The thoughts she felt

The mountain path narrows as they climb, the air thins and they get the unsettling sense of being watched not from the shadows, but from inside. Yukari slows. "What is it?" Hayato asks, hand resting near the hilt of his sword, though he hadn’t drawn it in hours. He had learned her tells before danger comes, when she grows quiet, when her steps change, when her tail stiffens instead of flowing. She doesn't answer right away. Her ears twitch. "Satori," she says finally. Hayato exhales slowly. "Mind reader." "More than that," Yukari murmurs. "Mind shaper." She stops walking altogether.The silence press in around them, thick enough that Hayato became acutely aware of his own breathing. His thoughts feel louder. As if something had turned the volume knob up inside his skull. Yukari closes her eyes. That alone frightened him more than any yōkai they'd faced so far. "Yukari?" he asks carefully. She opens them again, pupils narrowed. "It's already listening," she says. "So be very careful what you think.""Too late," a voice whispers in his mind. Not hers or his. He flinches. Yukari's head snaps toward him instantly. "Did you hear that?" "Yes." The mountain seemed to laugh. Not out loud, no sound rung through the air, but the pressure in his head pulses in amusement. "Hunter," the voice purrs. "You think so loudly." Hayato clenches his jaw. He'd trained for illusions, fear and possession, but no one had prepared him for having his own thoughts turn against him.Yukari steps closer, her presence grounding him. Her shoulder brushes his arm deliberately. "Focus on me," she says under her breath. "If it digs deep enough, it will use whatever matters most to you." That makes him pause. Because what mattered most had been changing for days now.They continue upward. The path opens into a wide stone terrace carved directly into the mountain's face. At its centre sits a single figure, cross-legged, eyes closed. A boy. He looks no older than twelve. Black hair falls messily around a pale face, lips curved in a faint, knowing smile. He doesn't move as they approach. He didn't need to. "You took your time," the satori says, eyes still closed. "I was starting to think you'd lost your nerve." Hayato's grip tightens around his sword. Yukari says nothing. The satori's eyes open. Gold and reflective like mirrors. "Ah," it says softly. "There you are, kitsune." Its gaze slides over her in a way that felt invasive without being lewd. More appraising and measuring. "How many thoughts are yours today?" it asks her. Yukari's tails flick behind her. "Enough," she replies. The satori smiles wider. "That's not what your hunter thinks." Hayato's heart skips a beat.Yukari inhales sharply and the satori laughs. "Oh yes," it croons. "So much noise in you, Hayato. Doubt, longing, fear… desire." "Get out of my head," Hayato snaps. The satori tilts its head. "But I live here." The pressure intensifies. Images flash through Hayato's mind; training halls soaked in blood, the faces of teachers long dead, the weight of duty pressing his spine straight even as it broke him. Then... Yukari. Standing in moonlight, blood on her hands, eyes too knowing, smiling like she already owns him. He staggers. Yukari catches his arm instantly, her grip firm. "No," she says, her voice sharp. "Whatever he's showing you, that's not you." The satori hums. "Isn't it?" Yukari steps forward, placing herself deliberately between Hayato and the yōkai. "Stay out of his mind," she says coldly. The satori regards her with open fascination. "You protect him," it observes. "That's new."Hayato feels heat rise in his chest. "I don't need..." "Quiet," Yukari says without looking back. He shut up. The satori laughs again, delighted. "Oh, this is delicious. You don't even realize how tightly she's wound around your thoughts already." Yukari's expression doesn't change, but Hayato feels her fingers tighten around his sleeve. "You're projecting," she says. "Am I?" the satori replies. "Or am I simply saying out loud what both of you are too afraid to think?" Hayato's vision blurs and suddenly he isn't standing on stone anymore. He was back in his childhood home. The smell of incense. The sound of his mother's voice. "Come back alive," she whispered. His chest tightens painfully. Then the scene twisted. Yukari stands where his mother had been. Same voice, same plea. "Hayato," she says softly. "You don't have to do this. Stay." He gasps, falling to one knee. "Stop," he rasps. Yukari screams. "GET OUT OF HIS HEAD!"The satori rises to its feet at last, expression glowing with delight. "And there it is," it says. "The crack." Yukari trembles with fury. "You can't get to into my mind," she snarls. The air thickens and pressure builds around her like a coming storm. The tail stirs. Hayato feels it before he sees it; a strange shift, as if the world had leaned closer to her. Her presence sharpens, the thoughts louder between them. The satori notices too. Its smile falters. "Interesting, it murmurs. "You're remembering." Yukari straightens slowly, her eyes blazing. "Careful," she says. "You're not the only one who can touch minds." The satori's gold eyes narrow. "Oh?" it challenges. "Then by all means, kitsune, show me."The first thing the satori does is take the ground away. Not physically; no stone cracked, no earth split, but the certainty of where Hayato stood vanished. One moment his boots were solid against the mountain terrace, the next the sensation dissolved into vertigo as if the world had been replaced by a thought he could no longer trust. Yukari staggers too. The satori doesn't move. "You rely too much on your senses," it says. "Such fragile things. Borrowed from flesh. Easily persuaded." Hayato draws his blade on instinct, the sound of steel ringing as it clears the scabbard. The sound steadies him. Real and familiar. Then the satori smiles and the sound rewound. The sword slides back into its sheath in reverse, metal scraping wrong, time stuttering like a broken record. Hayato gasps as his arm moves without him. "No!" he snarls, wrenching control back, ripping the blade free again. This time he feels resistance, like pushing through thick water. The satori's eyes gleam. "Oh good. You noticed."Yukari lunges with speed, foxfire, and rage driving her to kill. She closes the distance in a heartbeat, claws flashing toward the satori's throat... and she freezes mid air. Her body locks, every muscle seized like a puppet with its strings yanked tight. The satori rises smoothly to its feet and catches her by the throat with one small, pale hand. "You think I didn't feel you reaching?" it murmured. "You brushed my mind. Sloppy." Yukari bares her teeth, choking, claws twitching uselessly inches from its face. Hayato moves without thinking. He slams into the satori from the side shoulder first, driving them both across the stone. The grip breaks. Yukari hits the ground hard, gasping and rolling away. The satori laughs as it skids back, bare feet never losing balance. "Heroic," it says. "Predictable."The world splits and suddenly there are three Yukaris. No, five. No, dozens. They surround Hayato, each one breathing fast, barely blinking, eyes wide with pain and fury. "Hayato," they say in unison. "Help me." He falters. His blade wavers. "Which one..." The real Yukari screams. "DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Her voice cuts through the illusion. Hayato squeezes his eyes shut and listens instead, tracking breath, footsteps and the scrape of claws on stone. He pivotes and strikes. His sword meets resistance and a sharp crack echoes as the illusion shatters, Yukaris collapsing into nothing. The blade bites into the satori's shoulder, slicing deep enough that black blood wells up. The satori hisses, not in pain, but in irritation. "Ah. Very good." Its hand snaps out, fingers brushing Hayato's temple.The world explodes. He's drowning in thoughts that weren't his. Memories shoved into him like knives. Yukari screaming as her tails were severed. Her blood on silver steel. Her voice begging someone to stop. Then, her standing over him. Smiling. His blade in her chest. "You see?" the satori whispers from everywhere. "That's how it ends." Hayato roars and drives his blade straight through the vision. Reality slams back into place. The satori staggers, impaled through the abdomen, its eyes wide with genuine surprise. Yukari doesn't hesitate. She slams into it from behind, wrapping an arm around its neck, claws digging into its skull. "GET. OUT," she snarls, voice echoing as if layered with another. The tail answers. The air around them seems to vibrate, thoughts suddenly loud and raw. The satori shrieks as its own mind was forced open, its carefully curated control ripped apart. "No!" it gasps. "You don’t know what you’re doing!" "I know exactly what I'm doing," Yukari hisses.She pushes and every stolen thought the satori had hoarded flooded back into it at once. Fear, doubt, loneliness, the gnawing emptiness of knowing everything and being loved by nothing. It screams and the mountain shakes. Hayato rips his blade free and brings it down again, severing the satori's arm as it thrashes. Black blood splattering onto the stone, smoking faintly. The satori collapses to its knees gasping, its mind fractured, gold eyes flickering wildly. Yukari stumbles back, clutching her head, her breath ragged. "I... I can hear it," she whispers. "Everything. It's too much." Hayato is at her side instantly, gripping her shoulders. "Look at me," he orders. "Just me." Her gaze snaps to his. The pressure eases just a fraction, but enough.The satori laughs weakly from the ground. "See?" it croaks. "You already rely on him. Anchor yourself to a human and you'll drown." Yukari straightens slowly. Her eyes burning. "Maybe," she says softly. "But I won't be alone." She steps forward. The satori tries to crawl back, dragging itself across the stone, panic finally breaking through its arrogance. "No... wait! I can help you!" Yukari doesn't answer. She placed her foot on its chest and takes the tail back. The scream that followed wasn't just sound, it was thought ripping through the air like a psychic shockwave. Hayato shields his head instinctively as the satori dissolves into ash, its stolen power tearing free and snapping back into Yukari like a lightning strike. The world goes still.Yukari collapses to her knees, shaking. Hayato catches her before she hits the ground. For a long moment, neither of them speaks. The world settles into a fragile silence. Hayato lays sprawled against the stone, chest heaving, sweat cooling on his skin. His thoughts feel scraped raw, like something had raked claws through his mind and left the wounds open to the air. Yukari stands a few steps away. He pushes himself upright, wincing as his head throbs. "Yukari?" She doesn't answer. Her tail moves slowly behind her. "Yukari," he says again, more firmly. She turns, her eyes meeting his and for one terrifying moment, Hayato couldn't tell if the thoughts he felt pressing against his own were hers or his.Then she blinks and the pressure eases. She exhaled shakily and looks away. "I didn’t mean to push that far." He stands despite the dizziness and crosses to her, stopping just short of touching her. "You could hear me," he says quietly. She nods. "All of it." He swallows. "And you didn't use it." She laughs, the sound bitter. "I wanted to." Her honesty cut deeper than any lie. "But you didn't," he repeats. "No," she says. "Because if I do that to you..." She trails off, jaw tightening. "I don't get to pretend I'm different anymore." Hayato reaches out slowly, giving her time to pull away. She doesn't and his hand closes gently around her wrist, warm. "You already are," he says.She looked at him. "You shouldn’t say things like that." "Why?" "Because the satori was right," she says softly. "This tail doesn't just hear thoughts, it nudges them." He holds her gaze steadily. "Then don't nudge me." "I don't want to," she admits. Something in Hayato's chest shifts. "Good," he says. "Because I want to choose you." Her breath hitches. "Hayato..." "I know," he interrupts. "I know what you are. I know what you could become. And I still..." The air trembled slightly, as if warning them not to finish that sentence yet. Yukari steps back, pulling her hand from his grasp. Her expression changes, something complicated in her eyes that he can't decipher. "There's one tail left after this," she says. "And then the truth." "I'm not afraid of the truth," Hayato says. She looks at him, really looks, and for a heartbeat, the mind-control tail stirs again, responding not to command, but to need. "We'll see," she whispers.And somewhere in another realm, something ancient and burning shifts in its sleep.