From Hell with Love

Eien Akagawa

“Eien!” A high pitched voice came from the flaming rickshaw. A woman wearing an orange and red kimono burst out of one of the wheels and spun around me. She stopped in front of me and grabbed my face in both of her hands. Despite the woman being on fire, her touch didn’t burn me. “Got you.”

“Alright, hands off the goods!” Iroha pushed the woman's face away as she tried to lean in for a kiss.

“Iroha stop that!” the flaming woman complained. “I’m just trying to say hel-” She was roughly pulled back by her collar by another flaming woman.

“Taya, we discussed this.” The woman holding Taya by the collar was her older twin, Norie. They both wore the same type of kimono and floated an inch above the ground. Beneath the flames they had pale skin and long black hair. Norie had hers up in an intricate braid in the western style while Taya had hers bound back with hair sticks.

“Forgive my sister Eien,” Norie said as she pulled on her sister's collar more and bowed. Taya reached back and slapped away her sister's hands. “She’s an unruly child.”

“Oh you’ll see me unruly if you don’t stop getting in my way.” Taya pointed a finger at her sister as she stood up from her bow.

“As you can see,” Norie said as she grabbed Taya’s finger and bent it at an awkward angle. Taya’s eyes grew wide and bent under the pressure her elder sister had on the finger joint. “She still hasn’t gotten over her hero worship of you.”

“Ow, please stop sis!” Taya begged. “I’ll be good, promise! Please let go of my finger! You’re gonna break it!” Norie sighed and released the finger. Taya stood back up and stayed at a respectful distance while casting longing glances my way.

I opened my mouth to speak but Norie beat me to it. “Besides, it already looks like he has a date.”

Taya looked over at Kizuna and her flames burned brighter than before. “Who’s this hus-” A glare from her sister broke her off midsentence. She patted down her kimono and looked at me sweetly. “I mean, who is this with you?”

Kizuna sniffed at an attempt to hold in her laughter. “My name is Kizuna and I have had the pleasure of meeting Eien recently. He’ll be helping me with a job that I’ve hired him to do.”

“Just a job huh?” Taya floated in front of Kizuna and crossed her arms. I noticed that she floated an extra few inches to meet Kizuna’s height. “Fine. I guess I’ll allow you to travel with him.” She crossed her arms and added smugly, “He has a habit of helping strays.”

Kizuna’s eyes narrowed and I decided to step in. “Taya, Norie, you're both looking as lovely as ever. Now, can you please stop antagonizing my client? We both need a ride to Norihisa’s place.”

“Of course,” Taya said as she floated back in front of me. “We’ll take you wherever you need to go. That’s why we’re here.”

A year or so ago I had helped these two find each other. These two had escaped from hell and ended up getting separated. They were hell spirits and pseudo gods of the earth. Ever since I had helped them they had offered me free rides whenever I needed them. I had yet to find out how they knew when I needed them most.

I stepped towards the rickshaw and helped Iroha down from my shoulders. The rickshaw, now not on fire thanks to the twins not directly possessing it at the moment, was made out of wood and painted black. No one pulled it as the sisters drove it themselves. Their spirits resided in the wheels and their balance was impeccable, despite there being no one to counter balance in the front.

Kizuna stepped beside me to inspect the rickshaw. “This won’t just topple over with us in it, will it?”

“Of course not!” Taya said haughtily. “We only keep the pullbar attached as it makes our customers uncomfortable without it.”

“Enough.” Norie came up from behind and cuffed Taya on the back of the head. “We’ll get you there safe and sound, milady.”

“Milady? Why are…” Kizuna paused. “Is it that obvious that I’m highborn?”

“One’s bearing is hard to change. Besides, even in the shadows of your hat I can see the nub of something poking out of your forehead.” She huffed out a laugh. “And since we’re spirits from hell, all it takes is a little concentration to see the divinity around you.”

“What?” Taya asked. “She’s from a clan?”

Norie rolled her eyes. “Maybe if you bothered to pay attention, you’d have noticed little sister.”

I helped Iroha into the rickshaw and then settled in next to her. I motioned for Kizuna to join us. She settled in on the other side of Iroha. It was something of a tight fit, the rickshaw being just wide enough for all three of us.

“Is this really safe?” Kizuna whispered to me over Iroha’s head.

“Safe as safe can be,” I whispered back as we watched Norie slam a fist into her sister's head. “They have yet to let me down. Ever since I helped them, they’ve somehow managed to keep an eye on me. They always manage to get me a ride to where I need to go in desperate times. They may be from hell, but they’re the best of it.”

“Besides,” Iroha cut in. “They’re good people. Despite how they may act with each other, they’re dependable.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Kizuna said reluctantly. “Wait, you said they’re from hell?”

“Yup,” I responded and then ignored her next question about them. “Ladies, we’re all ready for you here.” The ‘fight’ between the twins broke apart almost instantly.

“Of course Eien,” Norie said, having fallen back into a businesslike tone. She stepped towards the rickshaw and then her form blurred and a trail of flames shot into the left wheel.

“Let’s get this show on the road!” Taya shouted happily as she shot into the right wheel. The rickshaw burst alight with flames again. Kizuna jumped in her seat and glanced around as the flames didn’t touch us. I could have put my hand in the flames and I wouldn’t have felt the heat. Now if someone else not riding inside tried it, well they wouldn’t have much of a hand left after the experience.

The twins tilted the rickshaw back and turned us around sharply. Iroha and I were mostly used to this but Kizuna turned white and clung onto the armrest tightly. I heard laughter from Taya as the rickshaw shot off like a bullet.