growth
Misaki's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store—or perhaps a fox kit in a butcher shop would have been a more accurate analogy. Mama and Nicole really outdid themselves this time, I had to admit as I gazed out over the massive spread laid out on the table.
I sipped at my beer and skewered a grilled spring onion with my fork. My plate was laden with grilled vegetables, steaming black beans and an assortment of spicy meats with fresh corn tortillas. I popped the onion in my mouth and chewed while I only partially listened to Misaki as she filled our family in on the events of the past week.
“Nothing is ever ordinary with you two, is it?” So-yi marveled. “The eye color-changing thing is going to take some getting used to.”
“Tell me something I don't know.” I poked my fork into a piece of chorizo and sighed at the pleasant heat that built up on my tongue as I ate. “Things are only going to get even weirder from here on out, if what Eirene claims is to be believed.”
Misaki nodded around a mouthful of marinated skirt steak. She chewed and swallowed, her tail thumping against her chair, clearly broadcasting how happy she was to be back with her family.
“I'm with Misaki on this one,” Nicole said. She took a sip from her glass of water and gave me a look that defied description. “You two better damn well
be careful
from now on, you hear?”
“We were really worried about you,” So-yi added. “I'd feel a whole lot better if you'd stop meddling in all this magic stuff and just try to live a normal life, but…”
Misaki's ears drooped slightly. “Even if we wanted to—and I'm not saying we wouldn't want to—we wouldn't be left alone. Someone or something will always be pulling at us no matter what. A 'normal' life just isn't possible.”
My eyes took on a faraway look. “Soon it might not be possible for anyone. The world is always changing. I don't know how just yet, but all of us are going to have front-row seats for the show, whether we want them or not.”
I absently pressed my fingertips to the Relic shard, feeling the comforting warmth it emanated from its connection to the vast, near-limitless energies of the astral world. So-yi and Nicole stared at me but said nothing.
“Like I already told you a half-dozen times, it can't hurt me.”
“How do you know?” Mama demanded, her face clouding over.
“The Relic has fused with my body and spirit and become a part of me. Getting rid of it would be like trying to get rid of my arm.”
So-yi frowned. “Does that mean you and Misaki are no longer linked together?”
“Only in the romantic sense,” Misaki replied with a faint smile. “We aren't chained together by a parasitic mana bond any longer. When the Relic fragment fused to Karin, she was able to countermand the restriction laid down in the magic that created me.”
“Misaki's truly free, for the first time in her life.” I felt a smile trying to creep its way back on my face, but the grim expressions on the others prompted me to hold it back. “After more than six hundred years, she can finally choose her own path.”
“I've already chosen to walk my path with you, silly,” my wife-to-be gushed, her ears laying in the telltale flat and forward position.
“I'm glad you did.” I speared another piece of chorizo, keeping as straight a face as I could. “If you hadn't, that would be a real problem for me, since we're supposed to be getting married and all.”
Misaki's blush intensified. “I haven't forgotten.”
“So what's this big important question you two need to ask me?” So-yi inquired, steering the conversation away from the mushy stuff.
Damn. I was hoping we'd be able to at least get a little more booze in us before that came back up again. Misaki was gazing at me with her brilliant green eyes, her expression one of calm support and encouragement.
“Allying with Luna means we'll be traveling a lot—probably most of the time, to tell you the truth,” I began, acutely aware of Mama's frown. “And, um, we're not really going to be getting paid all that much. Misaki and I were wondering if… if…”
“Oh, just spit it out already,” Mama snapped. “We already know what you're going to ask, anyway. It's only been blindingly obvious.”
“You want to move in with us, right?” So-yi guessed.
“Well, not exactly 'move in' with you so much as… just sort of bunk here when we're not out somewhere trying to deal with whatever magicky shit Meilin sends us off to take care of.”
“It doesn't make a lot of sense to keep paying rent on a big apartment that we'd only get to spend maybe less than a week out of every month in,” Misaki added, obviously trying to appeal to my mother's practical side.
“I can't believe it,” So-yi gasped. “My big sister is actually asking for
help
from her
family
.”
“Yeah, well, I've gotten better about that,” I growled, not caring if I sounded overly defensive or not. “I know Mama's staying here, too, and you're going to have the baby and everything in the guest room, but the place isn't exactly small…”
“What do you think, love?” So-yi asked her wife.
Nicole was silent for a moment, considering the situation. Our relationship had gotten a lot better since Misaki and I became a couple—we got along quite well now that I'd untangled all my old confused and twisted feelings for So-yi. I hoped it wasn't just a facade she put up for the sake of the family.
“I think it's a sensible idea,” Nicole said at last, blowing away any lingering doubts I had concerning her current opinion of me. “Karin and Misaki can take the den. It's a little on the small side, but I think it'll work out fine. They can sleep on the futons Yoshiko brought from the Takeda home.”
So-yi raised her beer up in salute. “Then it's settled. You'll stay with us when you're not traveling on business. Will you be able to get out of your lease?”
“Yeah,” I said, thankful that I'd actually done something financially irresponsible with regards to our current apartment. “It's an at-will lease and the apartment came partially furnished. All we need to do is get Mama's table brought here. Everything else can just go into a small storage unit; we won't need the dishes and shit.”
Mama glared at me over her glass of booze. “You're really getting ripped off for that place if it's month-to-month.”
“I know, but it seemed like a good idea to pay the extra to avoid being tied down to a long lease. The agency was throwing money at me, anyway.” I didn't bother to mention a big part of why we wanted to get out was because the place reminded us of AEGIS.
“Will you need help moving anything?”
I turned to Nicole and shook my head. “No, we'll take care of all that when we head back. We'll have to talk to the leasing agent, pack everything up, rent a truck to bring it to a storage unit here and clean the shit out of the apartment so we get the deposit back.”
“Sounds like you have it all well in hand, big sis.”
I drained the last few drops from my beer as Mama started to collect the dishes. Pushing my chair back from under the table, I stood up and made my way into the kitchen, grabbing a fresh brew. “I'm going to head out back for a smoke.”
“Okay,” Misaki said. “I'm helping Yoshiko with the dishes. After we clean, we're going to make a special dessert for everyone.”
“Hey, I told you to keep that a secret.” Mama gave my fiancee a sidelong glare. Misaki's tail and ears shot up. “Oops. I didn't say what it was, though!”
“Come on, little fox, let's get this kitchen cleaned up.”
I shook my head slowly as I walked out of the dining room and to the sliding glass door in the living room. Kaede was waiting patiently at the door, fortunately still quite dry and clean even as the rain started to fall more heavily outside.
“You're such a well-trained little pup.” I opened the door and Kaede came rushing inside, arrowing directly for the couch, where she promptly plopped down on and curled up underneath a mound of throw pillows.
Stepping out on the porch, I sipped at my beer and sat down in one of the chairs on the deck, watching the rain fall. I lit my cigarette and watched the glowing ember and rising plume of smoke. There was always a great deal of uncertainty in life, but this? This was, to put it succinctly, completely fucked.
The Relic fragment emitted a slow, soothing warmth that denied the cold wind the rainstorm brought with it. When Misaki first brought me back into my body, I hadn't really had much time to ponder the changes occurring within me. Being surrounded by a bunch of miasma-tainted monsters and assholes with guns certainly didn't leave much time for idle contemplation.
Here at my sister's house, surrounded by the people who loved me, the physical and emotional security allowed me some time for reflection and introspection. I started to take notice of the changes within.
The pain in my leg was nearly gone. With the pressure change caused by the storm, the damaged nerves
should
be aching in the background, but I could barely feel them. There were other little signs, too—my hair felt smoother and looked shinier than it had in years, my skin softer and more supple. The ridges on my nails were less prominent. I felt strong, both physically and mentally, stronger than I'd been since I was in my early twenties.
Almost as if time's clock was winding backwards.
I didn't know what that meant or what to think of that. Eirene insisted that fusing with the Relic caused me to “transcend,” whatever that meant. I suspected that I'd be finding out soon enough.
“Want some company?”
I smiled as So-yi came out on the porch, closing the door behind her. “I'd love to have your company, little sis.”
So-yi sat down in the chair next to mine and sipped at a fresh beer, staring out at the rain that was now really coming down. The storm was supposed to be a long and heavy one, bringing the west coast plenty of much-needed water.
“I'm scared, Karin.”
I placed a hand atop hers. “That makes two of us.”
“All of these strange and fantastical events happening to you and Misaki—to our family, and I'm really worried. About the baby, of course, but also about Mama and Nicole, about Misaki, but more than anything, I'm worried about you.”
“I know.”
So-yi turned to look at me directly. “The Relic fragment is changing you. We can all see it—and not just in the shifting colors in your eyes. Nicole and Mama are trying to ignore it, but I know they're both about ready to burst.”
“But you've always been direct, especially with me.”
“Of course,” So-yi agreed. “Karin, don't try to pretend everything is okay if everything is
not
okay. You don't really know what's happening to you, do you?”
Shit. Well, so much for trying not to worry everyone.
“No, I don't. Maybe Luna does—Misaki told me they have the largest and most complete archive of arcane knowledge in the world. I'm sure they've got
something
in their library that can give me some insight into what's happening to me.”
My sister frowned. “You say that like you don't mean it.”
“Wait just a—”
“No, Karin, let me talk,” So-yi cut me off, as she often did when I started getting difficult. “You don't trust this group—that much is obvious, and considering what happened with the last group that tried to use you and Misaki for its own purposes, I don't blame you for being cautious.”
I sighed and puffed away on my smoke. My sister was far too good at seeing right through me. “Eirene knows what's happening to me,” I admitted. “She was the one who made it happen, after all.”
“Yes, and that's what worries me. You're putting a lot of stock in something said by a person who tried to kill you.”
“I already explained that she wasn't trying to kill me.” Frustration bunched up the corners of my mouth. “Misaki and I already went over this. Eirene could have killed me a dozen times over with far less effort expended, but she didn't.”
“Maybe not, but she did force you to fuse with the Relic,” So-yi argued, “without your consent. You would do well to remember that. Your right to choose was taken away. Those aren't the actions of someone who has your best interests at heart, but someone who intends to use you to further their own goals.”
Her logic was pretty much rock-solid. “I know, but there's not much point in getting all angsty over it now. It's not like I can go back and undo everything. I mean, being bound to the Relic in the first place was done without my consent and I found the love of my life as a direct result.”
So-yi poked me in the shoulder. “That's not the same thing.”
“Isn't it? I grabbed the damn sword to stab that fucking eye-guy and protect a girl's life, not to mention keep the data from being stolen. I was just doing my job as a security officer and my duty as a mostly-decent person.”
“Right,” my sister agreed. “You
willingly
risked your life.”
“But I had no clue that the Relic would bind to me. I didn't agree to having those Tsukimura assholes come after me, beat Mama up and threaten my family. I was never given the choice, and yet look what came out of it.”
“The situation is still different,” So-yi insisted.