Moon and Star: Book One (7 page)

Someone hit him hard, knocking him down. He struggled to get up. The pain was intense.

“What are you thinking?” Mayumi asked. “You could’ve died. What would your father have said, if he were alive?”

“Maybe if you were there instead of with me, he’d still be alive.”

Mayumi stepped back, as if surprised to hear those words come out of Kaito’s mouth. He was surprised himself. The words leapt out of him, like another part of him took over. A much darker side.

“I’m sorry,” Katio said. “I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t your fault. Even if you did know, you needed to make a choice. One of use would’ve died regardless. You couldn’t be at two places at once.”

Mayumi shook her head. “That’s not … entirely true. You're right, I didn’t know about Jin’s death, but I had my suspicions. I chose to go after you, knowing full well he might die. That’s why you can’t go back to Kyotomo. The suicide is probably just a ruse to lure you inside the city. Your father was murdered and now they want to finish you off, too.”

Sora crawled out from underneath a bush, his chest heaving in and out. The boy could barely manage his breath. Kaito turned his attention to his own breathing. He was now starting to feel the effects of sprinting for a long period without rest. He must’ve been so upset he didn’t have time to notice.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Sora asked.

Kaito glanced down at his feet, then back up at Sora. “I’m a fugitive. Someone in Kyotomo wants me dead.”

“If you're a fugitive there, why are you going back?”

Kaito looked over at Mayumi, who merely shook her head with an angered frown. He didn’t blame her for not trusting Sora. They’d just met and for all Kaito knew, Sora wasn’t his brother.

“Because my father is dead," Kaito said. "I need to protect his honor and Kyotomo's. If I don’t, who will? I’m next in line to rule Jakai."

“Out of the question," Mayumi said. "It’s no longer safe there. We need to keep moving to Yoshino."

Kaito sighed. They were right. Even if he become shogun, there was no telling how long he’d have the title and its authority before someone more powerful took it by force. Clearly his grandfather wanted him dead and was willing to use the death of his son to achieve whatever sick and twisted goal he strived for.

“Kaito, catch.”

Mayumi threw him a dagger. Kaito caught the thing, half his hand covered the blade while the rest clutched the hilt. He felt the warm trickle of blood dribble past his wrist and onto the dirt.

“In case we get separated,” she said.

Kaito looked at her, eyebrows raised. She did know he had no idea how to use a weapon, let alone a bladed one.

“Just trust me,” she said.

He shrugged and place the dagger in his robe.

“You ready?”

Kaito nodded. "I'm ready."

***

Sora would not stay quiet for more than a few minutes. It was like silence was an abstract concept to him. Kaito wanted peace and quiet for at least a few minutes. He'd told him, but after a few seconds Sora opened his mouth again and continued to speak.

"… You're going to love it in Yoshino. A lot has … Well, you probably don't know what it was like before …"

Kaito turned around, unable to take the noise anymore. Leaves
 
crunched underneath his feat as he spun himself around. Sora stopped, his eyes widening.

"Can we just stay quiet for a few moments," he said. "At least until Mayumi gets back. It's not like I don't like knowing about my home, but I'd rather experience it myself."

"Right," Sora said, swallowing whatever information he was about to say. "I understand."

"Thank you."

The silence lasted longer than expected. Even without Sora's voice to interrupt his peace and quiet, Kaito felt jumpy. The anticipation of when he'd talk was more stressful than the actual words spoken.

Where was Mayumi? She'd said she was going to scout ahead. See if there were anymore bandits or ronin blocking their path to Reikutaun.

The sun began to set, which meant Mayumi had been gone for over a day.
What if something happened to her,
he thought. She could need our help.

He looked over Sora. He twiddled his thumbs, whistling to himself. The sound was quiet enough that Kaito wasn't sure if he'd been making noise the whole time or he'd never heard it until now.

Kaito shushed him after hearing something nearby. The boy hid his lips inside his mouth. Unsure of what it was, and whether or not it was friend or foe, Kaito grabbed Sora by the arm and bolted behind a fallen tree. They stayed as low to the ground as possible, keeping quiet and still. At least, Kaito was trying to be quiet. Sora found it an appropriate time to giggle. He glared at him, but he wouldn't stop.

"Something's tickling me," he said, holding back a laugh.

Kaito crawled through the bushes to get behind him. A large spider crawled on his left foot. The creature fidgeted its legs as if trying to spin a web, but Sora's foot wouldn't keep still. He screamed. Katio covered his mouth and smashed the spider, praying no one heard the scream.

The crickets began their nightly song and the two of them remained in the bushes.

Sora coughed. At first it was only once—but as the night went on, Kaito grew worried. He looked over at him. The boy was shivering and his face was bright red.

"Mom?" he asked. His eyelid fluttered. He groaned, body shaking despite the warm weather outside. "No! Don't do it!” he shouted. “It’s my fault. My fault she’s … dead.”

Kaito raised an eyebrow. Tears ran down his brother’s cheeks, but showed no other signs of consciousness. The nightmare must’ve been frightening. He was talking about his mother.
Their
mother.

The night grew darker and they had no choice but to leave the safety of the bushes. Not like it mattered anymore. If someone were after them, they would've been found by now. Kaito wiped sweat from his brow and looked back at Sora. He wasn’t faring well at all. A few more hours and he’d be dead.

Kaito looked at his glass container of water. He splashed the liquid around inside the corked ceramic bottle, letting the swishing noise tell him how much water was left. It barely made a sound.

If he were to give it to Sora, he’d have none for himself.
But without his help, I wouldn’t know where to go?
He’d never ventured this far into the woods.

“If one of us is going to survive it might as well be you,” he said, uncorking the bottle with a pop.

He lifted Sora’s head up off the ground, slowly tipping the bottle to his lips and letting the water dribble down his throat. The boy coughed, then lied still; no motion at all except the faint beat of his heat.

The crisp night air blew over Kaito’s arm. Sora still did not move. He grew worried that perhaps he made a mistake in giving his water to someone who was already about to die. Why should he have to suffer? Better yet why did both of them have to die? There had to be a way to save one of them.

A leaf came into contact with Kaito’s hand, landing in his palm. The leaf was unfamiliar, but at the same time, he knew what it was: a way to save Sora’s life.

Memories of his lessons with Yuri flooded his mind. He processed each one as they appeared, sorting through them at a rate most would call impossible. In times of great stress, the body was capable of incredible things. Seemed the same was true of the mind. Kaito opened his eyes, unaware they’d been closed as he remembered Yuri’s botany lessons.

The image of the leaf entered his mind’s eye.
Of course. A karanasu leaf.
Apothecary’s used it to make antidotes for poison. This particular leaf was not native to Kyotomo. One needed to delve deep into the forest in order to find them. Seemed Kaito had found the source. Or at least, it was somewhere nearby.

He got up and darted through the trees, snapping branches and twigs with the force of his bare feet. Even with this speed and drive, it wouldn’t be enough. There were thousands of leaves in the forest. Yuri always said that each plant was unique; even ones of the same family. Not all karanasu leaves were the same, but there were many which looked like them. Some of them were poisonous, if he remembered correctly.

Kaito’s dash came to a halt as his big toe no longer touched solid ground. Dirt slid off the edge of the cliff and before him, the ocean's waves crashing against pointed rocks below. It was the one thing in his path, which kept him from his actual home. He stared out at it—half in awe, the other in horror as he came to grips with going through a near-death experience. His heart still raced and the events were happening again and again in his mind.

He saw the karanasu leaves, halfway down the ravine on a small ledge. Kaito gulped and gathered what little courage he had inside and started the climb down.

The earth shook beneath his feet and he lost his footing. He fell all the way to the bottom of the ravine, hitting his head on a razor sharp stone the size of his leg. The world grew dark.

Chapter Eight

When he finally awoke, Kaito found himself upside down with his arms and legs bound together. He felt the itchiness of rope material on his wrists as he struggled to escape. He was a still little disoriented from whatever happened to him. His long black hair covered his eyes, causing him to sweat. It kept dripping down his forehead and into his eyes. It was both painful and torturous not being able to wipe it off.

A few seconds later and his vision cleared. The sweat evaporating into the air, allowing him to see. A fire burned brightly below him. He could feel the sparks of fire fly out and land on his skin. They didn’t burn him, however, but being helpless to move away or even flinch was painful enough.

Kaito struggled harder to break free, then stopped after realizing he didn't have a safe place to land. If he were to escape, he’d land with his back on fire.

Minutes gave way until the hour of the hare was upon him, and still no sign of anyone. He didn't remember seeing a fire before he fell down, which meant someone built it and hung him above the flame. But Why start a fire at all if it wasn't meant to kill him?

“Hello,” Kaito shouted, “is anyone there?”

The wind itself didn’t even respond.

He wrestled around in his restraints. Something sharp poked him in the side. Kaito let out a hiss of pain. A few drops of blood landed on the fire. He hunched inward as far as he could, his mouth open and ripped his clothing over his head, holding it steady with his teeth. He could feel his hands behind back.

The blood dripped out of his left side. This was more than likely going to hurt, but what choice did he have? He spun himself so that the blade pierced through his side at a vertical angle. He could feel the deepness of the cut, but if he tended to it straight away he might survive.

He winced in pain as he inched himself upward like a caterpillar. The universal force which made it impossible for objects to fly, pushed him back down. He paused, catching his breath as more blood dripped onto the fire. He adjusted himself again, trying to line up the knife with the rope which bound his hands together.

He was going on instinct. Each time he moved around, the wound opened up more and more. New ones were created and caught up to the original in pain in a matter of seconds. Each time he lifted himself up, he waited, prayed he would hear the sound of steel against rope on the painful drop down.

Finally he felt the rope around his wrist tear. He moved back and forth slightly, letting the share edge of the dagger cut through his restraints. When he got his hands free, the world began to spin. He looked down at his side. The wound was worse than he thought. If he didn’t get help soon, he’d bleed himself dry.

Kaito took the knife with one free hand, the other applying pressure to his bleeding side, and began to cut one of the ropes. As he cut, he rocked back and forth more violently. The rope cage began to swing and ...

Shzzzt.

He broke free, landing dangerously close to the fire as he struggled to keep his balance. When he found his footing, Kaito breathed a sigh of relief and took a few steps back before turning around. He wished he did it sooner.

There was something was behind him. Bones of some sort. He carefully turned around and saw a man, a crazed look in his eyes and drool dribbling down his chin. Kaito tried to scream, but all that came out was a muffled gasp as the man clutched his hand over his mouth. He smiled, showing little to no teeth in his mouth. He wiped the drool from his chin with his other hand.

“How’d you ‘scape?” he asked.

The lack of teeth made him hard to understand and there was a slight whistle in his voice. Kaito could see his tongue play with what would’ve been his two front teeth. He’d never been so repulsed in all his life. His captor giggled, then frowned, turning serious in a split second.

Kaito
 
only saw his head and shoulders, but from the looks of it, the man wasn’t clothed on the upper half of his body. The man looked down at the knife in Kaito’s hand and dropped him.

“Where’d you get that?” he asked. “And what happened to the fire?”

Kaito turned around. The fire was gone, replaced with a trail of wispy smoke. The man shoved him out of the way and tried to get the fire started, again. He began to cry when the flame didn’t spark. Kaito took a step closer, trying to comfort the man.

“I didn’t mean to ...”

“You. Dead.” He lunged at Kaito, grabbing hold of his throat and squeezing.

Kaito’s grip on the knife Mayumi gave him was loosening. He couldn’t hold out for much longer. Without thinking, he stabbed the man in the side of the neck. The man dropped him and covered the wound, applying pressure to it. A few seconds later and his breathing stopped. Rainwater hit Kaito from above. He stared up at the sky for a few minutes. His bloodied hands shook as the rain washed it off.

He looked down at the body. Woven in the man's hair were karanasu leaves. The rain freed the leaves and carried them to his feet. Kaito dug his toes in the dirt and began to cry.

***

Kaito poked the fire his captor had almost killed him over. The more time passed, the more he thought about what he’d done.