Yokai (26 page)

Swallowing the bitterness she tried to
deny that she felt, Yumiko strode confidently into the courtyard to
greet her friends. Reina and Shou were there, as were Enenra and
Tanuki. A half dozen kappa stood alongside them, the brave, ugly
beasts. A beautiful woman stood beside Enenra, with long, flowing
black hair. She was dressed in casual attire similar to the others,
and while her face seemed familiar, Yumiko couldn’t quite place
her.

“
Is this it?” Yumiko asked,
surveying the group with mild disappointment. She’d thought that
other yokai would feel inspired to join them in freeing the man
who’d built such a beautiful sanctuary for them.

“
Well,” Reina shrugged,
exchanging a look with Shou, “the two oni wanted to come, but
seeing as how they were recently on Shuten-Doji’s side, we kind of
nixed that idea.”

Yumiko nodded her approval on that
decision.

“
And I didn’t feel
particularly comfortable with The Slit-Mouthed Woman fighting
alongside us,” Shou admitted, sheepishly scratching the back of his
head. “Call it a grudge, if you must.”

“
Okay,” Yumiko said, taking
a step toward the mystery woman. “You will be joining
us?”

The woman looked down her nose at
Yumiko and flipped her hair. “I will help you because I like
Kagami. I owe him for his hospitality and it only seems honorable.”
She smiled. “And I haven’t had a chance to stretch my tresses in
ages.”

Yumiko’s eyes narrowed and she eyed
the girl’s hair closely. Each strand ended in wicked-looking barbs
that she’d at first mistaken for curls.

Standing up straight, Yumiko bowed to
her. “We appreciate the help, Harionago,” she said politely,
recalling a rather feverish skirmish with the yokai before she’d
sent her to this world. Harionago had complete control over her
hair, and had been skinning a man alive with it, and very
meticulously at that, when Yumiko had caught up with her. She
hadn’t been named The Barbed Woman for her sharp tongue.

“
And you as well,” Yumiko
bowed to the kappa, who looked pleased at her attention. Her smile
stiffened when she stood upright to see Ame-Onna hanging on the arm
of one of the kappa. “And what are you doing here?”

Ame-Onna flashed a smile her way. “I
can’t very well let you save my master without my help.”

Yumiko glared at her. “Too bad. You’re
not coming.” She looked to the others, and waved them toward The
Hall of Mirrors. “Let’s move. We’re going to come out of a mirror
in a shrine at the base of Mount Ooe. Since Shuten-Doji has no
mirrors anywhere on the mountain itself, we’re going to have a very
long hike ahead of us.”

Ame-Onna sighed as they began marching
away without her. “Very well. I guess Kagami must have also told
you about Shuten-Doji’s totem, after all.”

Yumiko stopped in her
tracks and closed her eyes briefly. Ame-Onna
would
happen to know the one piece of
information that she needed. Destroy the totem, destroy the yokai.
In Shuten-Doji’s case, sending him to the mirror world wasn’t an
option. She needed to destroy that totem.

Turning and stalking back over to
Ame-Onna, Yumiko had to clench her hands into fists to keep from
wiping the smile from her smug face. “What is the totem?” Yumiko
asked, through clenched teeth.

Ame-Onna’s smile widened. “I will tell
you. But you’re taking me with you. I deserve to be in this
party.”

Yumiko stared into her eyes for a
moment, trying to conjure up as much intimidation as she could, but
Ame-Onna didn’t flinch. She knew that Yumiko needed her.

“
Fine,” Yumiko spat,
turning on her heel. “But you’d better hold your own.”

Ame-Onna chuckled at her back. “I
always do.”

***

The trek up Mount Ooe was arduous. By
late afternoon, they took a break by a mountain stream to rest and
partake of provisions. The kappa took the opportunity to leap into
the stream and frolic. They spit water at each other and splashed
about playfully like little children. Yumiko enjoyed watching them,
and sat at the edge of the stream, munching on an apple.

They were nearly halfway up the
mountain, and already it was growing chilly. Even though it was
Spring in Japan, the higher they climbed, the closer they got to
the snow-capped peak, where it was bound to be downright frigid.
Yumiko was glad that she’d had the foresight to bring a jacket, as
had Shou. Reina, however, looked like she regretted her poor choice
of attire, and already hugged her arms around herself.

“
You can turn back now, if
you want,” Yumiko offered softly as Reina took a seat beside her,
eyeing the kappa with a wide smile. “I can have one of the kappa
escort you back down.”

Reina shrugged. “I’ll be fine. We have
sleeping bags and blankets for when we break camp for the night. If
I get really cold, I’ll just throw a blanket over my
shoulders.”

“
Let’s hope there aren’t
any cute boys at the top then.”

Reina rolled her eyes and nodded
toward Shou. “I think you and Shou won this round. I’m left out in
the cold again.”

Yumiko scoffed. “You call Enenra a
prize?”

“
He’s hot,” Reina said,
glancing in his direction admiringly. “Even if he is made of
smoke.” She cocked her head. “You don’t think Shou’s getting in
over his head with that one, do you?”

“
I think Shou can handle
him.”

Reina chuckled. “I still can’t believe
he’s gay. I was totally crushing on him.”

Yumiko smirked. “Don’t tell
him that. He has a big enough ego as is.” She bit her lip and sent
Reina a mischievous look. “And what guy
haven’t
you crushed on?” she
teased.

Reina pretended offense and slapped
Yumiko’s arm half-heartedly. “I don’t know what you’re talking
about. Just because I think Enenra’s cute. And Shou’s cute. And
Brian’s cute.”

Yumiko giggled. “Tramp.”

“
Hey, I’m desperate at this
point.”

“
Tanuki?”

“
Not that desperate,” Reina
amended, trying to hold back her laughter. “But seriously, you
think I’m totally boy crazy, don’t you?”

“
Yes. Because you
are.”

Reina nodded, sobering. “I’m
just…exploring my options. It’s empowering.” She shrugged. “Not
everyone can be as confident as you.”

“
As confident as me?”
Yumiko asked, bewildered. “Boy, have you been reading me wrong. I’m
a wreck.”

“
We’re all wrecks. We just
have to be happy with who we are.”

“
Exactly. You don’t need a
boy. You’re great without one.”

“
Really?” Reina
beamed.

“
Really,” Yumiko said
firmly, then sighed. “I can’t say that I’ve always appreciated your
presence. I kind of took you for granted. But you really are a good
friend, Reina. Thank you for doing this.”

Reina blushed and glanced away, then
grinned as she looked back at her. “Hey, it’s not like I had
anything else to do.”

***

The sun began to set a few hours
later. When the path began to grow dark and the terrain flattened
out enough for a suitable camp ground, they stopped and set up
their tents. Haronago built hers by herself, and finished before
any of the others, as she used tendrils of hair like limbs, holding
stakes steady with strands and coiling them around mallets,
effectively demonstrating the incredible strength each follicle
wielded. And then she disappeared into her tent without a word to
anyone, or offering to lend a hand elsewhere.

“
Real sociable, that one,”
Reina muttered, walking past Yumiko.

Yumiko smirked and looked up to see a
full moon shining overhead, silvering the mountainside, and
providing enough light to be able to watch their immediate
surroundings, should anything decide to take advantage of the night
to attack. As of yet, they hadn’t encountered a single threat,
which unnerved Yumiko. What if Shuten-Doji had left his mountain
fortress in favor of a safer location to dispose of Brian? It was
too quiet. She’d expected some form of resistance by
now.

“
What do you think?” Shou
asked quietly as he sidled up to her, having just finished erecting
his tent. He wiped an arm across his forehead, then gulped at a
water bottle greedily.

“
I think that something has
to be watching us,” Yumiko decided. “I just don’t know why they
haven’t attacked yet.”

“
Maybe they’re waiting for
the right moment,” Shou suggested.

“
When most of us have
fallen asleep?”

Shou shrugged.

Enenra appeared behind Shou like an
apparition, most of his body foggy as it dispersed into smoke. “I’m
going to take a look around.”

“
Good idea,” Shou
nodded.

Yumiko tapped her lower lip. “Look for
satori. They would be somewhere nearby, but would keep themselves
well-hidden.”

“
Satori?” Shou asked,
surprised. “Why satori?”

“
Because that’s who I would
send out here,” Yumiko said as Enenra nodded to her and faded into
the darkness. She turned to Shou. “The satori can read people’s
minds. It would be the perfect way for Shuten-Doji to gather
intelligence on us, and assess the threat. He doesn’t know how many
people are coming after him, or what our plan of attack is. One
well-placed satori would change that and give him quite an
advantage.”

Shou pressed his lips into a frown and
looked around at the bushes and shrubs that surrounded them,
jutting out of the rocky hills and crags. The shadows were deep and
inky black, and any number of things could be hiding nearby and
they would never know, especially if those things were much more
familiar with the terrain than they were.

A rattling sound from nearby caused
Yumiko to pause and tilt her head. Shou frowned and was about to
say something, but she put a hand on his arm for quiet. He looked
around for the source of the noise, eyes widening when he gazed
beyond Yumiko.

Yumiko whirled to see a mammoth
figure, several stories tall, pushing through the evergreen trees
to the east of where they stood. In the moonlight, white bones
gleamed ghostly, making the giant skeleton stand out starkly
against the surrounding darkness. It was apparent from the noise
that the sound they heard was its bones creaking, its teeth
clanking.

While Yumiko didn’t necessarily
consider it a threat presently, she nonetheless ushered Shou to the
thick shadows beneath a nearby boulder, and quietly watched the
behemoth until it disappeared, although they heard its bones
rattling long after they could no longer see it.

“
Did you guys see that?”
Reina whisper-shouted, skulking over to them and ducking into the
shadows. “That was crazy!”

“
It was beautiful,” Shou
said, still gazing in the direction they’d seen it
disappear.

Yumiko nodded. “It was beautiful, in a
way.”

“
What was it?” Reina
asked.

“
Gasha-Dokuro,” Shou
answered before Yumiko could. “It’s a yokai fueled by the remains
of hundreds of bodies. It’s usually found in remote areas, near
mass graves.”

“
Or during wartime,” Yumiko
added. “I’ve never actually seen one. They’re quite rare these
days, since the amount of death needed for them to form is so
extensive. And they have to continue to consume dead bodies, or
perish.”

“
Which means that
Shuten-Doji has been quite busy,” Reina said
thoughtfully.

“
I would say
so.”

The air thickened suddenly, and Enenra
appeared outside of their haven of shadows. He looked amused to
find them hiding, but he didn’t comment on it.

“
Did you find anything?”
Shou asked, stepping out into the moonlight.

“
A satori,” Enenra reported
with a nod. “There were tracks of two others, but I wasn’t able to
find them.”

“
So, he’s going to know
we’re here,” Reina said, sagging. “And who’s here.”

Yumiko frowned. It was a blow, but
perhaps something could be salvaged from this setback. “Where is
it?”

Enenra cocked his head. “I trapped him
half a mile from here.”

“
Bring me to
it.”

Enenra raised an eyebrow. “Giving
orders like a queen already, are you?”

Yumiko glared at him, but he picked
her up in his arms gently. His hands felt solid and somehow warm
where he touched her, which she wasn’t necessarily expecting. And
as he crouched, and launched himself into the air, she closed her
eyes, the feeling of rising into the sky unsettling enough for her
without having to see it.

It only took a minute for them to
reach an old pine tree, its trunk solid and firm. A creature ten
feet tall was pinned to the tree by what looked like tent stakes
that had been run through its hands, shoulders and thighs. Yumiko
sent Enenra a look, but didn’t say anything about the brutality
he’d shown the prisoner. If this mission was successful, she would
let Brian be the one to explain the concept of humane treatment to
the yokai.