Eitsu's Nine Lives (永津の九生) [yuri/GL yokai reincarnation story]

5 - Rei

CW: NSFW. A bit of horror.

Thanks to Kogata on Royal Road for the scribble of Rei.

***

Tsubaki sighed and closed her eyes. "I apologise, this is..." She frowned and emptied her teacup, turning it in her hand once she was done. Servants of the performance troupe, mostly young girls in training to become dancers, scurried quietly in the distance as the packing continued. Eitsu's golden eyes watched the back and forth of the red kanzashi in her hair as her head moved. Camellias.

Tsubaki produced a small object from within her sleeves. "There's an illegal trade in legendary animal goods and services. Sometimes at banquets, rich foo- clients try to impress me by bragging about things they own. Once or twice one of them has mentioned the... fur rug they have, made from the pelt of a mountain god. Or a wealth charm holding the bones of a hikyuu.

"I didn't believe it at first, but after my performance last night, one of the patrons gave me this..." The item she held in her hand was a small badge. It was extremely simple, a black circle with a gold rim and the shape of a fox's face in the middle, also in gold. "He said that the organisation that owned this badge could procure rare animals and... parts, at a price. He had a hakyuja bracelet hiding in his sleeve."

"Who are you?"

Golden eyes met dark brown. Tsubaki frowned. "What do you mean, exactly?"

Without a word, Eitsu stood and stalked from the room.

It took a moment before she remembered that Mitsui Toi had kicked her out, so she aimlessly stalked the narrow streets, feeling light-headed. Annoying thoughts kept intruding her mind - What had happened to her, in her previous lives? Who was Tsubaki really? Was it mere coincidence that a customer just 'happened' to tell her about a black market for legendary animals, just after the two of them had met?

Who are you to me?

People walking past her on the street gave her a wide berth. She was an attractive young person provocatively dressed in only an inner robe, but an intense energy permeated the air around her, making people shake and twitch oddly. Only the most stupid of people would approach her.

"Eitsu-dono?"

And yet the man who hesitantly called out her name looked anything but stupid. Not recognising the voice, Eitsu turned to look.

The owner of the voice was a tall man, easily a head taller than anyone else on the street, with an elegant form, his black robes flatteringly designed to emphasise his chest and shoulders, and long legs. His short hair was an unusual dark grey, with a hint of blue, but his appearance was that of someone in his late twenties or early thirties and a long fringe covered his left eye. The face under this hair was nothing short of attractive, dark smooth skin with high cheekbones, and the one visible eye was an unusual light brown, lazily lidded, and ringed with thick lashes. In absolute contrast to the slovenly-dressed Eitsu, he was well-covered, with an undershirt that reached up his neck, and a pair of cloth tekkou covered his hands.

In short, even Eitsu had to admit that this was an ikemen. His expression gently brightened as Eitsu turned. "Eitsu? Is it really you?" Gold glinted discretely about him. A single, plain ring on one hand. An undecorated bracelet on the other. A small, tear-drop shaped emerald at his ear. As she moved closer, she saw a tiny gold stud glitter at his nose.

He didn't rush forward, but half-held his arms out in tentatively welcome. "It's me, Rei. Do you... remember me?"

Eitsu approached cautiously, ignoring the curious looks of the people on the street. She stopped just shy of the man's reach.