DISCLAIMER: Look, you've waited three months for this, so let's just say I wrote this and get to the story. Now, go read!
Ikimashou!
RABBIT’S GAME 2: THREE REALMS
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Chapter Three – Reunited
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“Ahh…oishikatta!” Mizuko downed the last of the sake, which she used to wash down the large amount of fried tofu Eris had procured for her. “That’s why I love this prefecture so much—lots of worshippers, beautiful setting, great food…”
“Right, right…and a partridge in a pear tree,” an annoyed Eris mumbled. “Now that we’re done with the preliminaries, why don’t we get to the main event already?”
Mizuko’s eyes widened with glee. “My, my! It’s been ages since I’ve seen a woman so eager to be eaten!”
“What the hell are you babbling about? I’ve done what you asked—what your ‘rules’ asked—so now you are to obey me, not eat me!”
Eris’ outburst sent the kitsune into a pout. “But…don’t you want to be eaten?”
“Of course not! Why would I actually want to be eat—“ Then the light came on in Eris’ head, and she blushed profusely—a rare feat. “You are such a freak!”
“Hey,” the long-haired blonde replied nonchalantly. “One woman’s freak is another woman’s partner! I did tell you that you had to make an offering, did I not?”
“True…but you never said anything about offering my body to you?”
‘And spoil the surprise? Where’s the fun in that?” The kitsune leaned across the low table, so that she was within kissing distance of the goddess of strife. “It’s not such a bad deal, is it? You get my services, and you get me. All you have to do is give yourself over to me for a night, body and soul. When our little escapade with the nymphs is through, so will our contract. It’s as simple as that.”
Eris gave the furry-eared woman a cursory snarl, then a smile. She knew the fox-spirit was more conniving than she was letting on; being the conniving type herself, Mizuko’s little game excited her. “Now you and I both know it won’t be as simple as that. I’m sure there’ll be at least one more thing I’ll have to do to get out of our little deal, won’t there?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Mizuko said, returning Eris’ smile with a vulpine grin of her own. “In the meantime, what do you say to a little…dessert?”
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Misaki took another sip of morning tea before bringing her attention back to her laptop. She was hard at work putting together outlines for her next book, a re-working of the tale of Jason and the Argonauts. Being with Alexa proved to be a goddess-send for the petite brunette; her lover has also proven to be her muse, giving her all kinds of information about the Greek heroes and heroines both mythological and factual, and how those characters dealt with adversity, love, and in Jason’s case, an ironic death. At the moment, her attention was on a certain female Argonaut who traveled alongside Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece.
“…maybe I should have you compete with Jason for the love of Medea, my dear Atalanta,” the writer said to her laptop.
“Too bad Atalanta didn’t swing that way…”
Misaki didn’t even bother to turn around—she had become accustomed to Alexa’s backseat commentary, even when it seemed the redhead was nowhere to be found. She simply smiled to herself. “Speaking from personal experience, are we?”
Alexa’s eyes widened at the thought. “What? With her? No way! First of all, she wasn’t my type. Second, I’d have to beat her in a footrace just to get noticed by her…and I’m not exactly Hermes, y’know!”
“True…but there must have been at least one woman who was interested in her—or that she was interested in. She seemed to be too much of a tomboy to just be attracted to men.”
“Nope,” Alexa replied. “That one was as straight as Eros’ arrows. And many men died trying to beat her…she was more of a challenge than anything else. One man won, but not without Aphrodite’s help. So, even if some women were interested, they weren’t going to win against her…and I certainly didn’t want to die trying.”
“That is why being a writer is so much fun, Alexa-chan; I can make the impossible, possible.”
Alexa raised an eyebrow. “Even if it’s improbable?”
Misaki sighed the kind of sigh teachers make when their students don’t pay attention in class, complete with head-shaking and eye-rolling. “It is not a matter of probability, Alexa-chan, but of plausibility. If you can make someone believe something is true, or at least credible, then it will be so. I believe the reader should believe in your character’s ability to be what they are supposed to be, regardless of what came before. Even a superhero can be accepted to be evil for a time if the writer gives him a credible enough reason and a chance to reclaim his former self.”
“I see your point.” Alexa thought for a moment. “But that would all depend on the skill of the writer, and whether or not she made her characters believable…”
It was then that Misaki finally turned around to face her lover, giving the other woman a confident smile. “…And if they cannot believe the words of the demigoddess of Truth, who can they believe?”
Alexa laughed at her girlfriend. “What, you’re actually using that as your credentials now? ‘Written by Misaki Ohta, Dg.T.’?”
The writer joined in the laughter. “It does have a nice ring to it, does it not?” She turned back to her laptop, and her voice took on a slightly more serious tone. “I did not forget about last night, you know…”
That sudden mood change caught Alexa by surprise. “I was hoping you’d forgotten about that. Could we at least have breakfast first?”
Misaki saved her file, closed the laptop and left the room, beckoning to her girlfriend to follow. Alexa knew there was no getting out of it this time, short of a minor miracle.
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Kurumi watched as the eight redheads—and their black-haired sister—marched towards the entry gate at Mt. Olympus. Artemis followed the girls’ parade, making sure none of them decided to take a last-minute detour. Once everyone arrived at the arranged meeting place, Kurumi took a look at the entourage and sighed. “Whoa…where are we gonna put them all?”
“They will return here at night,” Artemis answered, “seeing as your home is not big enough for nine more girls.”
“We could stay in a love hotel!”
Everyone looked at Erato, who didn’t bother to blush. “What? I hear they’re very popular!”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Erato…as impossible as that is for you!” Kurumi gave Artemis a questioning look. “Can you get us all down okay?”
Calliope seemed to have the same idea. “We could have just gone through the fountain instead of coming here. I’m sure Urania would have pointed us in the right direction.”
“We’ll do it together,” the moon goddess answered. “Being water nymphs, they would normally use any good-sized water source, but I want to make sure they all stay together.” She ordered the girls to form a circle and link hands. As they did, she and Kurumi took each other’s hand to close the circle. “Now, Kurumi-chan, think of the place we need to be, and keep it in your mind. Then close your eyes.”
Clio and Thalia shouted wholeheartedly, “SAILOR TELEPORT!”
A loud groan erupted from the circle, even the silent Terpsichore stomped her foot in displeasure. “Hey, it wasn’t my fault this time,” Thalia protested. “Clio made me do it!”
The muse of heroic poetry stood with a proud grin. “You have to admit, it was missing a little something, right?”
Kurumi did as she was told—trying really hard not to laugh--and soon the group was enveloped in Artemis’ moonlight.
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Misaki blinked at her girlfriend in disbelief. “This must be some kind of twisted joke, Alexa-chan! All this ‘could be’ and ‘might be’…I know the future is changeable, but why warn us without concrete evidence?”
“Probably because that ‘concrete evidence’ isn’t set in, well, concrete just yet…at least until something triggers my vision.”
Not happy with that answer, the herald tried a different tack. “Why did Amaterasu-sama not come to me? Maybe I could have used the Light of Truth to get more precise answers…”
“That could be why she didn’t tell you—you probably would have tried to jump the gun; we could try to prevent something from happening, only to create a bigger problem. It seems to me that it’s a matter of timing.”
Misaki smiled. “I do believe I am rubbing off on you, Alexa-chan! That does make sense. Even so, I wonder what that trigger will be, and why someone would want to expose you?”
“Like the song says, ‘people are strange’. I’m sure whoever it is has some strange reason, but we’ll take care of it…I’m sure of that.” Alexa tried to put on a brave face, but her girlfriend knew better.
“That we will, Alexa-chan…and do not worry—we were promised forever. It is not like the gods—neither yours nor mine—to take back a promise such as that.” Misaki gathered up the breakfast dishes and brought them to the sink. “I would not forgive them if they did,” she said quietly.
Alexa stared at her lover in wonder. She may not look it, the redhead thought, but Misaki had wisdom well beyond her years, as well as a quiet strength that belied her short stature.
‘To give me such a gift, only to take it away, would be the cruelest fate of all.’
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Akihito sat alone on the roof of the Asahi Post, eating his store-bought lunch. “For once, I’d like to have even a half-decent homemade bento.” He was about to bite into yet another boring sandwich when a shadow blocked the blazing sunlight in which he was basking.
“Such a pity,” the owner of the shadow snickered. “All the knowledge in the world at your fingertips, yet you don’t know how to make a decent lunch.”
The researcher looked up to see Mizuko standing before him. Even silhouetted by the sun, he didn’t know any other fox spirits who knew him personally. “Let me guess…you’ve come to collect on our trade, right?”
“That’s what I like about you, Akihito—right to the point!” Mizuko took a seat beside the bespectacled young man. “I have met a rather nice young woman,” she began with a smile. “One who can help you with your…task. All you have to do is make sure what we seek is available, and what the safeguards around it are. Once you do that, she will do the rest.”
Akihito raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Meaning I don’t have to steal it myself, right?”
“I never intended you to do so in the first place. Like I told you, I just wanted the information on how to get it. That’s your job, and that’s why you have the connections you do.” The kitsune looked at an omelet roll and drooled. “You’re not going to eat that, are you?”
Akihito waved her on, watching the blonde stuff the food into her mouth. “And what about when I’m done? Will I still be able to keep my sources?”
“Fair is fair…just let me know when you have what I need.”
“So I’m guessing that you already know it’s not in one of the National Treasure Shrines. That would be too easy, and you wouldn’t need my help at all.”
Mizuko laughed, choking on a bit of the omelet for a second before regaining her composure. “Bingo! We both know they do that for the tourists…and to keep the real treasures away from the locals who might be fool enough to try stealing it.”
“And even if they did find out where it’s supposed to be, it might not even be there. That’s the trouble with mythological weapons, isn’t it?”
“That’s why I have you and…well, you’ll meet her later.—ooh, cookies!--You’ll find out where it’s supposed to be, and if it’s there, she’ll do the rest. Just do your part, and don’t worry about the rest.”
His lunch half gone, another thought crossed Akihito’s mind. “If you don’t mind my asking, Mizuko-san…what are you going to do with it? You can’t sell it, and I’m pretty sure you can’t use it. Hell, it’s a legend for kami’s sake! It might not even be--”
Sharp eyes met bewildered ones as Mizuko bore her fangs at Akihito. “That is not your concern. Just get me the information I want. Failure to do so will cost you more than your sources…do you understand?”
“I…get it,” Akihito answered nervously. He got up from his seat and bowed to the fox-spirit. “Until next time, then…” With that, the researcher turned on his heels and quickly headed for the stairwell.
Mizuko watched him go, then stared off into the distance. “All is going according to plan, Orochi-sama. You won’t have to wait much longer.”
“I have waited long enough,” a dark voice hissed in reply.
Mizuko noticed the half-eaten bento. “Aww…he left the rest of his lunch! Oh well…waste not, want not!”
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“Tadaima!”
Misaki recognized the sound of her sister’s entrance, and greeted her before the latter could get her shoes off. “Welcome home, Ku-chan! I have missed you so!”
After receiving a warm hug from her sister, Kurumi smiled and looked around. “I missed you too, Mi-chan. Where’s your girlfriend? I’d figure you two would spend every waking moment with each other.”
“She is upstairs cleaning up. And what of Phoebe-chan? Has she returned with you?”
“Oh, yeah…about that…” Kurumi took her sister’s hand and led her out the front door and to the backyard, ignoring Misaki’s bemused look. “We’ve brought some company with us.”
Misaki looked at the nine girls surrounding Artemis, and smiled. “So, Ku-chan…why was I not invited to the wedding?”
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Alexa took one more look at her red notebook, noting that a river was due to overflow in China in a couple of weeks. “Maybe we should go there next week to warn the smaller villages.” She smiled for a moment at how things had been going between her and Misaki. “We,” she said to herself. “I’ll never get tired of the sound of that!” She put the notebook back in the bag with its green-covered twin, and started to exit the room when the sound of boisterous laughter broke out. “Now that’s different…” The tall redhead left the room and bounded down the stairs, heading for the new sound.
She followed the sound to the backyard, where Artemis and Kurumi stood back to back, both wearing severe blushes. Her eyes then met Misaki’s, the smaller girl shrugging her shoulders innocently. Before she could question what caused such embarrassment, she was swarmed by the source of the laughter.
“CASSANDRA!!” Clio was the first to notice the redhead, and led the charge toward her. “How long has it been? And look at you! You’re so beautiful!”
“Beautiful? She’s sexy! Look at those brea—“ Erato’s comments were quickly hushed by the usually reserved Polyhymna, who practically tackled the love muse in order to silence her.
Thalia couldn’t help a jab of her own. “Yup, she looks damn fine for a woman of her age…but then, there aren’t any other women her age!”
“Don’t mind them, Lady Cassandra…it has been so long since we’ve heard from you, we’ve practically turned you into a legend.”
“My apologies, Calliope…and it’s Alexa now.” The taller redhead’s smile became even broader when Terpsichore gave her a most graceful bow. “And hello to you too, Terpsichore. Why are you all here?”
“For the shopping!” Clio chimed in. “Do you know how hard it is to get good anime in Greece?”
Urania ignored the comment. “Actually, we are here to learn Japan’s culture…but I am sure there will be more importance placed on this excursion before we’re through.”
“Oh…this trip is sure to end in tears,” Melpommene sobbed.
“Such a drama queen…” Calliope walked over and draped her arm around the gothic muse. “Don’t mind her, Lady Cass—er, Lady Alexa. She’s always like this.”
“As Misaki would say, ‘shou ga nai deshou’—it can’t be helped.” Alexa waited for a nod of approval from her smiling girlfriend before continuing. “She is the muse of drama, after all. And she might be right; something’s due to happen soon, but I’m not exactly sure what.”
Before Calliope could ask what that something was, she felt a tug at her robe. It was Terpsichore, who was rubbing her own stomach.
“I did not know muses got hungry,” Misaki said, smiling at the silent muse. “Come with me, I am sure we can find something you will like.” Terpsichore let go of Calliope’s hand and took Misaki’s, and the two of them entered the house.
Artemis took a seat on the steps next to Alexa, leaving Kurumi to tend to the remaining muses. “I have spoken to Zeus this morning. He informed me that the Lady Amaterasu has spoken to him, and that I was not to divulge what we spoke of. I am sure you already have an idea of what this is about, so I will tell you this much—I will not allow any harm to come to you or Misaki-san…or to Kurumi-chan.”
Alexa let the words sink in. “Thank you, Artemis. That means a lot to...” She lifted her head and caught the moon goddess’ blush. “Don’t worry, ‘Phoebe-chan’,” she teased with a smile, “I won’t say a word.”
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A rising tone tore Akihito’s attention away from his desk reference book for a moment. It was his computer—a message awaited his reply:
“THETA: Possible location confirmed. Possibility of actual existence: high. Awaiting further instructions.”
“ALPHA: Send.”
‘This is good news,’ he thought to himself. ‘One down, one to go.’ He closed the computer and headed to the main workroom…and the file cabinet of Kurumi Ohta.
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End of Chapter Three
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