Page 49 of Night of the Dragon

“Seigetsu-sama,” Suki whispered, but it went unheard in the vastness of the cavern. Seigetsu returned his attention to the others and nodded at the kitsune, who still knelt a few feet away, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

“He awakens,” he whispered, and though his words were for the fox girl, they sent a chill racing up Suki’s back. “He stirs, and the world trembles with the movement. Can’t you hear him coming? Hurry, Yumeko. It is almost time.”

With a wave of his tails, Lord Seigetsu erupted in a flare of brilliant luminance, the ghostly flames surging up with a roar, turning the entire cavern white. When the light faded, plunging the chamber into blackness once more, the ninetailed kitsune was gone.

“Kuso!” An emphatic curse rang out in the darkness, followed by the shuffling of feet. “Whatthe hellwas that? First we have demons and curses and ghosts and an oni that might be Yumeko’s mother, oh, and by the way, the gates of Jigoku have been opened and Genno is about to summon the Dragon and make a wish that will doom the world. I thought that was quite enough to deal with without some crazy ninetailed fox popping in and hinting that he planned all this from the beginning!” One hand rose to the side of the ronin’s skull, clutching at his hair. “This is crazy. Does anyone else feel like the world has been turned on its head, or is it just my brain that’s about to explode?”

Suki peered farther out from behind the stone, seeing, in the hazy light, the noble stride across the floor and slip his arms around the ronin from the side. The other relaxed, slumping in the embrace, as Daisuke murmured something only the ronin could hear. Suki didn’t know what it was, but it made the other chuckle and ruefully shake his head. As the echoes of the ronin’s outburst died away and silence fell over the cavern again, Suki drifted down to where the fox girl still knelt on the stones. She was shaking, her eyes wide as she gazed blankly at the spot where Lord Seigetsu had disappeared. Even through the numbness of being a ghost, Suki ached for her. In the span of a few heartbeats, she had discovered something about herself and her past that was absolutely terrifying. Her world, and everything she knew, had been torn apart. In her place, had she been alive, Suki wouldn’t know what to do, either.

“Yumeko.” The demon boy sheathed his blade and knelt in front of her, close enough that their knees were touching. His hand rose, hesitated, then gently brushed the hair from her cheek, sliding his knuckles along her skin. “Stay with me,” he urged, his voice a low murmur in the darkness. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“Tatsumi.” The kitsune’s voice was numb. “Seigetsu is... And he...” She closed her eyes, her ears flattening to her skull. “I don’t know who I am anymore,” she whispered. “Have I just been a pawn all this time? Something that just blindly followed the path set out for her?” She opened her eyes, gazing around the cavern, at the shrine, dark and lifeless, against the wall. “He meant for me to come here. He meant for me to see all of this, to find Kiyomi-sama and discover this place. Have I been the catalyst for everything? If I...if I was never born, would Genno still be threatening to destroy the empire? Or would the scroll still be safely in the Silent Winds temple? So many people have died because of me. Reika. Master Jiro. Master Isao.” On her knees, her hands curled into fists. “What am I?” she whispered. “Haveanyof my choices been my own?”

“Yumeko.” The demon shifted closer, lowering his voice. He seemed hesitant to speak, though the sight of the distraught kitsune clearly concerned him. “I don’t know who or what you are, exactly,” he told her in a quiet voice. “But I do know what you’ve done. You protected the Dragon scroll as best you could. You risked your life to keep it safe, even though it would’ve been easier to give it up, to let someone else take that burden.”

The fox girl sniffed, hunching her shoulders. The demon eased closer still and gently cupped her chin with his fingers, peering into her face. “You confronted the most dangerous demon alive,” he murmured, “risked your own soul to face him, to free the human he had possessed. You gave up the Dragon’s Prayer to save your friends, but then you followed Genno to this island to stop him from summoning the Harbinger, even though he has an army of demons at his call and the odds of survival are nearly nonexistent. All of these choices, every decision and branching point along the way, they were made because you...are you. Because the kitsune I followed from the Silent Winds temple, the girl who talks to ghosts and charms emperors and made the most powerful oni Jigoku has ever spawned fall in love with her, wouldn’t do anything else.”

The fox girl blinked, then stared at the demon with wide eyes. He gave a faint, rueful smile, as if he couldn’t quite believe he had said that. “Your choices,” he went on, “your decisions—that’s why I’m here, Yumeko. Why we’re all here. And it is why we’ll continue to follow you, to the brink of Jigoku and back.” He paused once more, then leaned in, his voice becoming nearly inaudible. “I have the soul of the First Oni inside me,” he whispered. “And if you say the word, he would give his life for you in a heartbeat. Not even the most powerful ninetailed fox in Iwagoto can claim that.”

Suki’s throat felt curiously tight, and there was a pull in the pit of her stomach as she hovered there, watching the demon and the fox girl. Odd sensations, because she had no body, not even the ghostly image of one at the moment, but the emotions that came from observing the pair were real. The kitsune sniffed, leaning forward until their foreheads touched, one hand on the back of his head. The demon didn’t move, closing his eyes, and they stayed like that for a long moment, before the fox girl took a deep breath and leaned back, her eyes clear.

“Gomen,” she whispered. “Gomen, Tatsumi. I’m ready now.” She rose to her feet, her expression hard and determined as she lifted her head. “I have to stay focused,” she said. “Stop Genno, prevent the Summoning—that’s the only thing that matters. Okame-san, Daisuke-san? Are you still with us?”

“Until the end, Yumeko-san.” Daisuke’s voice echoed calmly in the stillness. He stood quietly against the wall, his arms around the ronin’s waist, neither embarrassed nor in a hurry to move them. And the ronin, leaning back into the noble, seemed content not to move, either.

“Suki-san?” The fox girl turned, finding Suki hovering overhead. For a moment, Suki tensed, wondering what the kitsune thought of the part she had to play for Seigetsu-sama. But there was no condemnation in the eyes of the fox girl, only sympathy and understanding. “If you are still willing, would you be able to lead us out?”

Move on, Suki-chan, Lord Seigetsu had told her.This was never your fight. You have no part to play anymore.

She glanced at Daisuke-sama, his face calm and his eyes peaceful, standing quietly beside the ronin who had captured his heart. At the fox girl and the demon standing behind her, his fierce, protective gaze only for the kitsune.

This world is no place for the pure of heart.

No, Suki thought, as a tiny spark of anger flickered to life within.You’re wrong, Seigetsu-sama. I might be dead, but there are hearts and souls in this world that are worth saving. I won’t let them be lost. This has become my fight, as well.

She floated down until she hovered a few feet before the kitsune girl, who watched her calmly, the hazy light flickering over her face.I’m sorry, Suki wanted to tell her.I didn’t know who Seigetsu-sama was, what he wanted with you. I’m sorry he deceived us both.

The kitsune smiled faintly, as if reading her thoughts. Suki rose into the air, circled her and the demon once, then flew across the room until she found the tunnel that led outside.I will see this through, Suki thought, hearing the footsteps of the four who followed behind. Kitsune, demon, ronin and the noble she’d once loved.To the end.

The sky was nearly black when they emerged from the caves, roiling clouds blotting out any hint of moon or stars. A gust of wind howled through the crags, tossing the hair and clothes of the living bodies as they stepped onto a narrow rocky ledge overlooking the valley.

Far below, the plains were cloaked in shadow, but the gaping hole to the center of Jigoku pulsed with hellish light, like a terrible wound in the earth. Demons and damned souls still crawled from the pit, their shrieks and wails rising into the air.

In the ghastly hell-light, the valley was a writhing mass of bodies, as demons, spirits and oni clashed with the armies of Moon and Shadow. The number of demons seemed endless, a constant wave surging against the wall of humans trying to force them back. Suki could see the row of torches where the armies held the line, a barrier between the horde flooding up from the pit and the rest of the island. For now, the dam held, but night was falling and the demons kept coming. Eventually, the human forces would be overrun.

“Kiyomi-sama,” Suki heard the kitsune whisper behind her, voice choked and horrified. “I’m so sorry.”

Overhead, a streak of lightning cut across the sky, slicing through the clouds like a knife, and a peal of thunder made the ground tremble. Below the ledge, a slim winding staircase snaked up the mountain, rising toward a peak where the clouds were gathering in a swirling maelstrom overhead.

“There’s the Summoning site,” the demon pointed out. His gaze followed the staircase, eyes glowing red as he stared up the mountain. “We’re almost there.”

“Well, look at that.” The ronin turned to grin at Daisuke, his voice awed and triumphant. “We actually made it. One step closer to Genno—I hope you’re thinking up a good poem, peacock.”

As he spoke, a flash of lightning turned the world a blinding white. For a split second, between one pulse and the next, Suki thought she caught a glimpse of a shadow above them, a thin, dark figure with hate-filled eyes and a long swinging braid. It raised its arm, something glinting between its fingers, and Suki opened her mouth to cry out as lightning flashed and everything disappeared.

The ronin grunted. He staggered, a strange look crossing his face as everyone stared at him in alarm. “Ah, kuso,” he whispered, and collapsed to the stones, his bow dropping from his fingers.

“Okame-san!” the kitsune cried, as Daisuke immediately knelt beside him, catching the ronin before he could fall the rest of the way to the ground. The noble’s expression was anxious, his smooth brow furrowed in alarm. Chilled, Suki looked down to see the hilt of a black kunai sunk between Okame’s shoulder blades, the knife glimmering darkly against his haori, the edges starting to well with blood.

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