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She felt a blind panic overcome her as she dove and dove but she couldn’t find Tan.

  The baby was gone. Completely gone.

  Netsuke, daughter of Ryujin, Dragon King of the Sea, had been watching the women dive as the ama collected the treasures to be laid at the shrine. So much of this would be taken from the sea to be placed right back at the symbolic feet of her father. Such an act would seem almost foolish. Only, it wasn’t returning what they stole. It was the act of sacrifice they were truly offering, not the alabone or other delicacies that were part of their world to begin with. It was the danger each woman faced when she went beneath the waves to dive deep, deeper than humans were supposed to go. It was the exposure to the more merciless aspects of Ryujin’s world that they offered to him at his shrine. The potential loss of life to retrieve these gems of the sea.

  When Netsuke saw the women leave she had meant to continue on, but something held in her in place. Some slight intuitive kick, an attunement to the natural world that hummed just slightly when something was off.

  One of the ama stopped to speak to a another woman and when Netsuke drew closer she did not just see but felt the disturbance.

  “This is nothing massive, just the tiniest hum of something not entirely right, what is it about that baby?”

  She tossed a wave the size of the women at them, knocking them down and she rushed up, grabbing the baby and swimming away with her, blowing a protective bubble around her so she wouldn’t drown.

  She stared down at the infant, not sure what to do with her, as nothing was obviously wrong. She was not a spirit or possessed. She would bring the baby to her father. He would determine what was wrong.

  Before disappearing she had a thought about the women on the shore.

  “Why do you care about those mortals?” she questioned herself. Then she looked down at the babe asleep in her arms. “Maybe you have more power than I have given you credit for.” She thought.

  Sukie continued to desperately search for her baby even though her rational mind told her that it was impossible that the child could continue to live. She dreaded finding her almost as much as the thought that she wouldn’t.

  Isa kept the search up as well, continuously saying that she was sorry over and over again.

  Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared from the waves with the baby appeared in her arms.

  Both women clung to each other at the sight.

  “One of Ryujin’s daughters” Isa gasped.

  “Your daughter is safe with me unless she proves to be a danger. Return to this place in three days time and I will return your daughter, if Ryujin himself deems it appropriate.”

  And with that the women melted away to reveal the silver blue of the water dragon’s scales as it and the baby slipped beneath the sea.

  Chapter 15

  Shinji and Kazuki walked alongside one another in deep silence for a long time before speaking.

  “Are you sure going to Nara is the right decision?” Kazuki asked.

  Shinji nodded. “I am sorry it has descended this far. I had no idea that it would be so. To think of all we lost at Nara. But we must gather those of us those that live, regroup and mount an attack. We need to stop Riku and Ishikawa. It is getting desperate in our need. If we do not do something then the whole of Japan will descent into darkness, and it would appear we are the only ones willing to fight to stop it. And that is not enough. No, regrouping with our brothers there is the only way forward.”

  “It doesn’t sound like there will be many to regroup with” Kauki answered.

  Shinji nodded again. “Truthfully I am also in desperate need of guidance. Inoue wants Riku to live if possible, but she is willing to accept that things may have progressed too far. And yet how do we fight this enemy? The entire country is being torn apart. The samurai elite seem to have brought nothing but more destruction and death. We were better off with the farmers and the warriors.” Realizing what he hastily added “Present company excluded of course”

  “Of course” Kazuki muttered.

  “No truly” Shinji replied. “You truly embody that which the samurai were supposed to be. Honorable men trained to be professional fighters so that they can be called upon to protect at times of need. Not rampage against each other and our temples. These men have had what honor is corrupted, blindly following the orders of their Lord as opposed to that of their hearts.”

  “Sometimes when you do not know the way forward it is easier to rely on your Lord” Kazuki replied.

  Shinji looked over at the young samurai walking beside him. “We always know what is right Kazuki Nagatoki, we just so rarely have the inner courage to follow through on it without outside approval.”

  The younger man felt his cheeks blush with shame and he grunted a “Hai” in response.

  Shinji felt his brow crinkle at the thoughts rolling through his head. He didn’t want the young samurai to see how worried he was, but he also knew the young man’s faith had been shaken.

  “I know how it must feel Kazuki, to see your friend and someone you want to protect fall. To know that the spirits of this world are so riled up about what is happening. To see the monks attacked and the Taira and Minamoto tearing themselves and this country apart. And all of this without Riku potentially attacking the emperor personally. It is not an easy path we walk, that of the Kitsune Way. But it is the one we have chosen because it is right. And when balance is restored then we shall see these wars will end. And the samurai will be honorable again because the men left to lead them will command it and be honorable themselves. I am sure of that.”

  “Are you?” Kazuki asked. “Truly sure? I wonder if the monks truly supported the samurai to begin with, and now after this massacre, things can not have improved at all. And we are walking in to a burned out zone to ask them to continue to fight.”

  Shinji felt his back stiffen at Kazuki’s words. “Are you afraid those remaining may mob you Kazuki?”

  It was Kazuki’s turn to feel anger. “No, I am not, I am just wondering if we are not wasting our time! Why not send a call out to the rest of the Kitsune path, and we gather together as a force of our own to march on Lord Ishikawa?”

  “And how would you send that call out? When my monastery was attacked we lost a lot of men with knowledge of the contacts. Leaving with Riku I was able to activate three men, one of whom was luckily at his fishing post that day. Most of what we have we rely upon each other in the chain. Our chain has been compromised. We have lost so many men already Kazuki. I am not sure how to send the call out. Haruhisa has abandoned us to try to go to the capital direct. I need to get to these monks to find out if one of the order still lives there so we can move forward as that unit you wish us to be.”

  Kazuki nodded, “I am sorry sensei. I overstepped. You are correct. It is just that I feel so helpless at the moment, and I want to do something, not beg and borrow rides to Nara and walk when we can get none.”

  “I understand, but sometimes it helps to have some humility so you know how to act in times of power.”

  Kazuki nodded, but he was not sure he agreed with the statement at all.

  Chapter 16

  Netsuke bowed before her father Ryujin and told him about her encounter with Inoue and presented the large water dragon with the baby.

  “There is something different about this child. But I don’t know what. I would normally ignore such a small hum of difference, but that nine tail has me on edge. There are no obvious magical powers to her other than I am sure she convinced me to let her mother know she didn’t drown.”

  Ryujin let out a laugh. “Babies are known for the power of their cuteness. Give the child to me.”

  The dragon examined the baby and she did not cry. He held her close to it’s large nostrils and still she just examined him with her large eyes.

  “Fascinating” the king of the seas said.

  “What is it father?”

  “This is not meant to be her body. She’s reincarnated too fast. Out of one body and s
traight into this one.”

  Netsuke came closer to her father. “How is that possible”

  “It’s not impossible merely rare”” Ryujin replied. “Something happens, normally an untimely or horrific death so that the soul is terrified and confused when it crosses over. It’s open to the pull of another still living. It needs to be a powerful and deep desire, but they can pull a soul back. Sometimes intentionally, normally by accident. They do not even know their loved one is already back. ”

  He looked up at his daughter. “Of course it comes with a multitude of problems. The first of which is that it often means knocking out another soul, taking the body they had chosen. And then because they did not choose that body you often have what you have here with this baby, a soul that is not truly bonded with it’s body. There’s a disconnect, she is neither really here nor there. The older she gets the more integrated she will become, but she will always be never quite here.”

  “How awful, should we kill her?” Netsuke asked.

  “Nothing so drastic required daughter. It’s not an abomination, just a mismatch. The other soul will prepare a new body and this one won’t quite feel at home in hers this lifetime. She has many cycles to go. This one will be interesting but not something to end.”

  “I told the mother if I returned the child it flight be in 3 days. What do I do with the child until then?”

  “You leave her with me. There are no such things as coincidences Netsuke. You found a child that just barely hummed with difference on your way here to see me. You - a highly intuitive water dragon - decided to investigate this child? No, I refuse to believe you weren’t picking up on something. There is too much magic in you to ignore that. I will explore with this child some more.”

  Three days later Netsuke arrived before her father.

  “I confess daughter, I do not want to give her back to her family.”

  Netsuke was surprised but didn’t show it. “Then do not father. They are merely human, and are not even her true family anyway if she was a soul called back and forced into another baby too soon.”

  “Ah, yes, but the mother does not know that. And I assure you she very much feels the way any mother feels when her child has been taken.”

  Netsuke shifted, the scales rippling along her long slim body.

  “Still, they are human, and you are the King of the seas. Why not keep her.”

  “How much longer do you think they will sacrifice and worship me if instead of protecting those who seek my favor I kidnap their daughters?”

  “I imagine they will try even harder to please you so that it is never their daughter you take” Netsuke replied.

  Ryujin let out a bellowing laugh. “Yes daughter, there I am sure you have the truth of it.”

  He uncoiled his body and slid down the dias steps to where his daughter was waiting.

  “No you will bring the child back. And I want you to tell the mother this” and Ryujin passed onto his daughter that which he wanted the mother of the child to know.

  When Netsuke arrived out of the waves she saw the mother with the same woman as before, both of them pacing the beach. When the mother saw her she let out a cry and her hands flew to her face and she began to rush to the sea dragon before halting herself in fear. The conflict as to how best to proceed was written all over her face.

  The water dragon passed over the baby to Sukie and the woman moaned in relief, collapsing into tears as she held her baby.

  Netsuke watched her for a moment before she spoke. “She is more than you think she is. I have marked her as one of the sea. You have nothing to fear from us or from her in the ocean. But beware, keep her coastal bound. The land is not for her. There are others coming. They will try to take her from you. My father will protect her, but his reach is not infinite.”

  And with that the beautiful woman transformed back into a water dragon before slipping beneath the sea. And both women collapsed onto each other hugging the baby between them and unable to speak.

  Chapter 17

  Abe no Tanetadai stood up and walked to the window. The monk Harushia sat there watching him but made no motion to join him.

  He stood there staring out the window going over everything the monk had said. He wanted to reach up and rub his temples but he refused to do so in front of Harushia.

  “As you can imagine, everything you have just told me is very disheartening. Supposing everything is true.” He held his hand up as Harushia went to interrupt him. “I am not saying you are lying to me Harushia. But everything you have passed on to me has been passed on to you, by your own word you have said none of these things you have witnessed first hand. Other than what this Shinji has said to you, and of course, your meeting with the fox spirit Inoue. However fox spirits are notorious liars and tricksters. She may have a completely different motive and sent you here in the hopes of putting it into play.”

  Harushia nodded. “Of course that is always a possibility. And you are very wise to think it Abe no Tanetadai, but given that I was there with the fox spirit, I do not think I was being lied to by her. Or by Shinji. And although the nine tail could fool me, Shinji could not. His reaction was very visceral to her. He at least believed everything he said.”

  “And I thank you for that and I will plan accordingly. They will not catch us unaware. I am just not about to charge forward as you suggest to meet Riku and Lord Ishikawa on their own land. We have far too much to concern ourselves with here.”

  “But if he is as powerful as they say…” Harushia began but Abe no Tanetadai cut him off.

  “We will prepare for them, but there is far too much to be done here without moving into what could possibly be a plot by this nine tail. If it truly was Inoue you met, I knew of her mother. My sensei told me all about them as he was the one to finally conquer her and destroy her. She plotted the downfall of this empire and although she failed to take over, she has left her mark. Since her appearance at the court we have had nothing but trouble. Rebellions have been springing up like mushrooms. And now you come to me telling me her daughter wants to protect us from a hanyo that wishes to carry out those very desires? No. I will prepare for such an eventuality, but I must explore more first to find out if this is not a trap.”

  Harushia stood up and bowed to the master onmyōji. “Of course you know what is best. I have done my duty in coming here to warn you. I feel I have done my duty and beg permission to return to my temple to look after my men.”

  “No request for a donation before you leave Harushia? Do you need anything for your temple?’

  Harushia shook his head. “My payment is knowing I have done my duty to the emperor and Japan. Truly that is enough.”

  As he watched Harushia walk away, Abe no Tanetadai felt the unease that had built with every word from the priest’s mouth increase. Harushia was a good man and one whose heart loved two things, peace and luxury to enjoy that peace in. He had never been known not to solicit donations upon a visit to a Lord, let alone refuse one that was offered without having to ask.

  Once alone he allowed himself to slump against the wall. “This is bad” he thought. “I had been truly hoping that he was using the rumors out of Ishikawa’s domain to try and get money to secure his premises against future fighting. I was sure the burning of Nara had him nervous. But this is much more than that.”

  Pulling himself together he strode to his private quarters.

  “I am not to be disturbed, even by the emperor or regent himself” he instructed his servants. “I am in the process of a divination and I may need help from a Shikigami. If so I do not need to impress upon you the importance of not disturbing such a ritual.

  The servants nodded and slid away to close the doors to bar Abe no Tanetadai inside. He knew that no one would interrupt him now. Not even if Kiyomori himself wanted him. No one would want to allow a Shikigami loose without a master to control it.