Chapter 16: The Shadow Assassin

It is Wednesday night, three days after the incident at the shrine. The moon is hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds, turning the Tokyo sky into a soup of dark grey smog.

Hajime and Naomi are asleep upstairs. We can hear their breathing-slow, rhythmic, peaceful. It is the sound we have sworn to protect for five hundred years.

Downstairs, nobody is sleeping.

We are all in our human forms, sitting in the darkened living room. The only light comes from the streetlamp outside filtering through the blinds, casting long, striped shadows across the floor.

"He is out there", Kenuji whispers. He is standing by the window, peering through a crack in the blinds. His glasses reflect the sliver of light. "I can feel him. He has been circling the block for an hour".

"Is it the crow?" Yoshi asks. He is sitting on the floor, sharpening a combat knife he conjured from the earth. The sound of stone grinding against metal- shhhk, shhhk- is the only noise in the room.

"No", Kenuji says, his voice tight. "It is not a scout this time. It is something heavier. Something denser. It feels like a black hole walking on two legs".

Muji is pacing. He is shirtless, his muscles twitching with restless energy. "Why are we waiting? Let's go out there and rip his head off. If he is circling, he is hunting. I do not like being hunted".

"We wait because we do not know what he is capable of", Inoe says from the sofa. She is braiding her hair tight against her scalp-a warrior's hairstyle. "If we rush out, we might walk into a trap. And we cannot leave the house unguarded".

"Haruka", Yoshi looks at me. "You stay here. Guard the stairs. If anything gets past us, you blast it. Do not let it touch the humans".

"I want to fight too", I argue, crossing my arms.

"You are the last line of defense", Yoshi says seriously. "You are the Healer. If we go down, you are the only one who can keep us alive. You stay".

I hate it, but I nod. "Fine. But if you guys die, I am going to be very angry".

"Understood", Yoshi grins, a flash of white teeth in the dark.

"He stopped", Kenuji says suddenly.

The room freezes.

"Where?" Muji demands.

"The front gate", Kenuji says. "He is standing right at the gate. He is touching the ward".

We have a spiritual ward around the house-a simple barrier that repels minor spirits. It usually feels like a gentle static shock to anything supernatural trying to enter.

CRASH.

The sound is not physical. It is spiritual. It sounds like a pane of glass shattering inside my head. I wince, clutching my temples.

"He broke it", Kenuji gasps, stepping back. "He just... shattered the ward like it was sugar glass".

"He is coming in", Muji roars.

"Outside! Now!" Yoshi commands. "Do not let him enter the house!"

Yoshi, Muji, Kenuji, and Inoe burst through the sliding glass door into the backyard. I run to the bottom of the stairs, my hands glowing with golden light, ready to defend the upper floor.

I watch through the glass door as my siblings confront the intruder.

The backyard is small, lined with potted plants and a wooden fence. Standing in the center of the small patch of grass is a figure.

It is humanoid, but it is not human. It is wrapped in bandages from head to toe, like a mummy, but the bandages are black. They seem to be woven from shadows themselves. Where the eyes should be, there is nothing but smooth, black cloth. It wears a tattered cloak that drifts in a wind that doesn't exist.

"Who are you?" Yoshi barks, stepping forward. The ground rumbles beneath his boots. "This is protected territory. Leave or be buried".

The figure tilts its head. It does not speak. Instead, it raises a hand. From the shadows of its cloak, a long, curved blade materializes. The blade is not metal. It is made of obsidian, darker than the night, and it smokes with a purple miasma.

"Assassin", Kenuji warns. "High level. Class A spirit. Be careful!"

The Assassin moves.

It does not run. It vanishes.

One second it is standing by the fence. The next, it is directly in front of Yoshi.

CLANG.

Yoshi reacts on pure instinct. He summons a wall of rock from the garden soil instantly. The obsidian blade strikes the rock. Sparks-purple and green-fly into the air. The force of the blow shatters Yoshi's rock wall into gravel.

"Fast!" Yoshi yells, stumbling back.

Muji is already in the air. "Gotcha!"

Muji comes down from the roof of the shed, his silver claws extended to their maximum length. He aims a decapitating slash at the Assassin's neck.

The Assassin twists its body like water. Muji's claws pass through the black bandages, hitting nothing but smoke.

"What?" Muji lands, confused. "He has no body!"

The Assassin spins, lashing out with a leg that solidifies into iron-hard shadow. It catches Muji in the ribs.

CRACK.

Muji flies across the yard and crashes through the wooden fence, landing in the neighbor's flowerbed.

"Muji!" Inoe screams.

She steps forward, her eyes glowing neon pink. "Stop! Freeze! I command you to halt!"

Her Mind Control waves hit the Assassin. The figure pauses for a microsecond. The bandages ripple.

Then, it laughs. It is a dry, rasping sound, like sandpaper rubbing together.

"No... mind...", the Assassin hisses. Its voice sounds like it is coming from a deep well.

"It is a construct!" Kenuji realizes, throwing up a psychic shield as the Assassin lunges at Inoe. "It has no consciousness! It is a puppet made of cursed energy! You cannot mind-control a doll!"

The obsidian blade slams into Kenuji's shield. The psychic barrier cracks. Kenuji grunts, his knees buckling under the pressure.

"Yoshi! Help!" Kenuji shouts.

Yoshi stomps the ground with both feet. "Geomancer Arts: Stalagmite Prison!"

Sharp spikes of stone erupt from the ground around the Assassin, aiming to skewer it. The Assassin leaps straight up into the air, defying gravity. It lands on the tip of one of the stone spikes, balancing perfectly.

It raises its blade, aiming down at Kenuji.

"No you don't!"

I cannot stay inside. I push open the glass door and run onto the porch.

"Divine Light: Spear!"

I clap my hands and pull them apart. A javelin of pure, concentrated holy light forms between my palms. I throw it.

The spear flies true. It screams through the air, burning a hole in the darkness.

The Assassin senses the holy energy. It flinches. It tries to dodge, but the spear is too fast. It grazes the Assassin's shoulder.

HISS.

The black bandages burn away where the light touched them. Grey smoke pours from the wound. The Assassin screeches-a sound that makes my teeth ache.

It turns its eyeless face toward me.

"Priestess...", it rasps. "Target... acquired".

It forgets about the others. It wants me. The Healer. The one who can destroy it.

It leaps from the stone spike, diving toward the porch.

"Haruka! Move!" Yoshi screams.

I freeze. It is too fast. I can see the obsidian blade coming down. I can smell the rot coming from its body.

Suddenly, a blur of orange hits the Assassin in mid-air.

It is Muji. He is bleeding from his mouth, but he is roaring. He tackles the Assassin, slamming it into the side of the house. They crash through the siding, leaving a dent in the wall.

"Get away from her!" Muji yells.

He is wrestling the shadow monster. His silver claws are finally making contact, tearing at the solid parts of the shadow. The Assassin stabs Muji in the shoulder with a smaller dagger hidden in its bandages.

Muji howls in pain, but he does not let go. "Yoshi! Now! Bury him!"

Yoshi is already moving. He slides across the grass like a baseball player. He slams his hands onto the foundation of the house.

"Geomancer Arts: Concrete Coffin!"

The concrete patio beneath Muji and the Assassin liquifies. It rises up like a wave, swallowing them both.

"Muji, get out!" Yoshi shouts.

Muji kicks off the Assassin's chest and backflips away just as the concrete slams shut, encasing the Assassin in a solid block of stone.

Yoshi clenches his fist. "Compress!"

The stone block shrinks, crushing whatever is inside with tons of pressure. We hear a sickening crunch, followed by a popping sound. Then, silence.

We stand in the backyard, panting. The rain has started to fall again-a light drizzle that cools our hot skin.

"Is... is it dead?" Inoe asks, her voice trembling. She is holding Kenuji's arm to steady him.

Yoshi stares at the stone block. "I crushed it. Nothing survives that".

Muji is leaning against the wall, clutching his shoulder. Blood is seeping through his fingers. "That... hurt".

I run to him. "Let me see".

I pull his hand away. The wound is deep, cauterized by the dark energy of the blade. It looks angry and purple.

"It is poisoned", I say, my stomach twisting. "Cursed poison. I need to purge it immediately".

I place my hands over the wound. "Sacred Healing: Purify".

Golden light flows into Muji's shoulder. He grits his teeth and groans as the light burns out the poison. Black steam rises from the wound, smelling of sulfur. Slowly, the purple color fades, replaced by clean red blood. The skin begins to knit together.

"You are okay", I whisper, wiping sweat from my forehead. "You are okay".

"Yeah", Muji breathes heavily. "Thanks, doc".

"Look", Kenuji points at the stone block.

We turn. The stone is cracking. Not from the inside. It is crumbling into dust.

The black bandages inside are dissolving into ink. The obsidian blade melts into a puddle of black goo.

"It was a clone", Kenuji says, his face pale. "It was not even the real body. It was a Shadow Clone sent to test our combat capabilities".

"A clone?" Yoshi kicks the pile of dust. "A clone did this much damage? It broke Muji's ribs and cracked Kenuji's shield. If the real one comes..."

"We are in trouble", Inoe finishes the sentence.

"We need to reinforce the wards", Kenuji says, pushing his glasses up his nose. His hands are shaking. "We need stronger barriers. Ancient ones. The kind we used in the Edo period".

"And we need to train", Muji says, standing up straight and testing his healed shoulder. "I was too slow. I let him hit me. That cannot happen again".

"He targeted Haruka", Yoshi says quietly. He looks at me, his green eyes serious. "He identified her as the Priestess. They know you are the key, Haruka. Your light is the only thing that can permanently kill them".

I shiver. The thought of that eyeless face staring at me makes my blood run cold.

"I can fight", I say, trying to sound brave.

"We know", Yoshi puts a hand on my head. "But from now on, nobody goes anywhere alone. Not even to the bathroom. We stick together like glue".

"What about the house?" Inoe points to the dent in the wall and the shattered fence. "Hajime is going to notice a hole in his house".

"I can fix the wall", Yoshi says, examining the damage. "I can reshape the siding and the wood. It won't be perfect, but a coat of paint will hide it. The fence... we can say a stray dog crashed into it".

"A very big, very strong stray dog", Muji mutters.

We spend the next hour repairing the damage in the dark. Yoshi molds the vinyl siding back into shape. Muji fixes the fence with brute force and some nails we found in the shed. I wash the blood off the patio with a hose.

By the time we are done, the sun is starting to grey the eastern sky. The birds are beginning to chirp, oblivious to the battle that just happened.

We go back inside. We do not transform back into cats. We stay human. We sit in the living room, watching the sun come up.

None of us sleep.

The Shadow Assassin was just a puppet. The Master is still out there. And he knows exactly where we live.

"Hey", Muji breaks the silence. He is eating a banana he found in the kitchen. "If they come back... we will be ready. Right?"

"Right", Yoshi says, sharpening his knife again. "Next time, we don't just crush the puppet. We follow the strings back to the puppeteer".

"And then?" Inoe asks.

"And then", Yoshi grins, but there is no humor in it. "We cut the strings".

I look at my siblings. They are battered, tired, and scared. But they are also dangerous. The enemy made a mistake tonight. They didn't just hurt us. They made us angry.

And angry cats are the most dangerous creatures on earth.