“Get off that damn phone woman!” Yuudai shouted across the room to her, it was his third tumbler of whiskey so far, Rin knew he liked to drink, hell she'd been the one to show him the mind numbing effects it could have. The control it took over your whole self and made you into someone or something else, Rin finished her phone call and snapped the small slim phone shut. The platinum surface barely shining in the dim glow of the ambient lighting, Yuudai had bought it her last month after smashing her gold one. She'd been doing business while he'd been 'doing' her, he hadn't taken it well, at least he never hit her anymore, the scar on his belly had been enough of a reminder about that one. She could even remember when she'd done it, it had been after she'd come out of prison for the whole mess that had been their last bombing. Just why he'd thought bombing the post office had been a good idea she'd never have understood and to use his uncles name and address as the return postal was another idiotic idea. But he'd been filled with ideas once, filled to the brim with fire and blood, about building a new world where the old ways would crumble and fall apart. Where the true nature of the Japanese would rise out of the mire the West had put it in, but market forces were the true masters now of Japan. Not the people, not the old who were running to keep up, it was the inventors, the young with dreams of smaller, better, faster, cheaper. Rin had realised that and had latched on to several young dreamers, it took only two for her to get the money and riches she needed.
While Yuudai (aka Daichi Yamata) had lounged in jail after a mistimed robbery, she'd been working her ass off to get them something comfortable to come back to. She'd invested, still held shares with several up and coming research centres and she kept her head, while others had fallen Rin had bought and bought low. Now Rin and Yuudai owned several train companies outright, their services were premier and their commuter runs were the fastest and most profitable in the districts. But it took her mind away from Yuudai, business needs looking after and there were things she didn't trust anyone with and those were the contacts with the underworld. She didn't want to end up like the others of their small army had, they'd drifted into thugdom while she'd seen the higher ground of legitimate business. Yet she mixed with bigger crooks and thugs than her old friends ever could have, they were both millionaires many times over. Yet she knew how quickly it all could be lost and she wasn't going to go backwards into that life ever again. So if it meant having to programme a new phone every once in a while then she'd do it, at least she could see who her enemies were across the boardroom table.
“Come sit with me, you never sit with me anymore.” Yuudai was at the pleasant drunk stage, Rin smiled and shifted her weight along the tatami floor towards him. The house was traditional in style but the technology it housed certainly wasn't, everything was hidden away by screens and walls, giving the sensation of living in a different century without having to.
“You're drunk Yuudai, you should eat something before you drink that stuff.” Yuudai raised his glass to Rin, the leer on his flaccid lips spilling over onto his red face. He'd been handsome once, but life had taken it's toll on him, his dreams had come to nothing and no man likes that as his epitaph. He was a kept man and he knew it, without Rin he was nothing but a drunk and a violent one at that. But he was still here and he had a place in her heart somewhere, that is if her heart still beat, he'd seen her looking at the fights they went to. All she got excited about now was death and he was just anaesthetising himself to the inevitable slide he was on, soon the only thing she'd smile about for him would be his last moments. Thing was Yuudai didn't know how right he was.
Outside in the darkness of the lake Logan drifted, the small mat he'd made was enough to break up his form in the cool night. He watched as the security left for the evening, switching on the remote camera's by laser guided guns, pity they responded to garage door openers as well. Pulling open a waterproof pocket Logan aimed for the shoreline camera and switched it off, he could smell the small motor stop in the cool air of the lakeside. Drifting ever closer to his targets Logan pulled the thoughts of his past together, that this act would be the last he would make before going home again. As his feet hit the bottom of the beach he moved like the mist that was slowly forming on the water, as he passed the camera tower he switched it back on, the footage would come in handy later for the police.
“Dance for me Rin, you used to dance for me, when we were younger...” Yuudai was slurring his words now as he pulled Rin closer to his side, she wanted to go to bed but he was in a good mood and despite herself Rin was actually smiling again. She slapped him playfully as she stood up on the tatami, her bare feet warmed by the underfloor heating. Smirking at his half fallen form and the half erection already tenting his robe Rin wafted off to put on the stereo, say what you liked about the man he had something worth sticking around for.
Logan saw Rin move out of the main room, his face was covered as was the rest of him, deep grey silk, not black, black stands out in the shadows, grey blends against the shadow filling it further. Logan followed Rin, he knew Yuudai wasn't a threat, drunk the way he was, Rin was the one to watch and he'd get to her first.
Flicking the stereo to life Rin pondered which songs to cue up on the system, she'd loved to dance when she'd been young. Being a kagura dancer had been one of her wishes as a girl, to dance the magic into being, to bring blessings to the people she lived among. Thing was it wasn't meant to be and her life had been changed, she did bring change to the people around her though, just not in the way she'd ever envisioned. Shaking herself Rin flicked through the thousand or more tracks, picking what she wanted to dance to, not hearing the screen behind her open on waxed runners. Logan entered behind her small form listening to the music that had once been a full part of her life. The only thing he felt she was sure of was the cool air that had come with him as he'd entered, as she turned to look at where the cold was coming from Logan was already too close to deny.
Rin let herself feel for the first time in an age, as the music swam through her senses, it was then she noticed the cool wind behind her, lost in her remembrances she half turned, straight onto a blade. The pain blossomed in her flesh, the blade shining in the dim light of the room, the colour of the blade strange to her eyes, as Rin looked up she saw the eyes of the demon who'd invaded their home. The music she'd picked thumping out into the air as her body began to feel the damage wrought upon it, the blade was pulled free from her side and dropped to the matting, her kidney had been nicked and she could feel the odd sensation of hot and cold running from her side at the same time. Before she could even scream the demon had her by the throat, cutting off her words and dragging her back to Yuudai, to where he was now singing in a drunken leering tone. He soon stopped singing when Rin was thrown toward him, her side already red from the wound she'd been given. Yuudai went for the phone that was on the floor, but a knife went through that before his hand reached it. Rin was silent, her eyes closed, focussing on the pain that was burning through her side, something was wrong apart from her wound, her body was beginning to burn from the inside out. She reached out for Yuudai but he wasn't near her anymore, opening her eyes she watched the demon in grey force his mouth open and made him drink something from a dark flask, old fashioned and well worn. The colourless liquid falling from Yuudai's skin in droplets as the Oni forced him to drink more and more. Rin made to open her mouth but it wouldn't open, her hand reaching outstretched was beginning to shudder, the muscle twitching in her forearm. Panic began to set in as her own hand began to pinch her already injured side, Rin watched the Oni walk around her home. Her eyes losing him for a moment before he came back into focus, he dropped his form next to her pain racked body, the spasms already beginning to run through her flesh, making her shudder and quake. He didn't speak to her, his gaze implacable, like the old gods she once worshipped as a child with a child's faith. He pulled out a flower from his grey cloud tunic and laid it on her breast, a lily, small and vibrant in colour. It filled her eyes as her head dropped forward before her back spasmed, the roller-coaster of her death was going to be one of pain and loss. Slow and painful, she tried once more to open her mouth but only succeeded in biting her tongue as her jaw slammed shut as a spasm rode through her body. The Oni got up and left her then, leaving her in her world of pain. Lost in terror and fear as the potent poisons ran through her body, each one fighting to kill her, while her body fought to live asher life blood flowed away into the floor beneath her.
Logan looked at Rin, crouched in front of her as he pulled out the lily that had been Yuriko's name sake, he dropped it onto her chest and watched as the first tremors went through her body. He'd made sure to angle his thrust into her body, he'd nicked her kidney, enough to make it bleed slowly, but the blade he'd used was poisoned with strychnine and amantia. She'd die in agony, slowly bleeding out while her body shook and spasmed. Every time her blood clotted she'd spasm and rip the wound open again and again, until she died of blood loss or weakness from her poisoning.
Logan turned away from Rin and went back to Yuudai, the drink he'd forced down him was enough to kill a normal man. The small fungi had been easy to find on the mountain slopes, hidden under the pine needles, poking through in pure white flesh. He'd spent an afternoon collecting the small caps, gloved of course,just because he healed didn't mean he was stupid. He'd packed the small white umbels into the gourd, filled it with rice wine later and left it to steep for a day. What was inside was enough to kill an army let alone one man. He turned to see Yuudai already suffering from the effects of the small caps, vomit covered his chest, his legs were shuddering as the nerves died. He would feel the tiny slivers of each fibre slicing his muscle open as they died, a death of a thousand no, a million cuts, each one a nerve end of his own flaying him from the inside out. Yuudai would feel every death he'd given out, he'd feel the terror if it before his heart gave out, he'd feel what those he'd tortured and hurt felt. Yet it wasn't enough, none of it was, nothing could ever bring Yuriko back to life, but what it would do was bring honour back to her family name. He left them watching the other one die, locked in their deaths as they had been in their madness. He took the hard-drives of the computers and the laptops with him when he left, by the time he'd gotten ready to enter the night again, Rin was bent back like a bow, her back obviously broken but her shudders still telling him she was still alive, barely. Logan let the image of their deaths warm him as he set out across the ground toward the beach, remembering to switch off the camera before he got there. As soon as he was out far enough he set the camera back on again and he let the sacred waters of the lake clean the filth of their lives from his skin.
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Incense rose in the morning air, the hand-claps of prayers being said were everywhere and the old woman prayed as she always did. The Gaijin Oni hadn't been back to her home but everyday she came to the temple to remind him of his promise, she knew he believed like she did. That Yuriko's spirit wouldn't rest until her death was avenged, she moved slowly around the temple today and didn't hear the commotion until her grandson came to her waving a paper. Only when he'd calmed down and stopped babbling did she manage to see what he was carrying on about. She read the words printed for all the world to read, tears falling over her face as she clutched the paper to her heart. Turning back toward the temple to pray for the Gaijin Oni who'd set her child free.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Logan kills the final pair, I think with some grace and honour. As always let me know what you think.
Chapter End Notes:
Feedback welcome, the next chapter will be the homecoming and wedding!