Kaiah watched with narrowed eyes as Akihito limped up to the girl, deck rolling beneath their feet, thunder filling the skies around them.
“I mean…” Akihito ran one hand over the back of his neck, looking like a newly landed fish. “I mean, I was really worried about you…”
The big man reached down, one clumsy paw encircling Hana’s. The girl gazed up at him, uncertainty etched in her face. Her voice was a whisper, nearly lost in the thunder.
“But why?”
Akihito glanced around at the assembled cloudwalkers, to Michi, to Kaiah. Down at the deck, shuffling his feet, at the small hand in his own, fingers slowly entwining with his.
“Ah, hells with it…”
The big man stooped, and wrapping one arm around Hana’s waist, lifted her gently off the ground. The wind filled the empty space between them, slowly shrinking. Hana’s eye grew wide, a delighted smile curling the corners of her mouth as Akihito leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She stared for just a moment longer, as if paralyzed by disbelief. And then her eyelids fluttered closed, and she pressed both hands to Akihito’s cheeks, body against his, kissing him back with a hunger born of long starvation and breathing in his sighs.
Michi found herself smiling, shaking her head as she turned away with all but the most voyeuristic of the crew, leaving the pair alone in the crowd.
Up on the pilot’s deck, the Blackbird gave a polite round of applause.
“About godsdamned time.”
*
Yasuo sighed and inhaled another lungful of lotus, feet up on the controls of his locomotive. Kigen Station echoed with the faint clang of tools, the rumbling growl of power generators. He had ten minutes left on his break, then he’d have to move his train to Platform Two for the next troop shipment. Yasuo kept the thought to himself, but he couldn’t help but notice how the soldiers were getting younger with every load sent north.
He pored over his newssheet with bloodshot eyes, the driver’s cabin filled with a haze of pipe smoke. The headlines spoke of the great Tora army marching under Daimyo Hiro, set to crush the Fox Daimyo and his Kagé allies. The story insinuated Isamu’s involvement in Lady Aisha’s assassination, his desire to seize the Four Thrones of Shima.
“Bastards,” Yasuo muttered. “The wise man never trusts the fox…”
He heard the soft scrape of footsteps behind, felt something hard and chill pressed against the back of his skull. A glance into the windshield revealed the reflection of a boy with a shaved head and a lopsided smile. Around the boy stood a handful of others—a tall, crooked-faced youth, another with a face of sharp angles, an old woman with silver glinting beneath her cloak.
“How do, friend?” said the boy.
Yasuo gawped, saying nothing.
“This is an iron-thrower pressed in back of your head, ’case you were speculating.”
Yasuo slowly raised his hands.
“This engine we’re riding fully fueled?”
“Hai,” Yasuo nodded.
“Enough to get us to Yama city?”
“… I have no authorization—”
The pressure increased at the back of Yasuo’s head.
“Seems I’ve a whole fistful of authorization resting on your cowl, friend.”
“Hai.” A rapid nod. “We will get to Yama.”
The pressure eased, the boy’s reflection grinning like Kitsune let loose in a henhouse.
“Start it up, then. We’ve got a ways to go.”
32
LEGACY
They stood in a circle atop Susano-ō’s throne, gathered above thrashing waters beneath a thunder sky. Over two dozen in all, black and white, young and old, sleek feathers and gleaming talons. And each in turn, they scratched the stone at their feet and dipped their heads, acknowledging he who had slain Torr and claimed the seat for his own. Standing in the circle’s center, dripping watery red onto the rock beneath, the pale monkey-child beside him.
Their Khan.
Yukiko swam in their thoughts, the overdose of predatory instinct. She focused on two above the others—two minds alight with more than subservience or uncertainty.
The first, a young buck around Buruu’s age, black as murder. She recognized him from Buruu’s memories—Sukaa, the Khan-son who had taken Esh’s eye. She searched his mind and found thoughts of vendetta. Love for his fallen father and the desire for revenge. Nevertheless, the buck bowed to Buruu, growled he would serve. And with a glance at Yukiko that told her he’d enjoy nothing more than showing the sky her insides, he turned and took to the wing.
The second arashitora of note was a beautiful female, quick and cunning and sleek. Yukiko knew her from Buruu’s memories also—the dam he’d chased across the clouds, the one who’d brought news of his father’s death. And looking into the female’s mind, she found a singular joy at Buruu’s return. And amidst the feral thrumming of her heart, Yukiko found not just simple affection, but the bone-deep strength of a lifetime bond.
My gods …
Yukiko smoothed her hands over Buruu’s feathers, bloodstained and sodden.
She’s your mate.
Buruu looked to the female, tail lashing side to side, heart thundering with joy.