Chapter 26: Shifting Pawns

Thursday night, a letter arrived through the tree while Sakura was making their dinner.

Karasu,

Please return to me as soon as possible. The situation has grown dire, and I urgently need your assistance.

Kazuki

No matter how many times Karasu re-read it, the brief lines didn’t change. Had Osgavenda declared war? It had to be horrible for Kazuki to write such a short note, one that made no mention of Sakura at all.

“Karasu-kun, dinner’s ready,” Sakura called from the doorway. “Oh, is it from Kazuki?”

He gave her a brief nod, glad the letter was written in their native language. “He said to tell you he loves you and misses you lots. Things are still kind of tense, but getting better.”

“That’s good. Maybe he’ll be able to come back soon.” Her smile made the pang of guilt at lying to her worth it.

“Probably. Though I’m going to have to leave for a bit.”

Her smile fell away sharply. “You too?”

“Yeah, he asked me to run an errand for him. It’s just a quick one, though.” He stood and walked over to her, holding her hand. “Really quick, okay? I bet I’ll even be back before you get home from school tomorrow. So don’t cry, please? You’ll start coughing again.” She’d been coughing for two days now. At first it had just been a little thing, one or two at random times. But it was getting more frequent, to the point she’d had to use her inhaler.

She sniffled but managed a shaky smile. “Okay, then I’ll make that udon dish for dinner tomorrow.”

“The one with the squid? Yay!” He forced himself to grin. “Speaking of dinner, I don’t exactly have to rush off right this minute and that curry sure smells good.”

They laughed and went back inside to eat. But the uneasiness clawing at him only got louder. He could tell she was trying to keep on a happy face, but she didn’t want him to leave any more than he wanted to go. Her eyes were as pitiful looking as those of a lonely morcet asking for someone to pet it. What could Kazuki need of him that Reito couldn’t do?

While they were clearing the plates, the coughing started again. Karasu stayed near with her inhaler ready as she leaned on the counter. Her thin body shook each time she coughed, seven times in all. That was more than last night.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Why don’t you go shower for a bit? The steam helped yesterday, right?”

“Yes, it seemed to.”

“I’ll be right here if you need me, okay?” He handed her the inhaler to keep with her, just in case. He went upstairs with her, continuing on to the attic to retrieve the wooden sword he’d brought with him there. The day he first met her came to mind, when he’d attacked her and threatened her with the dull weapon. Then, she’d just been a stupid human to him, an annoyance hindering his return home with Kazuki. Now, he was trying to find a reason to ignore Kazuki’s command so he didn’t have to do just that.

Karasu went back downstairs. Sakura was still in the shower, so he ducked into her room to search Kazuki’s things for the dohame recipe before darting back downstairs. The ingredients he’d brought for it were a few weeks old, but none looked spoiled yet. They’d kept them in the fridge, as per Reito’s instructions when they’d told him they hadn’t made it all.

Working as fast as he dared, he followed the steps outlined. His was paler than the last batch. In terms of pure power, he knew his blood was nowhere near as potent as Kazuki’s, so this dose wouldn’t work as well. He just hoped it would be enough. He’d just finished pouring the lavender liquid into the bottle when she walked into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” She stared at the bottle as he capped it off.

“Here.” He pressed it into her hand. “That cough of yours doesn’t sound good, and it’s supposed to snow again tomorrow. Knowing you, you’ll go to school anyway, so take it with you. If you get sick, you can drink it.”

“You made this for me?”

“Yeah. I know you don’t like how it’s made, and you said you wouldn’t take it again, but with that coughing, I wanted you to have something in case anything happens while I’m gone.”

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. “Thank you.”

He hugged her back. The same feeling that drove him to make the dohame was practically screaming now that he shouldn’t leave. But Kazuki needed him, and that was where he belonged. Forcing himself to let go, he strapped his sword on, put on his coat and gloves, and then walked with her to the side door.

“Stay warm and don’t stay up too late studying. If you start to feel worse, go see that doctor of yours, okay? And keep that bottle close. The stopper won’t fall out unless you pull it, so you can carry it with you anywhere. If you feel an attack coming on, drink it. It’s a weak dose since it’s made with my blood, but it should still last a few hours since it will only be your second dose.”

“I’ll be careful, I promise, and I’ll keep it on me all the time. Travel safe and tell Kazuki I love him.” She paused, her expression shifting to a shy smile. “You know, I always wanted a little brother. If I could choose one, he’d be one just like you. Though, I guess, technically you’re older than me, so you’d really be the big brother I never had. I mean…so…if it’s okay, I think of you as family now, and I love you too, so hurry back, okay?”

“I will, I promise.” He walked off the porch before stopping to look back at Sakura, who stood in the doorway. “I guess you’d be a pretty good little sister, even if you are taller than me.”

Her laugh mixed with a sob and followed him as he transformed and flew toward the small island just off the Hakodate shore where the portal home was located.

 

Friday morning, Sakura had to force herself out of bed. The deafening stillness of the empty house had kept her up all night. She debated staying home from school, but so far, the cough hadn’t made an appearance that morning. Besides, being alone all day would only make her miss them more.

After she dressed, she picked up the dohame bottle, taking comfort in the slight warmth it exuded as she held the precious gift against her chest. With a smile, she tucked it into her jacket pocket. Throughout the day, her thoughts kept drifting back to her missing yokai. It was the loneliest she’d felt since Ito-san had died. It really wasn’t much different from a normal day, since Karasu would be home before her. But, somehow, it still felt different, knowing they weren’t at home. A voice inside her kept whispering that there would be no one waiting, that she was alone again.

No, I’m not alone, not anymore. She glanced across the room toward Hina, who sat watching her with a worried expression. In the next row over, Akari was also looking her way regularly. Between the next class, they both came over to her desk.

“Sakura-chan, are you feeling okay?” Hina asked as she leaned over and put one hand on her forehead, the other on her own head.

“I have a little cough, but I’ll be okay.”

“What else is going on? You’ve been sighing a lot and looking like you’re going to cry. Did you get some bad news?” Akari asked, putting her hand on Sakura’s shoulder.

“Kazuki had to go home for a bit to deal with a family problem. Karasu stayed behind, but then he had to leave yesterday too. It just feels weird without them around now.”

Hina took her hand away, seemingly satisfied that Sakura didn’t have a fever. “That sucks. Will they be back soon?”

“I hope so. Maybe even tonight.” She tried to make her smile hopeful, but she suspected she’d failed.

“It’s supposed to snow pretty heavily tonight. The trains might stop.” Akari looked toward the window where the snow was already picking up again. “Sakura-chan, you want me to come spend the night? That way you won’t be by yourself if anything happens.”

“That’s kind of you, but I wouldn’t want to burden you. You already have to travel so much further now to get from Aki’s house to here. I’m sure I’ll be okay. Thank you.”

In reality, her chest was feeling increasingly strange, like flies were trapped in her lungs, tickling the sides with their wings in an effort to escape. Then, mid-morning, the coughing started up again. Just before lunch, it got so bad the whole class was staring. With a blush, she apologized and asked to be excused to go home. But, first, she stopped by the hospital where Tenma-sensei gave her a cough suppressant to try to keep it from weakening her lungs further, making her promise to call immediately if it got any worse.

On the tram home, she watched the snow-covered landscape sliding past. If they were here now, Kazuki would be pulling Karasu into a snowball fight while she sat bundled up on the porch laughing. Then she’d make them hot chocolate and cookies to enjoy while they warmed back up. She gave the bottle in her pocket a light squeeze to push away the renewed sadness.

When she arrived home, she was surprised to find a young man with long white hair standing on her front porch. He turned as she walked up the walkway, looking at her with a familiar pair of deep, purple-tinted eyes. “Yuji-san?”

“You must be the girl, Sakura?”

She nodded and moved past him to open the door. “Please, come in.”

“Thank you.” He followed her inside, looking around with a curious expression. “How did you know my name?”

“You look a lot like your brother.” Perhaps it was foolish to invite him in when he supposedly wanted to kill Kazuki, but he didn’t make her afraid. His voice was as soft and gentle as his demeanor as he stood with her in the kitchen, watching her prepare tea. As Karasu had said, it was hard to picture him being violent. He looked more delicate than Kazuki, thinner of build and with a more feminine face.

Once she had the tea loaded in the tray along with some leftover cookies, she started to pick it up, but he moved first and took it. It was just as well, she started coughing at the living room door.

“I’m sorry. You can set it down over there. I just need a moment to take my medicine.” She went back to the kitchen and forced down a dose of the syrup from Tenma-sensei, trying not to gag on the bitter taste. When she returned to the living room, he had the tea set up and a cup waiting for her. “Thank you.”

“It is no problem.” His gaze stayed on her as she sat down and sipped her tea. “I’m sure you are wondering why I am here.”

“A bit, yes. Kazuki isn’t here, you know.”

“I know. He is in Osgavenda, talking with Aya’s parents.” Pain distorted his beautiful face.

“I’m sorry. Kazuki said you loved her very much.”

“Yes, if she would have had me, we would already be mated. But she only had eyes for him.”

“Is that why you attacked him?” Talk about jumping in with both feet!

“I did not attack him! While I’m angry at him, yes, and all the more so for all of these lies he keeps telling about me, attacking him would be foolish. He has always been a better fighter than I and could kill me with little effort.”

“Whether he’s told any lies about you or not, I can’t say. I do know that I treated his wounds myself. I also know that every time he’s spoken of you, he has told me how wonderful you are, how worried he is about you being away from home, how much he wants to reconcile with you, how much he loves you.”

Yuji shook his head with a frown. “Loves me? No, he doesn’t love me, not anymore. I don’t know what I did to make him hate me like this, but there is no love left.”

“It would seem stubbornness is another trait you two share.” Sakura sighed as she refilled his teacup. “Look, I love Kazuki, so you may not consider me a neutral party in all this, but I’m willing to listen. I know what Kazuki has told me and the things Karasu-kun has seen and heard. Perhaps if you told me your side, I could help you figure out why you are all saying different things. There must be some missing link that connects your stories.”

She almost laughed when he rested his chin on his fingers to think before nodding. They really were similar.

“Growing up, I worshiped him. I wanted to be just like him. To me, he was strong, brave, kind. We were always together. As we got older, though, things started to change. We started to have different interests and disagreed more. Then there was Aya. Though he swore he had no interest in her, that she kept making it clear she intended to be his mate, it made me jealous. This I admit.” He paused. “Has he told you of being the future ruler of our kingdom?”

“He told me he had promised to stand down as potential king, as he doesn’t want to rule. And that you would then succeed your father, which you both preferred.”

“Yes, this is what he once told me too. While I disagreed with his assessment of himself as a ruler, that he had no desire to do it was enough to make me accept the arrangement. But then, I learned he had changed his mind and was heard talking of what he will do when he is king. When I questioned him about it, he denied it, but I continued hearing it more and more.”

“And you started to believe the rumors?”

“I didn’t want to, but then I was attacked while visiting my mother’s grave by an assassin. I easily fought him off and demanded to know why he would try to harm me. He told me Kazuki had hired him to kill me, to ensure I didn’t claim the crown and to leave him free to mate with Aya. It was then that I knew my brother hated me.”

Sakura moved around the table so she could sit closer to him and hold both of his soft, smooth hands. “Kazuki had no way of knowing we would ever meet, so there would be no reason to lie to me about not wanting the throne, right?”

“I suppose not. If anything, he would brag about being future king.”

“And you said yourself that Kazuki could best you in a fight, yes? You’ve been together all of your lives, so surely he knows your skills well. If he wanted you dead, would he not do it himself or at least hire someone he knew to be a better fighter?”

He frowned. “That is true. At the time, I took it as an insult that he sent someone so weak. And I was so hurt and angry over the thought of betrayal, I just accepted what I was told and decided to leave home until Father returned.”

“Does it not all seem odd to you? Someone attacked you, a weak fighter easily captured and ready to tell you things to make you believe the rumors you’d already heard. Then he was attacked. You both agree that he is the stronger fighter, yet no one has questioned how you, as his supposed assailant, were able to wound him multiple times? And that he only survived more serious injury by escaping?” As she finished speaking, she tried not to fret about the true trouble Kazuki and his family were potentially in.

Yuji’s frown deepened along with hers. “You’re right. It is as if we are being manipulated, but who would stand to gain from making us turn on one another?”

“That I don’t know. Together, perhaps, you can figure that part out.” She squeezed his hands. “Yuji-san, you love your brother, yes?”

“Yes…of course, even now.”

“Then shouldn’t you have more faith in him and he in you? How can you love someone you don’t trust? There may be someone else behind the scenes, pulling you both along, but they never would have been able to do so had you both been honest with each other and trusted in the love you’ve had all this time.” She kept her tone soft as she admonished him. “The good thing is it’s not too late. You haven’t lost him yet. He’s waiting for you to come home, waiting for his brother to return.”

Yuji nodded. “Yes, it is time, time to return home and deal with this. I feel like such a fool, to have let this go on so long without noticing the strangeness of it all. It should have been so obvious!”

“The thing about love is when we think it’s been betrayed, the hurt can make us blind. There is a story I like that talks about the need to view situations with eyes unclouded by our negative emotions. Now the clouds have been lifted from your eyes, so you can see each other as you really are again.”

“Eyes unclouded…yes, that does sound fitting.” He stood up from the table. “Thank you for lending me your ear, Lady Sakura, and for helping to uncloud my eyes. I shall take my leave, for now.”

They were almost to the front door when Yuji stopped and turned back toward her. “I almost forgot.”