Ch 7: The Waiting

Finishing up the magazines, I gathered them all in the backpack she had taken as well.

With all my property regained, including my easy loader, I stood, slinging the backpack over my shoulders with an easy, practiced swing. “Well, I’ll get this stuff back where it belongs and get ready for breakfast.”

“Oh.” Tano breathed out, standing and walking me to her sliding door. “Well, I do apologize, again, for sneaking in. I did not have anything nefarious up my sleeve, I just thought it would be fun to surprise you in the morning with neat stacks of loaded magazines.”

“Was a solid idea.” I said, sliding open the door and stepping out into the hallway. “Crows ratted you out though.”

Tano clicked her teeth, annoyed. “Those damn birds, they’re too nosey and talk too much.”

I chuckled at that, and turned to look at her.

It was odd, this hundreds of years old, yellow skinned woman staring at me with eyes that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a woman in her early twenties. My gaze twitched to her two, short horns, poking out just past her soft brown hair, then back down to her eyes.

“Arihada is working on some new targets that move around on the range, it would make good training for you.” I said lowly, and it was just now that I realized I could smell an odd… something wafting off her like, like hair warmed in the sun and brushed by the wind. “Would you like to-”

“Yes!” Tano shouted, then cleared her throat and placed her fingers together in front of her chest. “Yes, I would like that.”

I gave her a wry grin, then took a step back away from the door. “Alright… it’s a date.”

Tano’s face began to blossom with that odd, green tinge, but her eyebrows came together angrily as she popped her head past the door frame.

I looked to where she was glaring, and saw that a handful of animal faced castle staff had paused in what they were doing. They had been watching us silently, eyes wide and ears twitching to hear our words.

“Something I can help you with?!” Tano shouted as she came around the door frame, and a fan flicked into her hand from… I actually don’t know where it came from.

First it wasn’t there, then it was.

Tano opened the fan with a crisp click and placed it in front of her eyes, which were glowing with bright lilac light.

The castle staff ran for their lives, brooms and towels held high in the air as they dashed around corners or dived into rooms before slamming the doors closed.

“Good grief.” I murmured, then gave Tano a soft, playful punch in the shoulder. “See you later, killer.”

Tano grinned at me as she shut her fan, tapping it to her chin as I walked away. I glanced over my shoulder when I was halfway down the hall, spotting that she was still watching me, but she quickly ducked back into her room with a short curse.

With all my gear placed back where it should be, I got ready for the day along with Brody and Deckard.

The days, one by one, followed the same cycle; We woke up, had breakfast, patrolled the castle, had lunch, patrolled the castle, relaxed before dinner with staff, or played with the students, and then went to bed after eating in the grand hall.

I knew full well it was our adversaries trying to lure us into complacency, but they were having issues getting past the ever-watching eyes of the crows. Every day or so, a Bostonian accented or jive speaking crow would land near me and fill me in on the comings and goings of the castle’s enemies, and I would take my notes.

Judging by their movements, they were tracking along to make a run on a village, and I reported that back to the staff. Every day I waited for the moment I would see smoke rising in the distance as buildings burned, and the impatient waiting began to grow in me.

I knew it was coming, I could feel it right in my bones, but I had to wait for my enemy to make the first move.

Arihada was perfecting her little moving target range, something that I looked forward to, but she still quoted me a week more until it was ready to withstand the march of our weapons.

Five days passed with relative calm, though Brody, Deckard, and myself could feel war on the air. It was one of those things someone had to experience once in their lives to understand, like the air was filled with taught strings, holding back the bloodshed that would always come.

There was one thing, however, that helped ease that tension… at least for me.

Tano, when she was not teaching history, had taken up walking with me on my patrols. She wore her usual, checkered kimonos as she did so, but she would cheekily let the graphic t-shirts show through. She would use these as conversation starters, the two of us discussing television shows, movies, books, and whatever else she had watched or learned that day.

One thing she always wanted to know were my “war stories”, the places I had been, the battles I had found myself in, and the men who I had to kill.

Her bright purple eyes were always wide, chin resting on her fists as she listened to me, normally up on top of the castle, or along one of the walls that she preferred.

I had gotten around, as it were, and had been in multiple theatres on contract work. I always joked with military veterans that I had seen more action than them, and cheekily, they always agreed.

I didn’t find pride in it, but I had gunned down my fair share of people… some that still bothered me to this day and plagued my sleep.

“How many, if I may ask?” Tano asked me one morning out of the blue, the two of us walking around the longer North wall that faced the woodline.

I turned my head towards her, eyebrow perked. “How many what?”

“How many men… have you killed?” Tano asked, her fingers fidgeting with the sleeves of her kimono top.

I made a noise in my throat as I understood her question now, and I let out a long exhale as I did my count. There had been the gunfight in Yemen, all those times in Africa, the big money pit that had been Afghanistan, then all those fucking small jobs on the cargo ships due to Somalia…

“Sixty three.” I said quietly, stopping by a window and looking out towards the forest where I knew my new enemy was hiding. “That’s men, mind you, Humans. After I got here, counting those I know I killed alone without Brody filling them with holes… sixty five sounds fair.”

The number made Tano’s eyes stretch wide, and she stopped behind me.

“And… and your fellows?” Tano asked, her voice a little more pitched than it had been.

I chuckled. “Brody has no idea, she’s a machine gunner. If you ask her, she’ll just shrug and say ‘hundreds’, because all she does is drop bodies with long strings of machine gun fire. Her and Deckard did some time over in Ukraine fighting Russians, so they have had their fair share of mowing people down. Deckard does a lot of close up work though, with his shotgun, but it’s probably less than me.”

Tano was quiet for a moment, then walked up beside me, looking out the same window as the sun warmed her yellow skin, and her slightly pointed ears.

“Does it bother you?” Tano asked me, and she was standing quite close.

I glanced down at her, watching the wind pull at her chocolate brown hair, then looked back out towards the forest. “Only a few.”

“Why?” She asked.

I set a hand down onto the old stone, tapping it lightly with my nail. “Because they made me do it, even though I didn’t want to.”

Tano set her hand down next to mine, the pale white of my flesh next to her yellow causing me to smile despite the memory.

“How?” Tano asked after a long pause, and to be fair I knew the question was coming, how could it not.

I swallowed, tapping at the stone. “They could have been anywhere else, and had no right being on the battlefield, but forced my hand to keep myself and my people safe.”

“I see…” Tano said, then lifted her hand.

I kind of saw it coming, but it still caught me off guard when she draped her hand across my knuckles and gave me a few, soft pats.

“I’m sorry.” Tano whispered, her shoulder bumping into mine. “I’ve… never had to kill anyone, before.”

I twisted my lips, but made no move to remove her hand. If anything, having a rare Oni woman with a face like an angel place her hand over mine… moving my hand felt nearly like a sin.

“You won’t think about it until it’s all over.” I said, reaching up with my thumb and giving the side of her hand a small squeeze. “It helps if you have a reason to hate them, too. These people you are at war with want to burn this castle to the ground and turn you into breeding stock… I don’t think you will lose any sleep when you slot someone in the forehead for the first time.”

Tano let out a short chuckle, and when I glanced at her, her cheeks were quite green, all the way along her nose as well.

I stood there with Tano for a long while, just enjoying the feeling of her hand on mine and the sounds of the wind, but the sudden outbreak of laughter and rapid talking from students caused her to jolt. She pulled her hand away from mine and turned, greeting the students in the formal ways while I turned around slowly, rather annoyed at the bunch of brats for ruining the moment.

They had been sent out to seek Tano by one of the other teachers, as she had observed the creation of a particular spell, and was requested to retell the event.

When told this, Tano looked over her shoulder at me, her smile placed but her eyes telling me where she would rather be.

“It’s fine.” I said, giving her a soft smile. “You can find me after if you want, I’ll be about.”

Tano’s eyes lingered on mine as the younger students playfully tugged on her long sleeves, and she flashed me a toothy smile. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

I cocked an eyebrow at that, but nothing was to stop the tide of younger wizards from hauling Tano back to their teacher.

Left alone on the wall, I turned back towards the forest, narrowing my eyes at it as the warmth of Tano’s smile left my body.

That feeling was still there, the same feeling I had felt before the ambush in Yemen, and the attack on the FOB in Afghanistan.

The tension of life strings in the air, and the hum of the wind as it passed through them.

If I had the ability, I would have called in a few probing mortar strikes into that forest just to see what came out of it, like taking a stick and beating a bush to see what critters ran out of it.

As I stared, movement did catch my attention, and I brought my M110 up to my eye, peering out into the tree line. I trained the chevron of my ACOG optic onto where I had seen the movement, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see anything now that I was paying full attention.

I lowered my rifle, squinting at the forest, then brought my optic back to my eye, seeing if I could get a fresh look at whatever it was that moved.

No matter how many times I looked, nothing popped out to me like it had the first time. I wanted to know what it had been, what had shifted and caught my eyes, but there was nothing there.

Not anymore, at least.

I muttered out a curse as I retracted my rifle, glaring at that damned, tree covered hill.

I hated it, I hated it so fucking much, but all the woods around the castle were “sacred”.

Asking for one of the wizards to fireball the entire thing had been met with laughter, and not the kind that made you want to laugh along.

I pulled around my radio, and keyed it on. “Brody.”

“Yeah boss?” Brody replied, from the staff lounge again judging by the sound of money hitting a table.

“Bring the forty mike mike to the wall.” I said, then keyed off the mic.

After a few minutes, both Brody and Deckard came jogging towards me, Deckard hefting the single tube launcher while Brody held a sling of 40mm shells.

“Why do you need the blooper?” Deckard asked, handing me the M320 grenade launcher.

I unfolded it and snapped the tube open, taking a high explosive shell from Brody. “Warning shot.”

“You don’t use a forty milimeter grenade for a warning shot.” Deckard laughed.

I didn’t agree, loading the shell into the tube and slapping it shut.

“Oh there he go.” Brody said, taking a step back. “It’s Afghanistan all over again.”

“Shut it.” I muttered, took aim with the tall sight, and pulled back on the trigger.

The hollow “plunk!” of the shell leaving the tube echoed around the castle comically, but I was too busy watching, and waiting.

It was a hell of an angle to reach the woodline, but the distant plume of dirt and torn foliage let me know that I was close enough.

The percussion of the explosion reached us after a few seconds, a dull thud of distant shockwave… and then something fell out of a tree.

“The fuck was that?” Brody called out, running to a window and looking out to where the thing had fallen down.

“Grenade, please.” I called out, reaching over to Brody.

She slapped another shell in my hand, and then pointed out towards where the being was trying to stand up. “There it is! It looks like a fucking goblin!”

“Not for long.” I muttered, then fired the grenade.

The whatever-the-hell-it-was staggered around for a few seconds, holding its head, but the grenade landing right in front of it caused it to jerk backwards.

It stumbled back into the woods, its feet tripping over each other, and disappeared into the foliage with a rustle of large leaves and the cracking of young oak trees.

“I knew some asshole was watching me.” I growled, handing the grenade launcher back to Deckard. “Always some fucking asshole watching me.”

Deckard took the launcher back with a grin, turning to look at me as I stomped away. “Man, you get angry when people interrupt your dates.”

“Shattap, Deckard!” I yelled over my shoulder, making my way towards the hall to eat some lunch.

After eating stewed chicken, vegetables, and steamed rice, I stomped my way around the castle and did my rounds. When I had bored myself with that, I went up to the tallest tower and waited there instead, pacing around the parapets to see if I could spot the thing I blew a few ragged holes in.

To add to my frustration, I could not, and Tano had yet to show up either.

Waiting for the combat was driving me nuts, and I paced around the edge of the tower, looking out into that goddamned forest and trying to will these things to attack.

They were watching me, making plans, but all they did was make me wait. It was like my muscles were trying to stretch but none of them able to pop, to press down onto the fingers but the knuckles never to crack.

A giggle behind me brought me to a stop, and I looked back towards the door to see Tano standing there with a bottle, and two glasses.

“You look like a caged tiger.” Tano said as she closed the door, walking along the cold stone of the tower and handing me a glass. “The students said you had went up to the tower, so I brought some warm tea.”

I took the glass, and her smiling at me ebbed a bit of the tightness in my chest. “I’ve been called worse, I guess.”

Tano poured some of the tea into my glass, then poured a measure into her own, setting the bottle on the low bridge of the parapet. “Did you know this island used to have tigers?”

“Yeah, like, thousands of years ago.” I said, sipping the lightly sweetened tea and letting the heat of it warm my veins.

“Not quite.” Tano replied, sipping her own tea and walking forward until she was rather close to my side. “Tigers were here even when I was just a little girl, living in the hidden forests away from the prying eyes of mundane man.”

I snorted, and Tano nudged me with her elbow.

“I’m serious, they were all consumed by the last great Mao, and from their power his sons were birthed.” Tano said, watching me closely with her lilac eyes.

I hummed into my cup as I drank again, then smacked my lips. “That asshole consumed rare tigers and made them extinct to have sons?”

“I never said he was a good person.” Tano replied dryly, pouring more tea into my cup. “Every last Japanese tiger was devoured by the Mao, and then his wife gave birth to his sons.”

“I pity her.” I said, as I couldn’t imagine having to deal with all that mystical bullshit while also being pregnant. “What happened to the mother, anyway?”

Tano’s face twisted as if she had smelled something foul, and the wiser part of me knew that she was trying to put into words something she had seen with her own eyes.

“Her sons consumed her.” Tano said after a while, her voice dark and bitter. “Tore at her flesh with their teeth so that no essence of the last tiger was wasted.”

I watched her face, carefully, and I think I could come to a few conclusions based on the twists at the corners of her mouth, and that look one got when peering over a bridge’s edge with no guard rail.

“She was yellow, wasn’t she?” I asked, looking back out towards the forest and sipping my tea.

Tano was quiet, then nodded, draining her tea before pulling out a second, smaller bottle. “She was.”

“You know her?”

“For a time.”

Tano poured warm sake into her empty cup, breathing in the vapor through her noise with a long, dreary inhale.

I watched her drink deep of the cup, and she seemed to relax as the sake made its way into her veins. I drained my cup, and held it out to her.

“Was she a good woman?” I asked as Tano poured sake into mine.

Tano smiled at the memories that must have been playing behind her eyes, and she refilled her own cup. “She was a good woman. She looked out for my mother and I when my father was killed during a culling by the Japanese magicians of old, ran through by Samurai with enchanted swords. It was her good heart that made her valuable to the man who caused her to birth the sons who killed her.”

“Consumed her to consume the goodness, and in itself the power?” I asked, and when Tano nodded, I grimaced. “Your people are fucking weird.”

Tano laughed at this, draining her cup, before pouring another measure. “We’re not all bad, just the majority.”

I went to take a sip from my cup, but the vapors slugged me in the nose like a heavy weight boxer. I snorted, blinking away the water trying to form in my eyes, then managed a mouthful of the sake.

My body reacted without my consent, a cough erupting from my lungs as the sake burned down my throat like napalm, and bloomed in my stomach.

“What the fuck!” I coughed out, Tano grinning and giggling beside me as my face contorted.

“You’re not drinking it right!” Tano chuckled, grabbing my glass from my hands and refilling it.

I coughed again, blinking my blurry eyes. “What the hell is the right way? Through a fuel injector?!”

“Here.” Tano said, standing in front of me now in a pretty, yellow blur and holding the cup towards me. “Breath in deep.”

I did so, but was surprised to feel one of her hands cup my cheek while the other pressed the edge of the cup lightly to my lips.

“Now drink like its water.” Tano said cooly, tipping the glass upwards slowly. “Don’t try and control it in your mouth, let it flow where it needs to go.”

I obeyed, and the hot liquid entered my mouth again. It was going pretty okay until I swallowed, and the bastard scented fumes plumed out my nose and burned my eyes again.

“Why does it burn like that?!” I coughed out, turning my head to not fleck spittle onto Tano as she let out another happy, true laugh. “You were drinking that like it was regular sake!”

“It is regular sake, you Human!” Tano guffawed, slapping the side of my cheek with her hand. “You lot just drink the weaker stuff!”

Snorting out a laugh of my own, I quickly filled my glass with tea and gulped it, seeking to put out the fire in my stomach. When the burn didn’t subside, I laughed again and poured another glass of tea.

“What the hell did you make me drink?!” I exhaled hotly, drinking the tea as fast as my burning throat would allow.

Tano chuffed at me, pouring herself another glass. “Here, I’ll show you another way to drink this stuff without it setting your body on fire.”

“By putting water in it, I hope.” I said, patting my chest and letting out a groan of pain. “Feels like I just drank gasoline.”

Tano didn’t reply, quaffing the sake into her mouth, and then coming around in front of me.

I blinked down at her, rubbing at my tearing eyes, but she took my hands in hers. Pulling me a few inches forward and down, she brought her face right to mine, our noses touching at the tips for a single heart beat.

Tano then moved forward, pressing her lips to mine.

Now, I’m a grown man, an adult if you will, but the zing of crackling magic that went up my spine when her lips laced onto mine was nothing I had ever felt before. I have kissed plenty of women, most of them rather pretty, but it felt as if I had grabbed a live wire with my face.

My heart skipped right from calm to pounding in my chest, and her smell was in my nose fully now, pouring over me like an ocean wave.

The scent of skin bathed in sunlight, the smell of warm, perfumed hair brushed by the wind, and the floral aroma of the sake on her lips.

I stood there dumbfounded for a second or two, just kind of drunk on the aura of this odd, yellow skinned woman with horns. It was weird how all I could taste was hot flowers on my lips, and as she passed the sake from her mouth to mine… the flavor had changed.

The closest thing my mind could grasp and hang onto was honeysuckles, the ones I would hunt down as a child and pluck like a treat, enjoying the nectar on the pistils.

She had closed her eyes some moments into the kiss, so I did as well, bringing my hands down to lightly grip her waist as hers went around my neck. In a morbid thought, I wondered how much practice she had had at kissing over the last hundred years, and I smiled into her lips.

She must have taken it for a different reason, as our lips parted with a wet smack so she could go have another at me, pressing her lips back to mine gleefully.

The first issue arose when I fully inhaled, which seemed to activate the sake I just swallowed, and the fumes came roaring back up my nose to try and erase the smell of Tano.

I fought it for a hard, long… second, but had to break the kiss with a laugh and turn my head, coughing as the sake redoubled its attack on me.

“You wuss.” Tano giggled out, but let me cough while she hung around my neck.