Chương 31: Book 1, Chapter 31: Tattered Truth

"Are you sure, John?" Yuki's voice shook him out of his trance, and he nodded after a moment of thought. Obviously, he wouldn't share anything about her, as it was not his story to tell. But his? There was no avoiding it. Rin had seen him crack at the mere presence of a few men whom he should have been so far beyond that they should be beneath notice. He had to share at least a bit more of the truth, and hope she was still onboard afterwards.

Otherwise, it risked her looking for answers, and finding more than what he was okay with, or assuming something worse and going to a hostile party with it. He just had to hope that the woman who was sympathetic enough to the commonfolk to track down a "dangerous" bandit would remain a bleeding heart.

"I… It's obvious that I'm foreign, yes?" John cautiously began. Hesitantly, the dragon woman nodded.

"Yes. Your accent…" she trailed off, trying to best pick her words and looking him up and down.

"It's distinctive; not like anything I've ever seen going from the northern to southern reaches of this land. Your features, too, are very different, and not quite anything like I've seen even amongst foreign traders in ports." Sighing, he took a seat on a nearby rock. He didn't particularly fear the physical threat of her turning on him here. He had his warding, and Yuki was more than enough to win a fight on his own, never mind with his extra help. Would she leave them, now that his weakness became apparent?

It had hardly any time at all since she joined.

"I mentioned I came to this land five years ago. That was true. I left out that I did not come to this land of my own free will. I was dumped into the woods one morning with no guide. No way home. The people… Did not take kindly to my presence, especially those priests."

"But they're just priests, and you aren't a yokai!" Rin exclaimed, frowning.

"How could they have kept someone like you away? I've never seen you fight, but the stories I've heard put you above every single one of them!"

"Not… entirely," he admitted, grimacing.

"Until recently, I was unable to speak your language, Rin. For the past half a decade, I have lived alone, isolated, honing my self-taught craft. I… used to live a far more peaceful life, and am slow to even think about hurting others." The half-truths tumbled out of him slowly, as if giving up even that much was anathema. Still, it clawed at his heart in another direction for reasons beyond his comprehension. He couldn't share much more; not to Yuki, certainly not to Rin, not to anyone.

He couldn't even say them to his reflection, lest the kitsune's supernatural hearing catch it.

"I was driven into the woods not long after I arrived," he began before turning to face Yuki, and beheld a deep, worried frown on her face. This next part was intended for her, too.

"Those priests and their ilk have tried to kill me many, many times. Sometimes they got closer than others." Sometimes, he still woke up in the middle of the night, feeling the phantom heat of his guts nearly cooking inside his own body, the skin around his torso charred black like something left in an oven overlong. He spent many days prying stone fragments out of limbs, spiked like cruel barbs that grew in his flesh to make themselves as painful and difficult to remove as humanly possible.

It was a small mercy that he found out about the healing properties of some of the local plants sooner rather than later; otherwise, he would have died myriad times over from them alone. He shook himself out of his reverie as he realized he was staring past the kitsune like a complete nutcase.

"I'm sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment. Regardless, I do not have the best history with those men, and I'd prefer to avoid them," he finished. Silence held tensely over the riverbank.

"You're self-taught?" Rin finally muttered, eyes widening and a blush colouring her face once she realized she said that out loud.

"What they did is terrible, sensei! Just say the word, and I'd be happy to—" Her hand went to her blade, and John quickly raised a hand to stop her.

"No," he quickly interrupted, before sighing.

"Even if I'm not their biggest fan, I'd rather not have them die to make me more comfortable. No, they'll stop being a serious problem once things settle more." It was one thing to harass the weird hermit who lived in the woods and couldn't tell anyone what they were doing. It was another thing entirely to attack a man in good standing who had helped drive the ruinously aggressive "tax collectors" out of the region. Rin's eyes landed on the kitsune.

"You mean… You and Yuki only met recently?" the dragon woman hesitantly asked. He nodded.

"Let me just say that the last little while has been an absolute maelstrom of changes." Guilt clearly ate at the dragon Unbound as she stared at him, flashing quickly between several intense emotions.

"That would mean I—I mean, if I got here earlier when she wasn't around to explain—No, I could have…" Rin's brow furrowed, and intense frustration painted her face as she tried to find the words, yet failed. The woman stopped struggling with her words, breathed deeply, and threw herself to her knees, bowing so deeply her forehead was touching the ground. She seemed to care little for the dirt clinging to her rather nice clothes, entirely focused on this gesture of supplication as she was.

"I'm sorry, sensei. I was too close to making a terrible mistake. Please, I ask you to forgive your student once more." John looked uneasily at Yuki, who had a sympathetic frown etched on her face. She gestured to the dragon-blooded and nodded.

"You're forgiven," he sighed. Something about this made him feel wrong, like wearing a mask over a mask, but nothing could be done about it. He held out his ungloved hand, offering it. When Rin finally raised her head to look up, she startled, but hesitantly grabbed on, letting him pull her to her feet once more. He forced a smile onto his face, but the tightness in his jaw probably gave him away. The Unbound was sincere, if nothing else.

Before any more words could pass between them, he heard splashing and an awful gurgling. Spinning to see, he saw the same mottled kappa from before pulling himself out of the water.

"Rrghlr," he burbled, before flipping himself into a handstand, pointedly keeping the bowl on top of his head submerged, and spitting up the water filling his lungs. The awful horking and choking noises brought whatever conversation was about to ensue between the group to a screeching halt, like an awkward family conversation on a road trip being silenced by a five-car pileup on the other side of the road.

It still felt uncomfortable to watch, like he should leave, but neither Yuki nor Rin seemed to agree, given they unflinchingly stared at the yokai the whole time. Was he the weird one for thinking it was strange? He didn't like that at all. He'll take the lack of hostile Presence screaming for them to get off his lawn as a win. There was nothing to really distract everyone, and nowhere to really look besides the spectacle in front of them.

Eventually, the slimy-skinned yokai had cleared himself out and flipped back over with an awkward front flip.

"Right! You two are not my favourites, but I'll take you lot over those—" and that was absolutely a swear, although John wasn't sure what it meant "—Any day of the week. They kept on calling and calling for me and I thought they'd never give up and—" and there was another swear— "Thanks, I guess. Now, who's the tag-along, and what the hell do you want? I'm not getting chased by Nameless again!" Nameless never chased him when he went with them, unless John forgot something.

"How… dare you!" Rin hissed, stepping forward and starting to reach for her blade.

"Sensei John and Lady Yuki came to visit you here and—" She abruptly stopped as John cleared his throat and shook his head, sheepishly stepping back to his side.

"Rin. He's just like that, don't worry," John soothed The kappa's eyes widened.

"What the hell? He can talk like that already? You sure you were—" Yuki flared her Presence, bathing the area in an aura of annoyance that made her thoughts clear and cutting him off, earning a glare from the grumpy old yokai.

"Enough. We have a questions for you. Are you aware of any spots in the woods where armed men have been occasionally fishing?" The kappa glared at her before momentarily glancing at Rin, but made no argument.

"Yeah. I may know a few places. Is this related to the Nameless?" he cautiously asked. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"It is," Yuki confirmed.

"This problem has gone on long enough, and we have a solution. I can't share everything, but a group of armed men posing as tax collectors is feeding the Nameless for their own purposes. They may have found some way to tame the nest." John kept his gaze fixed on the kappa, lest his glance toward Yuki give away her little lie. She must have wanted to keep the fact that they believed that a Greater Nameless was behind this infestation, but why?

Now that he thought of it, the Nameless should still not know of their suspicions about a Greater Nameless controlling their numbers, in theory. Did she perhaps fear it would get back to the shadowy spiders? It could provoke a greater, more hostile response before they were prepared.

"I know a few spots," the kappa slowly began, scratching the side of his head.

"My memory's a bit spotty, though. I'm an old man, and it gets hard to remember sometimes."

"Greedy fool, people are dying!" Rin cut in, only to be silenced by a quick look from Yuki.

"I'm taking a lot of risk here!" he gasped, putting a hand to his chest.

"A few of those guys took shots at me, and it's a terribly traumatic memory to relive! Besides, the forest's seen worse than them, and they're really annoying, but they can't swim." John stepped forward, putting down the basket of fresh produce, which pointedly not an apology gift.

"Perhaps you'd like some fresh produce from my fields?" The yokai quickly looked between John and the basket, clearly trying to not linger on it for too long, lest he give away just how much he wanted it. After a long moment, he lipped the edges of his weird muzzle-beak thing like one might lick their lips and nodded. John still hated that he had teeth, too.

The Nameless might think that Yuki could call down some more substantial power to deal with that threat, assuming they still believed her a member of the yokai nobility in good standing. It didn't sound like Nameless hives were often left to their own devices, after all. Even if they didn't attack their little band directly, they might try to flatten all the local towns to get as much wealth as possible to beef up their numbers, and…

Well, John doubted they could hold for more than a few minutes against such a force. It'd be scoured to the bone, and every man, woman, and child torn apart at best. The militia would be swept aside like leaves before a storm. The only form of non-yokai superhuman forces in the area were the undead the tax collectors had, which would likely be used to defend their own numbers at best, assuming it didn't know, and the priests, who he had no idea how helpful they would be.

Rin said something about being baffled about why they would pose him a problem as he wasn't a yokai, didn't she? Perhaps they had some sort of counter techniques that would be useful, but he doubted there were enough of them to hold the line, if they could even respond in time. They seemed to stay at some sort of temple or shrine out of town, so even if they could somehow sense it, the damage would be done by the time they showed up.

Or, perhaps Yuki was worried about the news of a Greater Nameless making its way back to the yokai nobility, with countless implications he could not guess at, but he was sure none were good.

"... And past the fifth bend, there's a little alcove, it was dug out and hasn't quite healed yet, so it's a pretty good fishing spot. Haven't seen anyone there for a few months, but someone keeps digging it out, so it has to be getting used," the kappa rattled off. John had entirely spaced out. He hoped that Yuki had gotten that.

"Thank you. We'll check these… dozen or so spots. Perhaps they'll hold what we seek. If not, we shall return again. Perhaps you'll remember some more?" Although gentle, he could feel the hidden barb behind her statement, an unspoken 'do not screw us over on this' was evident, even to him. The turtle yokai grunted, "You won't have to, if your lead is good. That's all the spots I've seen armed people fishing on this river in the last few months."

"Then our business is concluded… But I believe Rin has a proposal for you," Yuki said, with an amused lilt as she stepped back and the dragon woman stepped forward. She still seemed frazzled by the earlier revelations, but that self-assured smile and bearing had begun to return. It stopped short of egotistical, but well within the realm of confident as she strutted forth with undeniable swagger.

"You, Kappa! This Nagahama Rin challenges you!" Rin, as usual, was loud, bombastic, and felt like she was trying to make sure anyone in the back row of a theatre could hear her. She raised a pointer finger, pointing it to the sky for some reason beyond him.

"I wager four months of servitude, where my will shall be as yours, after the matter of the Nameless is resolved." What? Were they going to fight? He should probably stop this. If Rin got hurt… well, that would be much less firepower in the coming days or weeks. Still, seeing her risk that much time felt strange, even if it didn't crack the top five for the weirdest things he'd seen her do since they met a day ago. Was this how typical Unbound-yokai dealings go? He glowered at her, unamused.

"You called me heartless a few minutes ago. Why the hell would I even entertain that?" he grunted.

"When's the last time you had a cucumber? I believe I saw some in town last time I was there…" She trailed off, putting a finger to her lips in overdramatic mock thought.

"Deal," the kappa immediately stated, " but we won't be fighting. It'll be shōgi." Wait, wasn't that kinda… Japanese chess? The kappa had mentioned it before, but John wasn't the most familiar. There weren't exactly oodles of board games kicking around the fort.

"I accept!" Rin loudly stated, and the kappa took a deep breath before disappearing back underwater. Why the yokai took a breath when he could breathe underwater was beyond him. John didn't say anything at first, unsure what to say as to object without giving himself away.

"Shōgi?" he finally asked.

"This kappa mentioned shōgi buddies to me in the past, and is a few centuries old. He probably is very good."

"I believe in myself, Sensei!" she beamed. Well, at least that made one of them. Soon enough, the water-dwelling spirit burst out of the water again, taking deep, heaving breaths… and not having to throw up a bunch of water again. Ah! That's why he was holding in some air; that made sense. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized he'd be grumpy too if he had to cough up a couple of litres of fluid every time someone knocked on his door.

A heavily lacquered board was cradled under his arm, and a very porous bag, which dripped everywhere, was in his hand.

"Right, I take Sente and you take Gote," he said, plopping the board down on a table and dumping the pieces out, quickly setting up his side. Rin sat across from him, more… hesitantly setting up hers? That's not right. Was she having second thoughts? Little showed on her face, the same overconfident expression still painted there. Something didn't add up. Soon enough, they were both set up, and the kappa took the first move, sliding one of the front-line tiles forward.

Honestly, he didn't know how any of these things were supposed to move, and he was pretty much just along for the ride.

"Oi, 'Lord' John! Move to the side so you can't signal her!" the kappa said, and John jolted slightly, hurrying to where he saw Yuki standing now that he was paying more attention, to the back of the dragon-blooded. It was a minute before Rin slowly made a move, and something twinged in John's subconscious. The way she put her tile down was confident, but her movements were slow. Long-forgotten memories of pool halls started to arise from the depths of time. Hold on. Was she hustling him?

The kappa scoffed and moved another piece. The same pattern repeated, with Rin "considering" her move for a long time, and gently sliding a piece. Sometimes, she pretended to hesitate. Other times, her hand hovered over a piece for a long time before selecting another. A quick glance at Yuki revealed a gentle, unworried smile on her face, and John had no doubt that she saw the same. He watched the poor yokai get hustled by Rin of all people, Rin! He had the edge at first, and he may have been a better player, too…

but many of his moves seemed incredibly aggressive to his uneducated eye. The turning point came when he fell face-first into some sort of trap, throwing what must have been an aggressive piece into a trap, even if it took two more turns to actually take the piece properly. He blanched and looked at her in a new light. What were initially quick moves became a lot more cautious, and now that the ruse was up, Rin's moves came a lot faster, too.

It was strange to see pieces reenter the game on the side of the capturer, but the momentum of the match quickly swapped from a stalemate to an absolute slaughter. He didn't think lizards could sweat, but apparently, kappa could. Not one word passed between them as he was herded and eradicated by the equivalent of a ditzy trust fund kid with protagonist syndrome. He fell back and groaned, swearing as the board state rapidly became completely untenable.

"I should have just taken the fight," he hissed out, followed by a string of swears that'd probably make a sailor blush as he jumped to his… feet, claws? What do you call turtle legs?

"I'll take my prize now, please, Sir Kappa," Rin calmly said, standing back up, holding up… that same finger she pointed up with again?

"Fine, fine!" he grumbled, throwing his hands up like a disappointed father.

"Last time I accept bets from Unbound, I swear…" He put a finger in his mouth. Wait, what was he doing? To his horror, the turtle yokai started violently biting his own finger. It was almost like he was trying to saw through it with how he brought his beak down again and again, working his jaw back and forth. Great, deep gouges were carved into his flesh, the knuckle bone clearly visible through all the blood. With a crunch, the kappa finally bit straight through. John felt sick.

Rin held her hands out, and the kappa spat his own finger into her waiting palms, and without flinching, she fished a small jar out of her pocket and dropped the bloody appendage in.

"Ugh, this is going to take forever to come back," the kappa complained, the wound's bleeding quickly stopping.

"Did you have to take that finger? That's one of my favourites!" John hated this universe so much.