I pressed a hand to my hammering chest as I stared at him. “Is that a good thing or a badthing?”
“A good thing.” Raiden picked up the same charm I’d dropped. It had gone back to its faint glow from before, and what’s more, it didn’t react to his touch. “The fact that the charm responded to you means that you reallyareayokaishaman. No one in the Takaoka Clan has ever been able to harness the power inside these charms. You’ll be the first to use them in at least two thousandyears.”
There was an odd note in his voice—almost as if he was both amazed and disappointed. But my mind latched onto something else he’d said, and my mouth dropped open in shock. “Doesn’t that make these ancient artifacts? They should be inmuseums!”
“Some of them were,” Raiden said darkly. “Our family has been recovering them over the centuries. You don’t think we could leave such powerful objects in the hands of normal humans, could you? That’s just a recipe fordisaster.”
“But I thought humans can’t use these?” I asked, confused. “What’s theharm?”
“Yeah, but funny things tend to happen when you leave objects like these around. That’s why they were kept locked up.” He tapped on the box. “Pick a charm. Whichever one calls you the most. We’re going to summon your firstyokai.”
Sweat broke out on the small of my back. “I don’t think I’m ready forthis.”
Raiden sighed. “Like Mamoru said, the concept isn’t going to be very different from what a normal shaman does.” He unhooked his keychain from his belt and held it up. “These are tiny mortuary tablets,” he said, holding up three tiny rectangular stone pieces with Japanese characters carved on them. They instantly began to glow brighter in his hand—not quite as bright as theyokaicharm, but close. “This one here,” he said, picking up the middle stone, “is the one Katsu sleeps in when I’m not using it. The other two have differentspirits.”
I frowned. “So you’re saying that the spirits sleep inthem?”
Raiden nodded. “They need a place to relax when I’m not using them and when they’re not wandering around. That would usually be their graves, but since those are far away, we use the mortuary tablets.” He tapped the side of Katsu’s tablet.“Mezame,”heintoned.
The tablet flashed, and Katsu appeared, sword in hand.“Where is the danger?”he demanded, sweeping the room with a penetrating glare. His eyes narrowed as he saw me, and he raised his sword.“Is ither?”
“No!”Raiden jumped to his feet.“Calm down, Katsu. Aika isn’t an enemy. We’retraining.”
“Oh.”Katsu lowered his sword, looking disappointed. It would have been comical if I wasn’t in such a bad mood.“So what do you want me todo?”
“What you do best, of course.”Smirking, Raiden crossed the room. He took a heavy woodenbokkenfrom its mount on the wall and gave it a few experimentalswings.
Katsu huffed.“Your form isterrible.”
“Well excuse me for not being a thousands-year-old samurai.” Raiden tucked the sword into his belt, then clasped his hands together.“Maji,”he commanded, power beginning to glow from his body. His ponytail began to swing, even though there was no wind, and the ends of his button-down shirt rustled.Merge, he’dsaid.
Katsu’s form swirled into a fiery ball and shot across the room to Raiden’s waiting palm. He grabbed the ghost, and I gasped as he slammed it into the center of his chest. Dark redkiflared around him as he absorbed the spirit. His eyes snapped open, blazing with the same orange fire asbefore.
“A paltry weapon,”Katsu said, his deep voice coming out of Raiden’s throat as he drew thebokkenfrom Raiden’s belt.“But it is better than the broom handle.”He turned his imperious gaze to me.“Bring that flimsy punching bag to the center of theroom.”
Swallowing, I did as the ghost asked. Even though he was in Raiden’s body, he was still intimidating as hell—his presence was immensely powerful, which I guess was only to be expected for someone who had been adaimyo. A row of freestanding punching bags were lined up against the wall, and I picked the smallest one, which looked like it was the easiest tocarry.
“Not that one,”Katsu scoffed as I began to roll it.“Do I look like a weakling toyou?”
“No, but I am.”Finding my courage, I met the samurai’s gaze steadily. “If you want a bigger one, get ityourself.”
Katsu/Raiden’s nostril’s flared at the insolent tone in my voice.“If you were a servant, I would have you whipped forthat.”
“It’s a good thingyou’rethe servant, then, instead of the master,”I said lightly, standing the punching bag up. I stepped away, giving him plenty of space. “Now are you going to hit it, or are you alltalk?”
Katsu laughed, a deep, surprisingly warm sound that threw me off.“I like you,”he said, raising his sword.“There is fire in yoursoul.”
He moved then, a blur of motion my eyes barely followed. One moment he was standing ten feet from the bag, and then he was right next to it, his sword plowing into the faux leather with a loudcrack. The bag tore open, cotton gushing everywhere as Katsu sliced almost completely throughit.
“Hmph.”Katsu withdrew the sword and slid it back into Raiden’s belt in one smooth motion.“We should have used the katana.”He gestured to one of the sheathed swords hanging on thewall.
“I’ll take that under advisement,”Raiden said, taking control.“Sanshutsu,”he ordered, placing a hand against his chest.Yield.
Raiden’s chest flared bright red as Katsu was expelled in a burning ball of light. It hovered there for a moment before reforming into the ancientsamurai.
“I am retiring for the evening,” Katsu declared imperiously. “Do not call on me again unless there is realdanger.”
He disappeared back into the mortuary tablet with another flash oflight.
