kai yukimara [rewriting]

10: Magic Tea

After the fight, Stiles was brought back to our house. Our mother brought him chamomile tea. "Here, it'll calm you" Mom sat the tray down in front of him. "What is it?" Stiles looked in the cup. "Tea" She sat down. "What? Like Magic tea?" He asked and I snickered. I don't even know how I managed to laugh after losing my friend. "No, chamomile tea. Drink it" She said and he instantly picked it up. "He's not safe here" Dad said. "He's not safe anywhere" I retorted. "But Allison killed one of them. Doesn't that mean something? She killed an oni" Kira asked. "Is that even possible?" Stiles asks. "I saw it with my own eyes" I said. "I'm not sure how" Mom said. "But she did it. She killed one of them" Kira said. "Yeah, and then they killed her" I said solemnly. "Now I guess the only good thing is it looks like I'm dying, too" Stiles said.

"He made a powerful move by splitting the two of you" Mom said. "So what's our move?" He asks. "At this point, you need a divine move" She said. "What's that?" He asked. "In the game of Go, it's what we call a truly, inspired, or out-of-the-box move. The Nogitsune has had sente, the advantage, until this point. What you need is a divine move in order to turn the game around" Mom explained. "Okay, so is anyone feeling divinely inspired?" Stiles asks. "Mom, you said you trapped it in a glass jar, right?" I ask. "It wasn't the jar that trapped it. It was where I buried it" She said. "The Nemeton" Kira says. "A place I don't know too much about" Mom says. "Who does?" I ask. "Deaton" She responds.

Deaton informed us that we have to use the sword our mother used to kill the Nogitsune
years ago. Then we have to trap the fly like Satomi did. We all arrived at the school. "You have to let me die if it's the price of killing the Nogitsune" Stiles said. "The plan is to save you and that's the plan I'm going with" Scott said before opening the doors. All of a sudden, we were in a snow covered Japanese garden. I saw writing on the wall and brushed the snow off so I could read it. "Anata ga shinu tokorodesu" I read. "What does it say?" Lydia asked. "This is where you die" I tightened my grip on my katana. The Nogitsune walked in completely bandaged and dressed in a brown leather bomber jacket. This must've been Rhys body.

"Like I promised, Stiles. We're going to kill all of them. One by one" The Nogitsune said. Oni began to appear all around us causing me and Kira to raise our katanas. "What the hell is this?" Lydia asks. "Where are we?" Kira asks. "Between life and death" He says. "Bardo" Lydia states. "But there are no deceitful deities here, Lydia. You're dying, Stiles. And now everyone you care about is dying, too" he said. "What? What do you mean?" Stiles asks. "I've captured almost all of the territories on the board, Stiles. The hospital. The sheriff's station. And now the animal clinic" The Nogitsune says. Stiles cries out in pain. He doesn't have much more time. "Do you know the ritual of seppuku, Stiles?" He asks.

"No, and I don't want to" Stiles said. "When a samurai disembowels himself with his own sword to maintain his honor, but that's not the cut that kills him. The killing stroke is made by his kaishakunin, who beheads the samurai with his own katana" the Nogitsune says. "Scott... Scott is your kaishakunin" I figure out. "I'm going to make your best friend kill you, Stiles. And you're going to let him. Because just like you, they're all going to die. Everyone touched by an Oni's blade. Unless Scott kills you first" He says. "Why? Why are you doing this?" Lydia asked. "To win the game" the Nogitsune says and the Oni's started to close in. Lydia pulled Stiles back into the corner while the rest of us prepared to fight. We each took on two Oni as the Nogitsune watched.

"How is this happening? How are we even in this place?" Kira yelled. "You're asking me? A month ago, I'd never even touched a sword" I yell back. "This can't be real" She said. "Yeah tell that to them" I kicked one away from me. Stiles began to walk towards the fight. "Stiles, no" Lydia tried to pull him back. "What if it saves you? What if it saves all of you? What if it's just another trick? No more tricks, Lydia" Stiles says. "End it, Scott. Let your friend fall on his own sword. Do for him what he cannot due from himself. Do it, Scott. Be his kaishakunin. Give up the game. You have no moves left" the Nogitsune taunted. "I do. A divine move. Stop fighting them. It's an illusion. You have to stop fighting them. It looks real and it feels real, but Scott, you gotta trust me" Stiles said.

Scott looked at us and we stopped fighting. The Oni got into two lines as Kira and I dropped our katanas. We walked through them as they slashed us with their swords. One cut from my ear to my eye. It's not real, I had to keep telling myself. But it felt so real. I swore that I was bleeding out. We pushed through the doors and we were back at school. And we were fine. "We're okay. We're.." Kira said before the Nogitsune Stiles slammed her head against a wall. "Not again" I tried to raise my Katana before he punched me in the jaw, knocking me out. It only lasted for a few seconds. I wasn't fully unconscious but I was pretty out of it. I managed to lightly shake Kira. "We have to get up" I murmured, blood pouring from my jaw.

She stirred before being able to sit up. She hit Scott a few times before he got up. I don't even know what happened to him. I was able to stand up and grab my katana, leaning on its blade for support. "You can kill the Oni. But me? Me? I'm a thousand years old. You can't kill me!" The Nogitsune yelled. "But we can change you" Lydia said. "What?" He says. "You forgot about the scroll. The Shugendo Scroll" Stiles said. "Change the host. You can't be a fox, and a wolf" Lydia says. Scott comes from behind and grabs the Nogitsune's arm, biting  him. The Nogitsune screams out in pain as Kira and I both hold onto our mother's katana, shoving it through his chest. "For Allison" I whisper in his ear. I watch in joy as he cracks into a million pieces and a fly flies out of the pile. Isaac catches the fly in a wooden box made out of the Nemeton and closes it.

It's over.
It's finally over.