Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Legend ~ Book Two: Misadventure, Mayhem & Really Hot Guys ❯ Eleven: Snakes & Stones & Breaking Bones ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

   Nuriko would never admit to the slight stirrings of guilt he (maybe might have possibly) felt for leaving KC alone in the cave. He knew she was terrified but, really, it was for her own good. She might not be able to get out, but that just meant nobody else could get in. At least, not easily. Not before Nuriko stopped them, first. KC had no training—in anything, apparently—so she would only slow him down in a fight. She was much better off in the cave.

   He himself would have much rather been somewhere else. Anywhere else. Despite his oh-so-gallant parting words—and since when had he become such a sap, anyway?—it wasn't like he was any sort of a skilled fighter. Violence wasn't his thing (although he suspected if he ever said as such to KC or Tama, they'd both collapse into uproarious laughter).

   Give him a bunch of flowers and he'd make an arrangement to send those other harem bitches into fits of envy.

   Give him a spear or a sword and, well, that trainer's ear would probably grow back…!

   Someday…

   Nuriko grimaced and shifted on his uncomfortable perch in the branches of an obliging tree. His delicate derrière wasn't used to such roughshod seating. Even after leaving the seraglio, his new rooms were far more lavish and comfortable than the mere servants quarters he'd expected. Not that he'd ever admit such to KC (because she would totally rub his face in it, he just knewit), but being forced to leave the harem had turned out to be more than beneficial. He didn't miss the constant catfights and petty bickering that seemed as much a part of the seraglio as the masonry or the expensive tapestries. And he didn't miss the lack of privacy that threatened to unearth his secret with any little slip. A secret that he knew every single one of those women would have gleefully exploited.

   Well … except for Houki, he amended. Sweet Houki never would have turned him in. Out of everyone, she was the only one he truly missed. She always knew just what to say to diffuse tense situations with relatively little bloodshed.

   He sort of wondered what she'd say now, in this tense situation.

   Probably to stop pretending to be some kind of a heroic idiot and go hide somewhere.

   Dumbass… his mind added snidely. In a tone that sounded suspiciously like KC.

   A chill swept up Nuriko's spine and brought an abrupt end to inner musings. It prickled the short hairs on the back of his neck even as equally sudden warmth bloomed over his heart, the willow mark reacting to the overwhelming presence of danger. It looked like their luck had finally run out. Their pursuers were so close he could practically feel them breathing down his neck and he shifted his uneasy gaze to the higher branches of the tree. Nothing, of course, but unseen eyes had locked in from somewhere.

   A twig snapped to his right and he just knew it was deliberate. An answering crack to his left; the spies were closing in and he could only pray his senses were right in telling him that only two men hunted them, that there weren't more creeping through the woods who knew how to mask their chi and fully hide themselves. He wished he knew such a useful trick right now…

   "Come out, little bird!" a deep, guttural voice suddenly called from beneath the tree and nearly unseated Nuriko from his perch, he was so startled. "I know you're hiding here."

   He tensed, deceptively-slender fingers closed into fists as he mentally berated himself for not being better prepared, for leaving in such a rush without thinking to grab a sword, a knife … any sort of a weapon to use for protection. Some holy warrior hewas turning out to be.

   A flicker of movement below and a huge, hulking shadow stepped out of the surrounding forest and into the patch of clear land Nuriko had chosen for the inevitable confrontation. Deep midnight blue and black cloth shrouded the figure and dark eyes gleamed, scanning the wilderness from beneath a shadowed cowl. Double-bladed daggers dangled from each fist and Nuriko had no doubt that the assassin was well-versed in how to use them. He would only have one shot at this. He'd better make it count.

   Still, he waited just a few moments longer, searching for the second man he knew was close by. Moments passed and when the spy failed to appear, a feeling of unease tickled Nuriko's thoughts. He'd chosen a location he hoped was close enough to the cave to make them believe KC was still with him, but he was starting to think the ruse had failed. The spies must have split up and one of them had gone on after KC. The archer, he guessed, given the lack of bow and arrows this one carried.

   Nuriko bit back a litany of curses. She would still be safe. Surely the archer couldn't aim well enough into the dark cave through that sliver of an opening to actually hit anything. Surely KC wouldn't be foolish enough to give him the opportunity to try. Right?

   Right?

   He mouthed words to make a bandit proud as he stealthily adjusted his position and crouched low on the branch. Any second, the man below was going to pinpoint his exact location and when that happened—

   The assassin suddenly froze and his head snapped up to scan the overhanging boughs, locking onto Nuriko the moment he dropped from his branch, used it as leverage to launch himself head-first directly at the startled man below.

   Unfortunately, even with the element of surprise on his side, he was still too slow. A single step back was all it took for his hard punch to completely miss its target and for Nuriko to find his arm buried elbow-deep in damp, gravelly earth.

   He swore as the spy guffawed. But amusement didn't last when the earth literally dissolved under the man's feet. Laughter turned to shrieks as he scrabbled for purchase on crumbling dirt but Nuriko's hit had devastated the ground beneath, shattered the bedrock and caused a small quake that opened up and swallowed the man to his shoulders. Water from underground springs immediately bubbled to the surface, quickly turning the pit into a quagmire of mud and sand.

   Seeing the danger, Nuriko hauled his arm free and leapt backward, out of the path of the rapidly-spreading pool of quicksand.

   "Huh." He blinked in surprise at his handiwork. "That was unexpected." He examined his arm and wrinkled his nose at the dirt that coated most of the sleeve. His knuckles were bruised but at least he didn't break skin. He shook the slight pain out of his hand, made a great show of brushing himself off as if this had been exactly what he'd intended the entire time.

   "Get me outta here!" the spy snarled, struggling uselessly in his dirt hole.

   "I wouldn't," Nuriko warned. "Too much wriggling and you're likely to be sucked under that much faster. I have no idea how deep the pit is."

   "You just gonna let me drown?"

   "Well, you did try to kill us," he pointed out with exaggerated patience. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go rescue my friend from yours." He turned on his heel to leave, swept down to scoop up one of the daggers the spy had dropped on the way. He noticed a dark, oily sheen coating its surface and frowned. "More poison?" He tsked. "You guys have clearly never heard of overkill."

   "We like to be thorough. I'm sure your priestess is getting her own taste of it as we speak." The nasty grin sent Nuriko's way erased any doubt he might've had about leaving a human being in the pit. Without another word, he took off for the cave.

~*~*~*~*~

   KC was scared. And ticked off. And maybe a little bored.

   She was mostly scared, though.

   To distract herself from the continuing what-if scenarios that pranced gleefully around her brain, she stood and paced the cave in hopes of finding some way out that she hadn't noticed before (she didn't). But she did notice how the tiny, cramped space became tinier and crampier the longer she stayed inside it, which soon led to the inevitable conclusion that she might be just the teeniest bit claustrophobic.

   Which she maybe should have mentioned beforehand, except she'd never had the opportunity to be penned up inside a dark, cramped cave before so thanks very much for that, Nuriko!

   Oh, he was definitely getting an earful once he got back here, yessir!

   Assuming he made it back, of course.

   Assuming his lame-ass plan—whatever it was—didn't completely tank.

  "Happy, thoughts, moron. Think happy thoughts," she muttered to herself. But who was she kidding, anyway? She was no Peter Pan!

   She headed for the front of the cave again—tripped over the packs for the umpteenth time on the way—and shoved her face as close to the slim opening left by the boulder as she could. The fresh air helped clear her head a bit for all that it smelled like mildew. She hoped she wasn't breathing in anything toxic. Mold spores weren't exactly good for you, right? Was that just black mold, or any kind? But Penicillin was made with mold so maybe it was just certain kinds aaaand her brain was rambling at her again. At this rate, she'd just go stark-raving kooky-dooks way before she had to worry about starving to death.

   She glanced down at the phone she'd dug from her bag. The digital clock noted that only forty-three minutes had passed since Nuriko had dumped her here and taken off for parts unknown. It felt way more like forty-three hours. She wondered if digital phone clocks even worked right in this world, given the lack of satellites to keep track.

   She took another peek through the opening, on the off-chance that her limited view might have changed a bit (it hadn't), and promptly screamed, stumbled over the packs and landed flat on her ass when another face abruptly popped up from out of nowhere to look back at her.

   "Oh, my goodness!" a muffled female voice exclaimed. "What are you doing in there?"

   "Having a tea party," KC muttered from the ground.

   "Excuse me? I didn't quite hear you."

   She sounded young. Maybe not much older than KC. "I'm, uh, waiting for my friend to come back." She raised her voice to be heard through the crack. "He went to … find help."

   "How long have you been in there?" the girl fussed.

   "Um, n-not that long, really," KC lied. "Just a few minutes."

   A few moments of silence. Then, "How on earth did this get in front of the cave?"

   She assumed the girl meant the boulder, but could hardly say that someone had lifted it and put it there, so she settled for a beats-me kind of a shrug before remembering the girl couldn't actually see it. "It moved, " she muttered inanely.

   "Well, give me a bit. I might have a solution to get you out of there."

   KC panicked. Sure, she wanted out but she also didn't want to be murdered by assassins! And Nuriko had put her in there to keep exactly that from happening so she didn't think he'd appreciate coming back to find her mutilated corpse outside the cave.

   Besides, something just felt… off about all of this. Weren't they supposed to be in the middle of nowhere? Why was this teenaged girl way out in the woods, anyway? What was she doing there? If she was traveling, shouldn't she be on the road with everyone else?

   "Um, you really don't have to trouble yourself, " KC called. "Like I said, my friend went to find help. H-he's probably at the next village already. I'm okay for now."

   The girl tittered. It was not an entirely sincere laugh. "Oh, don't be silly," she scolded lightly. "The nearest farmstead is at least an hour's ride from here. He hasn't reached anyone yet and there's no sense leaving you inside that dank cave when I'm perfectly capable of helping you to get out. Oh, my name is Yun, by the way. What's yours?"

   "It's, uh …. M-Mei Lin." KC bit her lip, unsure how to get the well-meaning woman to leave without resorting to outright rudeness, which would definitely look suspicious. But she just didn't trust her. And when she risked another peek through the crack she could see that Yun had turned her back and appeared to be fiddling with a number of neatly-organized clay vials stored in a large box with straps. It kind of resembled a wooden backpack with doors. A longbow and an empty quiver of arrows lay propped against its side.

   "What are you doing?" KC doubted she was mixing a batch of painkillers or something. The whiff of a harsh, caustic odor made her cough and back away from the opening, nose stinging.

   "I've created a corrosive that'll eat through rock," Yun announced proudly as she hopped to her feet. "Just add some of this and … ta-da!" She poured the jar over the top of the boulder near the crack and KC hastily jumped away before it could splash on her. Indeed, whatever concoction she'd come up with seemed to do the trick, the mossy stone was already melting.

   "Um … that's neat but I don't think that little amount is gonna take care of this huge rock," KC pointed out uneasily.

   "Well, no, I would need much more than this," Yun agreed easily. "But it should be enough."

   KC frowned. "For?"

   "For my friend to enter, of course." She offered a sunny smile and moved away from the cave.

   Mystified, KC inched toward the sliver of light that had grown significantly bigger, although still not nearly big enough for her to be able to squeeze through and escape. She could maybe get her head through there and would most likely get it stuck trying. She coughed against the acrid smell left behind from the corrosive, covered her mouth and nose with a sleeve as she peered through the widened crack. She was extra careful not to touch the rock where it shone wet. Who knew what that stuff would do to her bare skin, not to mention her lungs should she breathe it in.

   Yun wore a whistle around her neck made of some sort of polished black stone. It was hard to see, but KC thought it vaguely resembled a serpent. Or maybe a dragon. Her unease expanded. Especially when Yun blew into the whistle and only the barest hint of sound emerged.

   Like a dog whistle, KC thought. Had she just called a big-ass dog or a wolf or something? Or maybe even a tiger?

   But no, it was worse than that. Way worse.

   The animal that appeared definitely wasn't a mammal. The long grasses along the riverbank shifted; she glimpsed something white and shiny slithering through the parting weeds and she couldn't hold back her squeak when a large, triangular head emerged into the clearing, followed by entirely too much body as the enormous white serpent glided with unnerving grace to Yun and proceeded to wind its way up her body.

   It had to be at least ten feet long, KC thought in a sort of stunned daze. And heavy. It had to be heavy, all that muscle…

   "This is Vasuki," Yun said, stepping closer to the cave. "He is named for one of the eight Great Dragon Kings. A fitting name, is it not?" She stroked the scaly head fondly. "He isn't fully grown yet, of course, but he is more than capable of doing the job."

   "What job?" KC bit out.

   Yun offered another smile. This one held a note of pity. "I really don't want you to take this personally," she replied. "It's part of my job, you see. I rather like you and were it not for circumstances maybe we could even be friends."

   KC's heart sank. "You're the Kutou assassin." Not that she hadn't already known. Her Spidy-senses had been going wild for quite awhile now and it occurred to her suddenly that maybe this was that chi-sensing business Nuriko had been so adamant about. "You could just leave. Pretend you never saw me."

   "Of course I can't." Yun sighed. "It took me years to train until I was good enough to enter the emperor's elite guard. If not for that, I would have been brought to his harem, instead. His Majesty's tastes tend toward … young and innocent. Until he breaks them." She couldn't restrain a delicate shudder, expression contorted into extreme distaste. "When it was learned I killed my handler in an attempt to escape I was brought to the general and he took me to train with his soldiers. It was either that or be killed. I raised Vasuki from the time he hatched from his egg and we trained and grew together. There is nobody I trust more."

   "Is that sob story supposed to make me feel sorry for you?" KC snapped.

   "I suppose not," she sighed. "But that doesn't bother me. Despite my rough beginnings, I do love my country and I have been preparing my entire life for this moment, when I return to Kutou a hero for wiping out the Suzaku priestess and any threat Konan might pose."

   "You're the threat!" KC blurted. "Kutou is nothing but a country filled with bullies, conquering peaceful kingdoms like Konan just because you've got a bigger army. You can't even take out one single girl without keeping her trapped inside a cave. And you're letting your pet do the actual work! Some elite assassin you are. You're just a coward!"

   Yun scowled. "Well, your friend certainly made it easy for me, so why should I not take advantage? In war, every upperhand should be exploited. You're a fool if you believe otherwise." She looked around, frowning. "Enough chatter. Shun shall soon return after he makes short work of your partner. I promised him you would be dead by then. He is my superior so failure is not an option. He would kill me rather than return to Kutou in disgrace and you will die anyway. He will not be so kind about it, either." She unwound the snake from her neck and aimed his head at the hole. "There you go, Vasuki. You know what to do."

   The serpent's tongue flicked as he glided forward, easily slipping through the widened opening. KC yipped and scrambled backward.

   "Don't worry," Yun called. "I would let him bite me, if I were you. His venom really isn't that powerful. It won't kill you; at most, your body will go numb and you'll be paralyzed, so when he crushes your bones you won't actually feel a thing. And by the time your ribs puncture your lungs and your internal organs explode you should already be passed out completely. It's a merciful death, you see."

   "You're a crazy bitch!" KC yelled. She glanced frantically around, looking for something to defend herself with. A few scattered stones, a pitifully small stick, and their luggage. She snatched up the largest bag and held it in front of herself like a shield.

   Yun sighed. "It's no use fighting. You may as well just accept the inevitable."

   "Go fuck yourself!"

   She laughed. "My goodness, what kind of language is that for a priestess to be using?"

   Vasuki's warning hiss drew KC's immediate attention and she tensed. The serpent had piled itself into a neat little coil, head swaying back and forth hypnotically. The thin light caught on his scales and they shimmered with little flashes like pearls. His eyes gleamed the deep red of garnets.

   Yun's sudden screech from outside made both of them jump and KC nearly dropped her bag. The snake's head swiveled toward the entrance, a long hiss raising the little hairs along her arms.

   "KC!"

   Nuriko's frantic shout made her heart leap. "Hurry up! There's a snake!" she screamed back, which had the unfortunate effect of drawing Vasuki's attention back to her.

   "It's too late. Nobody has ever escaped Vasuki's embrace." Yun's voice sounded pained and KC wondered what Nuriko had just done to her. But she had no time to wonder long because Vasuki drew back, jaw gaping, and she was forced to brace herself as the serpent struck with an astonishing amount of speed for such a big animal. She by some miracle managed to block his attack with the bag. Fangs sank deep and stuck there as several hundred pounds of solid muscle hit her with the force of a boulder and drove her straight back into the cave wall.

   She screamed at the impact, more in shock than pain as she suddenly found herself grappling with ten feet of thrashing, twisting, extremely pissed-off snake. She struggled to keep her grip on the bag as Vasuki violently fought to free his fangs. She heard Nuriko yell and Yun's wild laughter and suddenly it all just became too much.

   Adrenaline exploded in a heady rush, filling her limbs and burning through her veins and with a scream of pure rage, she gathered herself and pushed. Planted one foot against the wall and shoved off, drove Vasuki's thrashing coils across the cave floor and slammed the bag and his head straight into the wall on the other side with all the strength she could muster.

   A massive shudder went through the serpent, coils snapping taut. KC backed up and flung herself at the wall a second time, body-slammed the bag with her shoulder, ignoring the pain of the impact. She thought she heard something crunch and Vasuki's body went limp. Panting from exertion, she backed up and slammed the bag into the wall one last time before her strength fled as abruptly as it had come and she dropped the bag to the floor, falling to her knees. Her right shoulder throbbed and she hoped she hadn't dislocated or broken something. That would really put a dent in their plans. The snake lay utterly still, one coil wrapped firmly around her calf. Shuddering, she wriggled free and shoved it away with her other foot and crab-walked until her back bumped the opposite wall. Where she drew her knees up to her chest, wrapped both arms around them, buried her head in her arms and proceeded to quietly hyperventilate.

   She barely registered Nuriko's yelling or the sound of the stone as it crumbled into dust, pulverized by the Seishi's punch. But she did notice when two hard hands suddenly grabbed her shoulders and sent a twinge of pain through the injured one that made her yelp. Her head snapped up, wide eyes meeting Nuriko's frantic gaze.

   "Are you okay? Did it bite you? Where are you hurt?" She just blinked at him, then glanced over his shoulder at the mass of dead snake on the floor. He followed her gaze and whistled, tense body visibly relaxing as he sat down beside her, arms resting on his drawn-up knees. "You did that?" He sounded impressed.

   "Where's Yun?" she asked in return.

   "Oh, she's taking a nap right now." He offered a lopsided smile. "I had to give her a little love tap so she'd stay out of my hair while I rescued you."

   "The defense would like to point out that I wouldn't have needed rescuing if some moron hadn't decided to trap me in the damned cave," she grumbled.

   He chuckled and sheepishly rubbed his hair. "I guess that wasn't the best plan I'd ever come up with," he admitted. "But how was I supposed to know they'd send a snake in after you?"

   She turned on him and punched him in the chest, then roughly prodded it with a finger. "If you ever do that to me again I'm gonna kill you. I will kill you stone dead. You hear me?"

   He laughed and pushed away the offending finger. "Yeah, yeah. I understand, Priestess. Now let's get out of here." He helped her to her feet and, after collecting the packs, they gladly left the cave.

   The first thing KC noticed was Yun sprawled face-down on the ground. Her eyes widened. "I-is that a dagger in her back?"

   Nuriko frowned. "Not her back. It hit her shoulder, actually. I needed to distract her somehow, didn't I?"

   KC's own shoulder twinged in sympathetic response. Then she frowned. "Wait, what happened to the other guy?"

   "Oh, him?" Nuriko's answering smile made her skin crawl. "I'd imagine he's up to his topknot in quicksand right about now."

   She stared at him. "You are ruthless."

   "This is war, KC. As we both just discovered, ruthless is necessary to survive." He cast a meaningful glance at the cave, but his expression gentled when he noted how distraught hers was. "Are you injured?" he pressed, eyes scanning her body.

   "Just some scrapes. I think I bruised my shoulder pretty badly when I killed Vasuki, but it doesn't seem to be broken, at least."

   Nuriko looked confused. "Killed who?"

   "The snake." She glanced at the bag he held, nose wrinkled. Dark stains soaked its bottom. "Ew. That's gonna need a good washing. You carry it."

   He rolled his eyes but didn't argue. Instead, he approached the still-unconscious Yun and prodded her with his foot. "Oi. How long do you plan to sleep? I didn't hit you that hard."

   KC frowned as she approached. "Are you sure she's … alive?"

   "Of course I'm—" He stopped mid-sentence as a sudden thought occurred. Eyes widening, he hastily dropped to his knees and turned the girl over, his back shielding her from KC's sight. After a moment he sat back and a stream of curses erupted from his lips that made KC's eyebrows shoot up.

   "So she's … not okay, then."

   He groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. "What kind of idiot," he exploded, "uses poisoned weapons and doesn't have the sense to build their own immunity against that poison so things like this don't happen?"

   KC hastened forward, blanched when she saw Yun's wide-open eyes and parted lips, waxy face frozen into an expression of torture. She gripped Nuriko's arm and bodily dragged him away from the corpse, turned to face him so she blocked his view, instead. "It's not your fault," she said firmly. She gripped his face in both hands to force his attention. "It's not like you knew."

   His jaw shifted under her hands, expression tense. His eyes shimmered with tears barely held in check as he nodded jerkily. "She was just a girl."

   "She was a trained killer. She almost killed me and would have tried to kill you if given the chance. I couldn't even run and it was just dumb luck that I managed to kill the snake. You were only trying to protect me. You just did what you had to. It's war, remember?"

   He slowly relaxed as he nodded and she let his face go, then squeaked in surprise when his arms came about her and pulled her close in a careful hug. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're safe," he murmured into her hair.

   She forced an awkward little laugh. "I'm glad I'm safe, too." She laughed again, less awkward, when he playfully poked her side. "And you," she amended. "I'm also glad you're safe."