“Toshi!” Kiku’s voice was furious from within the building.
Quickly, Toshi stood and faced the door. Kiku came storming out, her hard eyes blazing with rage and her soft mouth twisted into a grimace. She was fully dressed once more, decked out in fine purple satin and silk and bearing her colorful tessen fan that was as much a weapon as it was an accessory. She also wore two fuetsu throwing axes on her belt and a vivid purple camellia flower on her high-collared blouse.
“Good morning,” Toshi said. “How did you-?”
Kiku grabbed Toshi by the shirtfront and slammed her forearm into his chest. Toshi grunted as the air left his lungs. Kiku continued to push him backward.
“What happened to my face?” she seethed. “Where is the masters’ spell?”
Indeed, the shadowy black sheen that had been crawling across her face was gone. Toshi had hoped it would take Kiku longer to notice its absence.
He gagged as Kiku tightened his shirt around his throat. “You asked me to get rid of it,” he choked. “Remember? ‘I’m not me with this’? Last night, you asked me last night …”
“I said and did a lot of things last night that I’m regretting right now,” Kiku said. She shoved Toshi back, releasing him to stumble and fall on his backside. “In fact, I’m seeing things quite clearly.” Smoothly, her hand slid up to the flower on her blouse and picked it off.
“Stop,” Toshi said urgently. “We are both hyozan. We can’t turn on each other.”
Kiku held the camellia gingerly between two fingers. This was Kiku’s chosen form of killing magic. Her blooms could poison an entire village’s water supply or devour a man from the inside out. Once the flower touched its intended target, it grew and lashed out according to its nature, its roots digging into flesh and its perfume overwhelming anything it touched.
“Funny,” she said. “But I recall you telling me not to invoke the oath last night.”
“That’s not how it works,” Toshi said curtly. “We’re meant to protect each other, and, if that’s not possible, avenge. If we harm each other, the oath itself will destroy us.” Toshi cursed inwardly. He had abandoned the hyozan oath when Night’s Reach demanded it, so Kiku could in fact kill him with impunity right now. The only reason she hadn’t that was she didn’t know she could.
So instead Kiku stood, flower at the ready, her gaze sharp enough to cut glass. “Give me back the masters’ curse. It was their will and is my duty.”
“I didn’t take it,” Toshi said. “At least, I didn’t take it for myself. I only did what you asked. After you fell asleep. Look.” He pointed.
Kiku did not take her eyes from Toshi. “No,” she said. “Show me.”
Toshi marched slowly to edge of the kanji he had drawn in the dirt. He bent and retrieved a small clay tablet and showed the dull brown plate’s face to Kiku. Etched into the surface of the hardened clay was a kanji, a magical symbol formed from the combined characters for “solid” and “shadow.”
“It’s here,” Toshi said. “Ready when you want it. The masters’ spell was hasty and rough, Kiku. The power it gave you would have consumed you inside of a week. Now you can hold it in your hands, keep it in check until you decide to use it. You know I can contain power this way. You’ve seen me do it with the yuki-onna. You have to trust me.” He spread his arms out wide, exposing his chest and throat.
“I did what you asked me to do. I did it because we’re partners. If you still think I’m playing you, then strike. Kill me, crack the tablet, and reclaim the power. If you survive breaking our oath … which you won’t … I guarantee you’ll be cackling and drooling and singing to yourself in a matter of days.”
Kiku’s eyes were clear. Toshi watched her jaw work as she considered his explanation.
“We’re still headed for the waterfall? Where the soratami are?”
“Absolutely. As soon as we collect Marrow-Gnawer, we can be there in no time.”
Kiku sniffed, turned away, and then reattached the flower to her collar. “I don’t see why we need the nezumi.”
“Because he’s part of the hyozan as well. Because he’s tougher, smarter, and braver than any other ratfolk in Takenuma.”
Kiku turned. Her face was beautiful but brittle, like a china doll cast in a perpetual sneer. “Forget it, ochimusha. The deal’s off.” She scooped up the clay tablet and tucked it into her belt. “I suppose I should thank you. I am thinking far more clearly without the masters’ curse.”
Toshi cocked his head. “If you’re thanking me, why are you-?”
“Because I no longer need you, now that I have this.” She patted the plate on her hip. “I can pursue my own path to vengeance. When I get the soratami where I want them, I’ll invoke it and kill them all.”
“But you’ll never-”
“Maybe not,” Kiku interrupted. “But now I might never have to. I will deal with this in my own way, in my own time. Thank you, oath-brother. Now piss off.”
Kiku turned away, and Toshi’s brain fairly whirred as the thoughts assembled themselves. He had to act quickly and speak carefully. He hadn’t wanted to do this, but he absolutely needed Kiku and Marrow to make his plans work.
“I will release you from the hyozan oath,” he said.
Kiku stopped. Slowly, she turned, a sly grin forming at the corners of her mouth.
“Say that again.”
“I’ll let you go,” Toshi said. “Do this one last thing with me. One last go-round for the hyozan reckoners. Work with me and Marrow to take down the soratami. You’ll be entirely free. No gang, no masters, no shadow curse, nothing to stop you from doing exactly as you like, whenever you like.”
Kiku stepped up to Toshi. She looked him full in the face, her maddening, enticing scent wafting up to his nostrils.
“Say it again,” she said. “Once more, and plainly. Toy with me and I’ll plant a bloom in your throat before you can breathe.”
“Once last job,” Toshi said. “Be a reckoner with Marrow and me one last time, and then the hyozan will cease to exist.”
Kiku shook her head, still smiling. “I knew you were lying. What about the ogre?”
“He’s still around, still a central pillar that supports the oath,” Toshi said. “And that’s how you know you can trust me.”
The gorgeous mahotsukai’s eyebrows raised, but she said nothing.
“Our first stop,” he said, “is Minamo Academy. That’s where the soratami are. And that is where Hidetsugu is, actively and enthusiastically pursuing his own grudge against the moonfolk and their patron kami. With our help, he will very likely succeed.”
Kiku toyed with her flower. “And if he can’t?”
Toshi held her eyes. “If he can’t or won’t, we go on without him. If he tries to stop us, we destroy him.”
Realization flashed across Kiku’s face. “Which you cannot do if the oath is still in place. But as long as he thinks it’s in place, he won’t attack us.” She grinned mirthlessly. “I like it.”
“Told you I was crafty.”
“No, I told you you were crafty. And I was drunk when I said it.” She paused. “All right, ochimusha, you win. But let me out of your little gang now, before we take another step.”
“Bad idea,” Toshi said. “Without the oath, Hidetsugu can hurt you. He hasn’t been the most rational being lately, and I wouldn’t trust him to restrain himself. He might suffer for killing us, but we’d still be dead.”
Kiku looked at him icily.
“Also,” Toshi added, “if I let you off the hook now, there’s no guarantee that you’ll come with me … or leave me alive, for that matter. I need your help and I want to stay alive, so I’m going to wait a little while longer.”