicking from shadow to shadow to reach the tree sheltering the Hotoro stone. He saw the little girl clearly, barely a babe, pressing down on the branch hanging above Leena's head, meaning for it to break and fall. Somehow the child was keeping the humans from hearing the branch creaking and cracking above them. "Don't do this, little girl. It won't change anything," he said, wrapping himself around the tree.

"Meuw! Meeeuuuu!" That got Ryou and Leena's attention, as the little black cat ran up to them and started pawing the air in front of Leena. The bright green eyes were wide as it snagged her kimono and tugged. "Nani?" Leena asked, looking at the cat in confusion.

"Meuuuuuuuuw!" Dammit, why canna we cast new spells in this form? SeanEric asked himself. It would be far easier if he could Mindspeak Leena. But nooo... spells that were active before, or the spell to turn him back only. It would not do for the priest to see a cat turn into a human. "Meeuw! Meuw! Muew!"

The priest was staring at him as it was, and speaking to Ryou in Japanese. One day, SeanEric was really going to have to learn that language. **Shadrick! I can't get her to move!**

"Onyro! hear me now. Leave this child alone!" Shadrick hissed from the tree. The dead child stared at him with vengeful eyes jumping up and down on the branch, making it sway and crack alarmingly.

Whether the hissing voice or the cracking warned him, Ryou dragged Leena out from under the tree just before the limb broke. It shattered on the stone, breaking a piece of it off, causing them all to dance backwards and stare at the tree in shock.

"Meuuuuu! Meuuw!" SeanEric cried, again pawing at Leena's kimono. **She's ok... **

"I'm ... Not..." Shadrick hissed, fighting tendril to hand with the little girl, making the tree shake from the violence. The humans decided to back up more, the priest too scared to even speak a sutra. Ryou took a stance in front of his sister and the small cat, his eyes picking out the shadows moving in the tree.

The ghost girl's hand morphed into a claw, and she stabbed it straight into Shadrick's torso. Amazingly enough... it didn't hurt him. In fact, she seemed to be stuck inside Shadrick in some way that he wasn't sure of. A little tug and the girl was pulled deeper into him, being absorbed into this shadow body. "Well well... so there is a way to stop you...." With a hard yank, he pulled her in and swallowed her whole.

"Its' over, SeanEric..." Shadrick called from the tree, his voice barely above a whisper.

**Than' God fer that, then...** SeanEric answered, relaxing, looking up at Leena with a feline grin. **I'd hate to lose herrrrrrr... HEY PUT ME DOWN!!** he mentally shouted as Ryou picked him up by the scruff of the neck and held him in midair, giving him a very long stare. **What? I was tryin' ta help, ya big lug! Putmedown!** SeanEric cried as he struggled, unfortunately only to Shadrick's hearing. "Maow! MAAAOOOOWWW!!!"

Beautiful as always.

The burial was beautiful, yes. As for my earlier cryptic comment

LadyTevar wrote:

Ford Prefect wrote:I laugh heartily at the boys in Japan. Poor bastards won't really know what they're in for until they see a lobster fight a beetle. Or Hard Gay, for that matter.

Umm... since I dont' even know what that means, a little translation might be needed?

Japan is unquestionably the strangest place in the universe. On normal television, you can find title matches between a lobster and a beetle, and it is the only place where Razor Ramon (Hard Gay) lives. He's a strange man who goes around in leather and thrusts his crotch at people, shouting "WAHOO!".

Ford Prefect wrote:The burial was beautiful, yes. As for my earlier cryptic comment

LadyTevar wrote:

Ford Prefect wrote:I laugh heartily at the boys in Japan. Poor bastards won't really know what they're in for until they see a lobster fight a beetle. Or Hard Gay, for that matter.

Umm... since I dont' even know what that means, a little translation might be needed?

Japan is unquestionably the strangest place in the universe. On normal television, you can find title matches between a lobster and a beetle, and it is the only place where Razor Ramon (Hard Gay) lives. He's a strange man who goes around in leather and thrusts his crotch at people, shouting "WAHOO!".

........
You know, I'll have to use that now...

((My god, I've been stuck on this chapter since September! Thank GOD it's finished! Hope Chapter 18 writes itself faster!))


Chapter Seventeen: But Wait! There's More!

"Venerable sir, are you unharmed?" Ryou asked the priest, still holding the hissing, complaining black cat up by the scruff of the neck. Leena seemed unharmed, reaching down to the ground to pick up the piece of stone the falling branch had broken from the Hotoro tombmarker. As the priest assured them he was fine and started apologising for the bad luck about the tree, Ryou only half-listened, more concerned with keeping the small black cat from taking his arm off. If not for the kimono over the athletic tape hiding his tattoo, his arm would have been clawed to ribbons.

Leena was still kneeling, turning the broken piece of the monument over and over in her hand as if hypnotized by it. Ryou caught a glimpse of the writing on it... could it be her name? Odd, if that was the part that had chipped off. His thoughts were interrupted as the priest said something about returning to the temple and repairing the stone later. Ryou answered absently, "Yes... that will be fine. My sister and I will join you later. Thank you again." He should have bowed, but the fitful feline made that nearly impossible. He almost got the feeling it was cursing him.

"Enough, cat.. or I'll throw you into the nearest pond," Ryou snarled, holding it out at arms length and shaking it.

"Not a good idea...." a vaguely familiar voice whispered in Japanese. Ryou looked behind him, and saw that Leena was staring down at Ryou's shadow. It waved at them.

"BAKA!" Ryou shouted, dropping the cat in shock, and it ran behind another monument.

The shadow stretched along the ground remaining mostly humanoid as it moved. "Yes, I know," the shadow whispered dryly. "Try being stuck this way sometime, and then you'll really curse."

"Don' mind him, he's been bitchin' an moanin' since we landed."

"SeanEric!" Leena exclaimed, and Ryou shook his head in shock as the flamboyant Tahalshia crossed to Leena and swept her up in an embrace. Whatever was being said in between the kisses Ryou was sure he didn't want to hear.

"Right... kiss the little black cat, when I was the one fighting off the ghost of the little girl trying to kill Leena," the shadow muttered darkly. "All he could do was sit there and meow."

"... Shadrick?" Ryou finally placed the voice. "Is that ... you?"

"No, it's your damned countrymen's ideal of me, from your crazy religion and idiotic views of amorpheous blobs with tentacles." Shadrick griped once again, since SeanEric and Leena were too wrapped up in themselves to notice anyone at the moment. "While we're here, remind me to find the 'The Shrine of the Rising Sun' so I can figure out why I'm stuck like this."

Somehow, Ryou felt he should be more disturbed by how he was talking to a living shadow. Especially one that he knew was actually a young man only a couple years his junior. "uh... I'll ask the priest when I see him next?" he offered. "What are you doing here?"

"Protecting you and Leena, that's what. Good thing too, some weird child-ghost tried to kill Leena, something about a life for a life. So, we're going to stick around and make sure you two stay alive." Shadrick answered, before the shadowy head turned to glare at his cousin. "If someone could stop fondling your sister under the guise of 'making sure she's ok', that is. No wonder he turns into a cat... horny bastard."

"What? He was the cat?" Ryou turned to look at Leena and SeanEric, and instantly felt Brotherly Protectiveness hit him as he saw what they were doing. "Hey! Break it up you two. This is a Graveyard! Be respectful!"

There was a snort from Shadrick. "As if SeanEric's never been on a graveyard picnic before...."

It had been only 3 days since Ryou meet his long-lost sister and his old playmates. He wondered now if he'd feel this protective if he'd actually grown up with them, or if he'd have knocked SeanEric's teeth out by now.

***

"I don't like the idea of you going alone," Jayden repeated himself. He had no doubts of Jhelian's ability to take care of herself, he'd grown up with her and seen how many schoolyard fights she'd finished. Between Blackthorne and Nitram, all the girls knew how to protect themselves from danger, whether from raging werewolf or just raging hormones. Still, something deep inside him protested at the thought of letting her face Otamio/Alexander by herself. His father Phil called it his 'Paladin Complex'. "You know nothing about Otamio's abilities, nor how fast he can take over Alexander. Hell, you don't even know if Alexander's in control right now."

"Tha's why I'll be calling him once I'm there. I'm thinkin' if I kin tell Rage n' Unca Nit 'part by th' sound o' his voice, I kin do th' same wit' them." Jhelian explained while carefully cleaning one of the family heirlooms: a gold-plated .45 that Blackthorne had given Teamhair years before. Supposedly, Teamhair had emptied it into an old enemy of Blackthorne's, taking the werewolf down while still pregnant with SeanEric. Bastard got back up later, but he'd not messed with Blackthorne's wife ever again.

"I still don't like it," Jayden replied, crossing his arms and looking to Aeron and Elizabeth for backup. Unfortunately, as usual, he was outnumbered by the ladies.

"Look, brother-mine, you can say what you want, but if you'd not noticed, Elizabeth is fine with the idea." Aeron pointed out bluntly. "If anything was going to go wrong, Elizabeth would tell us... Right 'Liz?"

Elizabeth looked down at her hands shyly. She never asked for the visions that came to her, they were just always there, an inheritance from her father's legacy as Head of Household. Shadrick got the shadows; she got the wildness, the chaos, the madness, the visions of a small god long since forgotten, yet still lingering to protect his greatest creation. "... it will happen, one way or another ... it must happen," she whispered quietly. There was no way to stop them from meeting, but the outcome ....

"See?" Aeron and Jhelian chorused, both taking that as a good reason to go now, and unintentionally drowning out anything Elizabeth might have added.

Jayden threw up his hands in frustration. "Why did they leave me alone with you three?" he asked the ceiling retorically. "You know that Shadrick would follow you, that SeanEric would find some way of backing you up or talking you out of it. That's why you're doing it now, because you know you can make me back down." He drew himself up to his full six-foot-six height, something that was far less impressive when his four-foot-five father tried it. "I'm not backing down now. I'm going with you, and you're not talking me out of it."

Jhelian rolled her eyes and locked the clip in place with a harsh snap. "Ye wanna go? Fine. You're goin'. Drop inta mouse an' get inta m' pocket."

Jayden blinked. Twice. As his twin sniggered, he asked carefully, "... in your ... pocket?"

Now Elizabeth was nodding as Jhelian clarified herself. It was a bad sign. "Aye. If yer comin', ye'd have to be hidden. Ye canna hide in a shadow, ye dinna have SeanEric's skill wit' skullduggery, so yer' hidin' in me pocket in yer animal form."

His shoulders slumped. "Great... just ... great." It was one of the things that really got Jayden annoyed. SeanEric turned into a cat. Jhelian turned into a sleek fox. Elizabeth became a rattlesnake, quite unsettling until you remember they try to hide from mankind. Aeron became a dog, a small terrier. Shadrick was the stereotypical crow when he felt like being something other than a living shadow. But what did he become? A mouse. A tiny, grey, adorable Mouse, just like his father.

"Weel? If yer comin', start changin'. An this time, please r'mber ta take yer clothin' wit' ye?"

Jayden's eyes narrowed. "That was ten years ago! Are you ever going to let me hear the end of that?"

The answer was a three-part feminine harmony. "No."

Grumbling, he started working the spell to 'stick' his clothing to him, but got interrupted by Elizabeth reminding him to do the MindSpeech spell first so he could talk to Jhelian. Anyone else, Jayden would have came back with a snappy insult. With Elizabeth, the warning meant that he'd probably need it. So, first the Mindspeech, then the Clothing Spell, and finally the Animal Form. A moment later, the adorably cute little grey mouse looked up at his suddenly towering female kin. Better?

"Perfect." Jhelian answered, scooping him up in her hand and plopping him into the pocket of her shirt. "Nowe... yer shure Alexander's still a' th' hotel, Aeron?"

"Yep. I'll call you if there's any changes." She leaned over to peek down into the pocket. "Have fun, little brother."

Yeah yeah... just because you're a few minutes older, make fun of me .... Jayden griped, his small pink paws lifting him up to look over the top of the pocket. Just you wait, you'll see I was right.

Jhelian's finger gently pushed him back down into the pocket. "Shush nowe. I'm goin' ta take Da's baby. Ye two mak' sure he's distracted fer a bit as I get ta th' garage."

His Vintage Aston Martin Convertable?! Are you MAD?! Jayden squeeked and mind-shouted at the same time. Don't you remember what he did the LAST time you borrowed it?

"T'was tens years ago... will I n'er have th' end o' it?" she threw the words back at him as she walked out of the common room. "I dinna wreck it then, I'm no' goin' ta nowe..."

Jayden huddled in the pocket, his little mouse-body shivering at the memory. The Aston Martin? Blackthorne'd go SPARE! Suddenly Jayden wished he'd gone to Japan with Shadrick and SeanEric. He'd survive a lot longer.

Ah good. Quite recently I was wondering when we'd see a new chapter of this.

Ford Prefect wrote:Ah good. Quite recently I was wondering when we'd see a new chapter of this.

I'll try not to take another 3 months