Chapter 28

“That’s who I saw in the bamboo yesterday!” Kaede cried out, pointing at the being that seemed to embody shadow and darkness itself.

Yurika’s hand was instantly on the hilt of her kodachi upon seeing the shrouded, dog-faced entity. Gakuto was also quick to draw his jian, gesturing for Kaede to stick behind the two of them, advice she took without hesitation, retreating several steps back.

The Hound didn’t seem concerned with both Gakuto and Yurika reaching for their weapons as he stood unguarded beyond the softened ground. Gakuto clenched his hands firmly on the hilt of his blade, his eyes focused directly ahead on the myth standing before them.

The Hound tossed the left side of its hazy cloak back, extending an arm that seemed to appear from the murky depths of blackness itself, pointing past both the armed teenagers directly at Kaede.

“Why do you have those?” Its voice was full of authority that seemed to extend beyond just their current location, as if the creature had dominion over the entire island. There was a slight distortion in its voice, caused by the mask that kept its face obscured. The voice was definitely masculine, sounding like someone in their late-twenties, but Kaede felt as if the voice belonged to someone unfathomably older.

The young oiran turned away slightly, extending her arms out in front of her torso, as if she was preparing to protect herself. She narrowed her eyes at the dog-faced man.

“They came to me and I told her I would help.” Her voice had an air of defiance in it that Gakuto had never heard from Kaede’s lips and he grinned, shifting his footing as if ready to pounce if The Hound so much as twitched.

The sun’s light glinted off of Yurika’s kodachi, the island girl placing her left arm behind her back, pointing the tip of the short sword at The Hound. “What does it matter to you, dog-man?”

The shrouded figure turned his gaze on the island girl as if acknowledging her existence for the first time, his breathing echoing in the mask. Yurika pulled her right arm back slightly, turning her body and taking a single step back, as if trying to shrink. Gakuto noted it as the base form of hitoden, but didn’t have time to question it as he steadied his breathing.

“Those are not meant to be in mortal hands.” The Hound seemed to ease his body, perceiving neither Gakuto nor Yurika a real threat, but Kaede narrowed her eyes, feeling that the figure in the shroud was still ready to strike.

“Kagura-chan didn’t seem to have a problem with me having them!” Kaede yelled, her voice echoing off the walls and that seemed to surprise the being.

Gakuto didn’t miss that moment, kicking off the ground and rushing across the softened earth, thrusting his sword with the intent to wound The Hound. The Hound regained his composure and easily side-stepped Gakuto, who pivoted back around, pointing his blade at the shrouded figure.

“You really want to face someone you can’t possibly beat, young man?” The Hound’s tone was dismissive, as if the shadow had already nullified any threat that the young guard apprentice could pose.

Gakuto’s grip tightened on his sword’s handle. “What makes you think you’ll win?” He spat out before he lunged forward again. The Hound seemed to disappear into the shade of the rockwall to Gakuto’s right before hearing the figure’s voice directly behind him, his eyes widening in realization.

“It’s simple, young man.” The Hound’s muscles tensed before he unleashed a powerful open-palmed strike directly at Gakuto’s wrists, disarming the guardsman in a single, targeted strike.

“I have a level of experience that you mortals can’t even fathom.”

Gakuto gritted his teeth as his jian skittered down the slope, turning on his toes to throw a punch at the shrouded one. The Hound’s unseen hand emerged from the shadow of its cloak once more, blocking the guard’s fist with ease.

Gakuto’s eyes widened further, fear setting in, as he realized the creature was merely toying with him. Their levels were so far apart, Gakuto might as well have been just an annoying insect to the mythical being.

“Gakkun!” Kaede cried out, rushing forward and Yurika put her free arm out, blocking the oiran from proceeding further.

“Kaede-chan! Stay back!” Yurika had also realized the differences between the two of them and The Hound, her mind working towards a way to escape this situation. The Hound had the ability to appear anywhere on Tsuiraku through means that no one had ever fully understood, so the options for escape were practically non-existent.

Kaede glared slightly at Yurika, but seeing the deep contemplative thought on the island girl’s face made her step back behind her, glancing over her friend’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to hurt any of you.” The Hound said, releasing his grip on Gakuto’s hand, as the boy pulled it close to his body, his other hand grabbing his shoulder as if the creature had nearly pulled it out. The Hound stepped past the apprentice guard, allowing his back to face an opponent, an indication that he had nothing to fear from the young man.

“Yeah, good people don’t say that.” Yurika said, dryly, pointing her blade at the shrouded one. Her hand was visibly shaking, but she wasn’t going to back down.

“Just hand over the bells, go back to the village, and forget about all of this.” The Hound’s statement sounded like a command, as he held out his hand as if he expected Kaede to just comply.

The oiran stood resilient, her green eyes narrowed in loathing as she stepped around Yurika. “I refuse!” Kaede’s whole demeanor was in open defiance of The Hound. Gakuto, looking beyond the menacing shadow at her, had never seen her so adamant about anything before.

The Hound took a couple of steps towards her, his left hand gripping his right wrist, his unseen face focused directly on the young defiant girl. Kaede didn’t budge a step, glaring at the shadow as it creeped closer to her.

The shuffling of feet behind The Hound made him stop, as Gakuto had pulled out his dagger and was pointing it directly at the creature, almost a mirror image of Yurika who was doing the same.

“If you take another step towards Kaede, I will slice you to pieces.” Gakuto’s demeanor backed up his words. “I don’t care if you are just a mere shadow.”

The Hound turned to face Gakuto, muttering. “You really don’t know when to quit, boy.” He brought his right hand up, clenching his hand tightly, but Gakuto stood firm, taking a small step forward.

“Don’t you dare hurt Gakkun!” Kaede’s yell stopped the face-off in its tracks. Yurika turned to see Kaede holding the bundle containing the bells above her head, her angry glare clearly fixated on The Hound. “I will toss your precious bells into the forest, if you so much as touch him!”

“That would be a very foolish decision, girl.” The Hound had turned back to face Kaede.

“It might be… And I would feel bad about letting Kagura-chan down!” Kaede gritted her teeth in frustration, as she spoke. “But I would feel even worse if I just let you hurt someone I care about!”

“Kagura…” The Hound was now fully focused on Kaede, seeming to have forgotten all about the armed guard behind him. “...tell me, girl. How do you know that name?”

Kaede had brought the bundle back down and was clutching it protectively against her chest, staring daggers at the being. “She communicated directly with me.” She narrowed her eyes further, as if trying to stab The Hound with her gaze. “I also have a name, it’s Kaede!”

Yurika was completely awestruck at the oiran now. She had heard the tales of The Hound of Canaan appearing before grown men who ran off as if they had faced death itself and yet here was this sheltered girl from the Yuilen palace staring him down, seemingly without fear.

The Hound brought his left hand up to his mask and all three of them tensed up, as if expecting him to reveal the hidden face beneath it.

Yet, he didn’t, merely clasping the hand across the face as if dismayed by that information. “That’s not possible. There’s no way Kagura would talk to you…”
“It’s happened twice!” Kaede took a couple of steps forward, stepping onto the soft ground. She knew her words might add fuel to the fire and she was prepared to toss more kindling into it, the information seeming to break the mystique of The Hound’s mysterious persona.

“Kaede-chan, be careful!”

“There’s no way she’s spoken to a random girl like you twice!” The Hound thrust his right hand out, tossing his cloak aside, all pretense of his status as a terrifying creature disappearing like a shadow in the midday sun.

“Well, she has!” Kaede brought the bundle down to her side, pressing her left hand to her chest as if she was about to make a huge declaration. “And I already told you, my name is Kaede! I don’t care if you’re some kind of shade or shadow creature. You will call me by my name as the one who was directly tasked with helping the moon princess!”

That last statement seemed to touch a nerve, as The Hound clenched his fists before muttering: “Why would she choose you over her most noble servant…?”

Gakuto took that moment of The Hound’s disquiet to strike, rushing at him with the dagger raised. The Hound still managed to side-step him, but his movement was less polished so the young imperial guard pivoted, thrusting the dagger at the stunned creature.

“I don’t have time for any of this!” The Hound spat out, his irritation evident in his voice. He turned on his heel before delivering a kick into Gakuto’s stomach, sending him tumbling down into the softened ground.

“I told you not to harm Gakkun!” Kaede said, now rearing back to toss the bundle into the forest below.

“I won’t let you, girl!” The Hound sprinted down the path, as Gakuto struggled to get up, the wind having been completely knocked out of him.

“Don’t you touch her, Hound, or I swear!” Gakuto yelled out but his voice was drowned out by a steady rumbling and he felt the ground shift beneath his feet.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Yurika said, sheathing her kodachi and lunging towards Kaede, who was the closest to her. “Kaede-chan, grab my hand! Now!”

Kaede, who had just been about to make good on her promise to heave the Celestial bells into the forest below, felt the path shift and she tried to take an unsteady step back towards firm ground, but it was too late as a large chunk of the pass was breaking apart. Gakuto, Kaede and The Hound were all standing on the shifting ground and Yurika cursed under her breath, feeling completely helpless as her friend was just out of reach.

The Hound let out something that sounded close to a snarl as he somehow found enough footing to bound off the shifting path and he lunged towards Kaede in mid-air. The oiran turned to protect herself but the shrouded being caught her gently before aiming his left hand up at the path near Yurika’s feet, his cloak extending somehow to grip the broken rock.

He then seemed to step off the very air itself as he used the shroud to reel himself and Kaede up to solid ground, before releasing her, causing her to fall on her backside.

“Ow! H-hey!”

“Haven’t you ever heard of treating a maiden more gently!?” Yurika was glaring daggers as the shadowy figure loomed over both the girls. Kaede was turned away, clutching the bundle protectively, as if she wasn’t the one who had been about to fling it into the trees below.

The Hound stood, staring at the two of them as the dust and debris from the partial rockslide swirled around the trio, his unseen eyes boring into Kaede.

“I’m not letting you have these!” The oiran’s defiant glare brought back a memory of the moon princess and he clenched his fists underneath his cloak.

“We’ll meet again, Kaede.”

Kaede’s eyes widened hearing her name from the creature before she was forced to close them, the flying dirt stinging her eyes. Yurika was shielding her own eyes as the last of the rumbling subsided and they both coughed as the dust coated their mouths.

After a few moments, Kaede wiped her eyes, tears streaming down her face from agony as Yurika tried to wipe her face clean. The Hound was nowhere to be found as they scrambled to their feet, looking at the huge gouge in the path ahead of them.

Gakuto’s jian was hanging precariously over the edge, but its owner was nowhere to be found.

Kaede fell to her hands and knees, looking down at the dust kicking up from the forest below, fearing the worst for her friend as Yurika remained vigilant, expecting The Hound to come back and strike at any time.

In the distance, the emergency bells chimed out, a warning call to the shrines on Mt. Ochiru as well as the village about a fresh rockslide, but the echoing sound didn’t register with either girl at ground zero.