Page 64 of Night of the Dragon

“Yumeko, listen to me...”

Shaking, I raised my head to meet his dimming gaze. One of his arms moved, just slightly, toward where Seigetsu slumped against the rock, a glimmering pearl in one bloody palm. “It’s not done yet,” Tatsumi said in a broken whisper. “The Fushi no Tama. You have to...take it back to the Dragon. Before dawn...before he fades away entirely. If you can return the jewel to the Harbinger...its power...might be able to revive him.”

The Dragon jewel. It had the power to grant immortality; to even bring the dead back to life. Filled with a sudden hope, I looked back at him, heart pounding. “The Fushi no Tama, Tatsumi, if you used it now—”

“No!” Tatsumi cut me off, gripping my hand. I winced at the horror in his voice as he shook his head. “I have...no desire to be a god,” he whispered. “You can’t use the Fushi no Tama’s power without taking the jewel for yourself. It becomes a part of you. That’s why Seigetsu was so eager to have it, and why he needed me to slay the Dragon—Kamigoroshi is the only thing that can kill an immortal. If you use the Fushi no Tama to save me, you would have to kill me to get it back.”

I slumped, the tiny flicker of hope swallowed by blackness, leaving nothing but a gaping hole behind. For just a moment, a dark, unrecognizable part of me contemplated using the Fushi no Tama to save the demonslayer, regardless of consequence. But if I did that, I would be stealing from a god, taking what rightfully belonged to a Great Kami, and who could say what it would do to Tatsumi’s soul? Especially if the only way to remove the Fushi no Tama would be to carve it out of him. It wouldn’t be right. I couldn’t use the Dragon jewel to save the one I loved, even as I watched him fading away before my eyes.

“Is this really how it ends, Tatsumi?” I murmured, holding him as close as I dared. “After everything we’ve done, this can’t be what was destined for us.”

“Our time was always borrowed, Yumeko.” Tatsumi’s voice was gentle. His gaze flicked up to mine again, intense and almost pleading. “But you can...make this one thing right,” he whispered, his fingers tightening around my own. “One good thing...to come out of this night of failures. The world cannot lose a Great Kami. Revive the Dragon. You...are the only one who can now. Please.” He paused, bowing his head as if speaking was an effort. “Promise me you will.”

I remembered where the Dragon fell, in the center of the valley, his great body curled around the terrible pit to Jigoku. But now I was beyond fear. Beyond terror, anger, grief or determination, and all that remained was a hollow, bone-numbing emptiness. “I... I’ll try,” I told Tatsumi in a whisper. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to get there, but I’ll give it everything I have.”All I have left.“I promise.”

Tatsumi nodded. His body relaxed in my arms, a tired, peaceful expression crossing his face. “Don’t...mourn for me,” he whispered. Slowly, his hand rose, fingers brushing my cheek, tracing the tears on my skin. “We’ll meet again someday. No matter...where I end up, no matter how my appearance might change, even if I get pulled into Kamigoroshi and it takes me a thousand years... I’ll find my way back to you.”

I caught his hand, swallowing the tears in my throat, not wanting anything to block my final moments of Kage Tatsumi. Lowering my head, I kissed him, feeling his hand slide into my hair, sealing this memory into my soul for all time.

“I love you,” I whispered, our faces just a breath apart.

His gaze went very soft. “I have...never loved anything as I have you,” he breathed. “Thank you, Yumeko.”

Then the light in his eyes dimmed, and his head slumped forward, his body going limp in my arms. I gave a keening cry and hugged him to me, sobbing his name, as the wind shrieked around us and the storm raged on, uncaring of the passing of another soul.

A softly glowing sphere rose from Tatsumi’s chest, casting its own light into the darkness. I blinked away tears as it drifted over me. No, not one soul, but two, one bright and one crimson, merged together as they drifted into the air.

Beside Tatsumi’s limp hand, Kamigoroshi flared. I raised my head, watching as the blade glowed purple, its faint, ominous light washing over my face and Tatsumi’s body. I could sense a terrible pull from the sword, like a hole in a sake jug draining all its contents, and my stomach twisted in horror. Kamigoroshi was calling Hakaimono back.

For a moment, the souls in the air trembled, as if fighting the inevitable pull of the sword. The blade on the ground throbbed, a heartbeat that grew stronger with every pulse, and even the combined strength of the two souls could not prevent the will of the Godslayer. I could only watch, helpless, as the tangled oni and demonslayer were dragged ever closer to Kamigoroshi, and could do nothing to stop it.

The souls above me suddenly flared with light. I winced, closing my eyes, and for just a moment, I could see two figures hovering there, entwined, a human with dark hair and purple eyes, and an oni with onyx skin and burning ember horns. With a snarl, the demon wrenched himself from the human and shoved him back, and Tatsumi stumbled away, suddenly free of the demon’s soul, floating alone in the air.

“Hakaimono...” The image of Tatsumi sounded stunned. “Why?”

The translucent oni gave a tired smirk. “Don’t say you’ll miss me, human. We both know that’s a lie.” He motioned to the glowing blade with a claw, curling a lip. “You think I want to be stuck in Kamigoroshi with you and your tiresome human emotions? There’s no way I’m spending the next millennia whining about a fox girl. This wasn’t a favor, mortal, it was to keep me from going crazy. So don’t get too broken up about it.”

Tatsumi bowed his head. “Arigatou,” he murmured. “I won’t forget...the demon who shared his soul with mine.”

“Wish I could.” The oni shook his head. “If I’d known what was going to happen, I might’ve let us both die the first time.” A purple light surrounded Hakaimono, pulsing with ghostly flames, and he sighed, sounding incredibly weary. “No more of this. I’m done. I think I prefer the void of Kamigoroshi to experiencing that again. So...go on.” He jerked his head at the sky. “Get out of here, before I change my mind and drag you into the sword with me.”

Tatsumi’s image became bright and transparent, and started to fade. “Goodbye, Hakaimono,” he said quietly. “You were honorable, in your own way.”

Hakaimono snorted. “The next time I’m free, I will remedy that, I assure you.”

The oni closed his eyes as the flames spread over his body, consuming him, until at last, he erupted in a flare of violet and disappeared.

The light faded...and I was alone. Tatsumi’s body was limp in my arms, nothing but an empty shell, and the storm still howled around us. Kamigoroshi flickered once and died, the blade becoming dark on the stones.

I gently lay Tatsumi on his back, pressing my lips to his forehead one last time. “Safe journey to you, Tatsumi,” I whispered as I drew away. “Until we meet again.”

Numb, I rose, the wind buffeting my hair and clothes, and walked to where Seigetsu slumped against the boulder, golden eyes gazing sightlessly upward. The pearl in one bloody hand glimmered dully as I bent down and picked it up. It lay in my palm, lifeless. As dead as the Dragon curled around the pit to Jigoku.

Tucking the Fushi no Tama into my obi, I turned from the ninetail, then stopped, a chill racing up my back. Kamigoroshi lay on the ground beside Tatsumi, the blade unsheathed, the steel cold and dark. My heart pounded as I stared at the sword. Tatsumi was dead, his soul departed for whatever afterlife lay beyond. But Hakaimono was still there, trapped in the sword once again. The oni had been vicious, cunning and unmerciful, a terrifying enemy, once. But...now.

I swallowed hard. He had been part of Tatsumi, part of the soul I had loved, who had loved me, as well. Even if Hakaimono was pure evil once again, I couldn’t leave him here.

Heart in my throat, I reached down, hesitated, then curled my fingers around the hilt of Kamigoroshi. My hand shook, and I held my breath, bracing myself for... I didn’t know what. A stab of pain? Hakaimono’s evil laughter as he rushed in to possess me? But there was nothing. No pulse of a heartbeat, no consciousness that wasn’t my own. If Hakaimono was in the sword, he wasn’t responding.

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