As they moved on, Danzen considered how on edge he always was, ready to kill without second-guessing his actions. This was necessary considering who was after the former assassin, but hearing the rabbit’s voice did, for some odd reason, make him wonder if there was a better way. Would he ever get past this hurdle in his life? Or would he be hunted until his death?

  Once again, Danzen shut his eyes, focusing on his surroundings and able to see Kudzu again, her body with a subtle outline tracing around it.

  Danzen knew it was coming.

  There would be a point in the near future where he had to face Nomin, the blind assassin. When that time came, he had to be ready for her, and out of respect for what she had shown him in the past, he planned to meet her on a level playing field.

  They came to a river and quickly passed over it, Jelmay grumbling once again that he was hungry.

  He snapped his mouth shut when there was even more movement on the periphery, Danzen feeling his heartbeat tick up, the hairs on his arm standing to attention. Whatever was in the forest sounded large.

  It also sounded fast.

  He heard a grunt, and he was seconds away from loosing his blade when Usagi told him to move on.

  “Nothing good can come from fighting something in the forest at night,” the jade rabbit later said, once they were in the clear.

  “We’re getting closer,” Kudzu told Danzen, her voice just below a whisper. It was almost as if she had said it right next to his ear, Danzen so focused on her now with his eyes closed that she felt closer to him then she actually was.

  He opened his eyes once they pressed out of the Asura Forest, the group coming to a trail. Danzen recognized the area. He was certain he had passed through this very same spot before he was attacked by Shunta, the first assassin to discover him in the valley.

  “At least we can talk again,” Jelmay said.

  “We should still be quiet,” Kudzu told him. “Things can come out of the forest.”

  “Honestly, what’s so scary out there? We have the best assassin in the world with us right now. I mean, this guy is even half-demon and his dad is ruler of Diyu. Tell her how good you are, Pilgrim.”

  “I’m not a great assassin,” Danzen told him.

  “What? I thought that’s why the Brotherhood wanted you back so badly, you brought in the most revenue, or something.”

  “I don’t think that’s the reason why. There are other assassins who are better at their job than me.”

  Jelmay shook his head in disbelief. “You’re just being modest. Are you telling me with a sword that flies through the air, and your enhanced strength and speed, not to mention your Demon Speak power, or what happens when you get cut, you weren’t the best?”

  Danzen shook his head.

  “I don’t buy it,” Jelmay told him with a grunt. “And I’m not just talking you up here because I like you, Pilgrim. If you weren’t the world’s best assassin, I would tell you. I’m not that kind of friend. Tell him, Usagi.”

  “I don’t wish to be part of this conversation, nor can I verify any of your lies,” said the rabbit. “I’m merely here to fix the mess you created, you fool.”

  “It wasn’t that bad of an idea at the time,” Jelmay said. “Trust me, it really wasn’t. I’ve had way worse ideas than binding a person’s soul to a nozuchi tooth. And it worked, until—”

  “I will fix this tonight, and then I will be on my way,” Usagi told him from his spot in Danzen’s satchel. “I have other things I would much rather be doing.”

  Jelmay snorted. “You pompous little rabbit. What else could you be doing on a night like tonight? It’s not like you have a significant other or something.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Is there another jade rabbit in the picture?”

  “We’re close to the monastery,” Kudzu said, loud enough that she could overpower Jelmay’s voice, “where I can finally get some rest, and the three of you can handle it from there.”

  “Enjoy your sleep,” Jelmay told her, “because after this, we’re heading to the west, and you’re going to have to be human for a long time. You have to wear clothes too. But don’t worry about that part. I’m going to get you the best clothing there is in Chutham. Only the best for you, Kudzu.”

  “Why are you heading to the west again?” Usagi asked, in a tone that told Danzen he was wary to get involved in this conversation.

  “Simple. Pilgrim here needs to kill anyone and everyone that is trying to kill him,” Jelmay said. “He figures if he goes there first and does so preemptively, then he will prevent any of them from coming to the Valley.”

  “Won’t that just provoke them more?” Usagi asked. “I believe there is an analogy of kicking an ant pile that you humans use.”

  “Not necessarily,” Danzen said. “I need to kill the man who ordered my assassination. If I do so, and handle a few loose ends, I believe they will let me be. Unless they want a sea of bodies between here and there.”

  Jelmay’s ears perked up. “Sea of bodies? That’s dark, that’s really dark. I believe that’s the darkest thing I’ve ever heard you say, Pilgrim.”

  Danzen nodded. He meant it.

  ****

  They reached the monastery and Kudzu headed up, bidding them farewell.

  “Just wait until she has to be a human for a couple days,” Jelmay said once she was halfway up the hill. “It’s going to be fun.”

  “I don’t understand how or why the fox came to be in your company,” Usagi told him, still in Danzen’s satchel with his little rabbit head peeking out.

  “What’s not to like about me?” Jelmay asked. “I’ll admit that we have our differences, but I think she likes me more than she lets on.”

  “You always were bad at reading people.”

  They stopped by Jelmay’s home for him to get some meat, Danzen indicating that he wasn’t hungry. As the bakeneko quickly stuffed his face, Danzen waited outside with the jade rabbit, who clearly wasn’t interested in going inside either.

  After about thirty minutes, Jelmay emerged from his little home, his belly distended. “Sorry about that. I was really hungry; someone might need to roll me to the village.”

  “I can’t believe you made us wait for that long,” Usagi told him, barely covering the impatience in his tone.

  “I offered for you to come in.”

  “Let’s just be done with this,” the rabbit said with a huff.

  They continued on, Danzen at once familiar with the path that led from his monastery to Suja Village’s Third District.

  It was a quiet night, a cool breeze sweeping down from the Panchen Mountains, the moon absent from the sky. The stars provided enough light for Danzen to see where he was going, and as he walked, he went over his plans to head west.

  First, he would walk to Tudan and take a boat to Arsi, from there to Bahlingar and then Sainshand, finally to the mountains, Mount Laksh to be precise, seat of the Diyu Brotherhood. He would take the stairs that he had been placed before so many years ago as an infant, and once he got to the top…

  “Did you hear me, Pilgrim?” Jelmay asked.

  “No.”

  “I was saying that while I can change my forms here, our little rabbit friend can’t. So what do you suggest we do?”

  “Why does it matter if they see me in this form or not?” Usagi asked him. “Are these people unaware that there are yokai in the valley? Of course not. It won’t startle them to see me. I’ve already told you this. It doesn’t matter if they see me.”

  “The villagers will be fine,” Danzen said with a tone of finality.

  “I guess you could always wipe their minds, or whatever you do with your ability. Works for me.” Jelmay began to morph into the hermit known as Dalan, his posture changing as he slumped over a bit. “I’m ready,” he said using Dalan’s voice.

  “Who are you supposed to be?” Usagi asked.

  “A hermit who lives in the mountains that the villagers trust.”

  “The poor fellow. He’s going to have to answer so many questions next time he comes to town.”

  The three wound their way through the fields on the outskirts of the village and came to the main road, which was lit by an occasional lamp as well as lanterns shining through the windows of some of the buildings. They headed to the home where they had left Oktai’s and Khamdo’s bodies, Danzen knocking lightly on the door.

  Sarnai came, her cheeks puffy red, her eyes filling with surprise once she saw Danzen. “You’re back,” she said. “I left Leegan with Yeni. I’ve been doing exactly as you said, trying to keep them asleep, and taking shifts with the Sartens.”

  She invited Danzen into the home, greeting Jelmay as Dalan with a short bow.

  Danzen was glad to see that there was no one else in the space, that all the furniture had been moved to the sides of the room to allow for the two men to lie on padded quilts.

  “Let me out of his bag so I can see them.” Usagi popped his head out of Danzen’s bag, startling Sarnai. Rather than do anything like gasp, she simply lowered her head a little.

  “Thank you for seeing to my husband,” she said.

  “If my counterpart here…” Usagi sounded like he was about to light into Jelmay, but he stopped himself, remembering that the bakeneko had taken another form. He cleared his throat. “Let me see how you did this.”

  Danzen removed his bag with the sugawara’s helmet inside and set it against the wall along with his Blade of Darkness, which he propped at an upright angle. With Jelmay’s assistance, they rolled Khamdo to his side, so they could show Usagi where the tooth had been placed.

  “I see…” Usagi said after he examined the incision. “What was your name?” he asked Sarnai.

  Once she told him, he nodded and said, “I believe it would be best if you leave now, Sarnai. I can fix this, but I would prefer you not see how I do it.”

  “Yes, sure, of course,” she said, going to the door.

  “Would you like me to join her?” Danzen asked.

  “No, I’m going to need you.”

  “I will be outside, then,” Sarnai said as she grabbed something from one of the side tables and headed to the door. Once she was out, Usagi turned back to Khamdo’s wound.

  “I’m going to need you to kill it,” he told Danzen. “Get your sword.”

  “Kill what?” Jelmay asked.

  “The nozuchi. I’m going to leave the tooth in, because there’s no point in trying to remove it now. But I will have to suck the essence of the creature out, which…” The rabbit cleared his throat. “I’m only doing this because you got rid of that terrible hihi for us. Just be ready.”

  Usagi dipped his neck forward and placed his forehead on the incision point. It was very subtle at first, but Danzen started to notice a clear energy materialize above his head, something that almost reminded him of what a heat wave looked like.

  A form began to solidify, Danzen recognizing the snakelike being known as a nozuchi.

  “Not yet…” Usagi said, his voice suddenly strained. “Not yet.”

  It was just a few moments later that the nozuchi flopped onto the ground, completely bewildered. Danzen rushed forward with his sword, drove it into the creature’s body, and pushed forward. He yanked his blade up, ignoring the blood sprayed against the front of his robes as he tore his sword from the bottom of the creature’s skull.

  “Ha!” Jelmay said. “Now there is something I’ve never seen before. How did you…?”

  “It was many moons ago, long before you were born, but I spent quite a bit of time learning how to bend my echo. This is one of the things that resulted,” Usagi said as he hopped over to Oktai’s body. “Move him.”

  Danzen eventually lifted Khamdo’s body and brought him to the other room, where there was a daybed. He noticed that Khamdo’s skin was no longer hot to the touch as it had been when he left them, that he was breathing normally again.

  The carpenter blinked his eyes open. “P-Pilgrim?”

  “I’m here, Khamdo. Just rest for now.”

  He returned to find Usagi in the same position he had just been in, his forehead pressed against Oktai’s incision. Another nozuchi began to form, this one a bit smaller than the one Danzen had just killed.

  Rather than act bewildered once it was fully formed, this nozuchi slithered onto the ground and took off toward the other side of the room, Danzen having to throw his blade at it to stop its advance.

  Astra sailed right through the creature, returning to his hand while Danzen approached the downed creature and finished the job.

  More blood.

  “They will be fine after another day of rest or so,” Usagi told them. “And with that, I believe we are even now.”

  “What do you want us to do with these nozuchi bodies?” Jelmay asked.

  “That’s for you to figure out.” The rabbit turned to the door, and once he was there, he waited. When no one came, he looked to Danzen. “Would you mind opening this for me?”

  Danzen obliged, the rabbit hopping out and disappearing into the night.

  “Is everything fine?” Sarnai asked, trying to peek into the home.

  “Everything is fine.”

  “Can… can I come in?”

  Danzen looked over his shoulder at the two dead nozuchi and the blood splattered across the ground. “Perhaps it’s best if you just waited here for a while following cleanup.”

  “I can’t believe he left us to clean this mess up,” Jelmay said once Danzen shut the door. “He really is a little bastard. Now do you see what I mean?”

  Danzen nodded.

  Part Two

  .Chapter One.

  Danzen Ravja awoke the following morning with a clear mind, knowing exactly what needed to happen next: he would officially begin cultivating his echo once he got back to Genshin Valley.

  Learning more about the power innate in all living things could help him along the way, yet he still felt an urgency to leave, to prevent what had happened a few days back from ever taking place again.

  Before he got started, he would first get his affairs in order back west, and it was only after that point would he visit the fox shrine and begin cultivating his echo.

  A plan solidified, the former assassin packed a few items, including a spare set of robes and the original sugawara’s helmet, leaving his field diary behind for once. Danzen was just putting his mirrored mask into his satchel when Kudzu entered his bedroom.

  “Today’s the day.”

  “Today is the day,” he said.

  “Why the mask?”

  “I need it for something,” he told her.

  The white fox yawned. “Can we at least have breakfast before we leave?”

  “I can cook something for you.”

  Once Danzen was packed, he went out the back of the monastery and got an egg from Basan. He returned, and cooked it up with grain, Danzen seasoning the dish with herbs and spices. He placed a bowl on the ground for Kudzu. She ate quickly, and once she was done, she met him at the front of the monastery, Danzen with his hand on Yama’s head.

  That was another thing he needed to take care of when he got back: Danzen would figure out what happened to his lion dog’s mate.

  “Get dressed,” he told her.

  “I thought you’d say that…” Kudzu stepped back into the monastery as a fox and returned a few minutes later as a human wearing his robes, her gait awkward at first until she got into the rhythm of bipedalism.

  The former assassin locked up, and without a word the two set off, Danzen with his famed sword sheathed at his side, his Blade of Darkness on his back, his satchel and his burlap sack with him as well. He thought about bringing the sugawara overcoat too, but decided against it in the end; Danzen had a better solution for armor, the former assassin planning to pick something up in Arsi before they left for Sainshand.

  It was going to be a while before he returned, perhaps even a month, so he would need to stop by Sarnai and Khamdo’s place or better, Temur’s home, to ask him to take care of the fire chicken.

  “We could always just leave the cat behind,” Kudzu suggested as they came to Jelmay’s home, which was just at the start of the Asura Forest, far enough away from the main road so that it couldn’t be spotted. There was a bit of smoke coming out of his chimney, Danzen surprised to see that the bakeneko was awake.

  “But somehow, I think he would catch up with us,” Kudzu said.

  “Likely.”

  Kudzu went to the door and knocked. Jelmay opened up, feigning surprise at seeing the white fox in her human form. “I’m so proud of you, my two-legged friend. Wait here.” He turned back into his home and grabbed a few things.

  The bakeneko stepped out of his place, now in the form of a younger man, the same blonde-haired man whose form he’d taken in Chutham. He had a shield on his back as well as a bag slung over his shoulder, his sword at his side.

  Jelmay rubbed his hands together and smiled at the two of them, gesturing for them to be on their way. “I’m assuming we are stopping by Sarnai’s house for a village breakfast, right?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?” he asked Danzen, a flash of hunger-driven sadness in his eyes.

  “Her husband is recovering. She doesn’t need to be cooking you food right now.”

  “She’s most likely cooking food for him so he recovers faster; why can’t I have just a little bit of that?”

  “Let’s just try to get out of the valley today,” Kudzu said. “There will be food along the way.”

  “We are definitely getting out today,” Jelmay assured her. “If all goes well, we should be on a boat to Arsi by nightfall. If not, we’ll grab the boat in the morning.”

  “We could also go by horse,” Danzen suggested.

  “Do you really want this to take a year for us to get there? We’ll go by boat from Tudan to Arsi, then we’ll ride to Bahlingar, unless the waterways are open, and from there, a carriage ride to Sainshand. Unless you want to go the long way. How long did it take you to get here again?”

  “Two years,” Danzen said.

  “Yes, that way. I don’t know what took you so long, but don’t you worry, my favorite assassin, we are doing this in style. Best hotels, best meals, clothing…”

 

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