Ryuichi manifested a sword out of the shadows. “I’ve got this. Stand aside. I can protect you.”
Great time for the dark yokai to abandon them, and for Ryuichi to suddenly become noble again. All the kid could do was die against a horde of evil. “You’re not trained to battle them.”
Those words had barely left his lips before Ryuichi caught the first shadow and flung it back. The next one he actually grabbed and held on to.
Koichi’s jaw went slack as he turned toward Keiko. “Did you know he had those powers?”
She shook her fox head.
Ryuichi stood in the center of the shadows as they drew up short, now respectful of their prince.
Until something came out of the dark to tackle the boy. Koichi barely had time to register the attack as Ryuichi was tumbled several feet away from him.
He rushed after the two of them, trying to figure out what had happened. Who had grabbed the kid.
Whatever it was, it allowed the shadows to rejoin the fray. They rushed in to attack him and his companion.
“Keiko?”
“I don’t know what to do either.” She stood by helplessly.
Koichi closed his eyes, trying to use what little magic he still had from his training, but it failed him miserably. It’d been too many years and too many failures.
Not even his sword wanted to absorb the shadows now.
C’mon. You can’t fail this kid.
He’s depending on you. And if he didn’t do something fast, Ryuichi would be killed.
But that was easier said than done. He felt so alone. All he had on his side was a young kitsune and an untrained child.
I’m too old for this. Even his bones ached.
“Sensei!”
That one word tore through him like a dagger. It reminded him of the man he’d once been and the students he’d sworn to defend. Students like Ryuichi. Like it or not, he was a samurai.
More than that, he was a sensei.
Determination choked him as he began to fight what he knew was a hopeless battle.
“I’m here, runt. I’ll never leave you.”
Ryuichi heard those heartfelt words and was strengthened by them. He felt the shadows trying to take hold of him. Possess him. It ached in ways he wouldn’t have thought possible. “How do I fight them?”
“The light. It controls them and holds them back.” Keiko had transformed into her human form to battle them. “It will weaken them too. Think of what brightens your heart. Don’t let them inside you or your thoughts.”
“What warms you, kid?” Koichi asked.
Ryuichi tried to think. He had so few things in his life that made him happy.
But there was one...
Closing his eyes, he thought of his friends. Those who had fought with him, even when they had no reason to.
His broken brothers of the Kai-dan, and Kato, Takara, Pim, Mikito... even Toshi.
And Masaru.
