Cold-Blooded: A DC Universe Fanfiction (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 23: Rose, Yukie, Kitaro: A Few Revelations

Back at the ryokan, after a delicious meal, half of which Rose couldn't identify, she retired to her room, where she looked up Abe Hiroshi. She had to admit she could understand why Yukie had had a crush on him back in the day and maybe even still a little now. Why weren't there more Asian leading men in American movies and TV shows? Some of them were just as hot as any Hollywood hunk. Yet—how long ago had 'back in the day' been for Yukie? Abe Hiroshi was now fifty years old. Of course, that didn't mean anything. You could have a crush on somebody who died before you were born, or somebody who never even existed, like a fictional character. But would you also know so much about what fan magazines—teen magazines—said about him? If Yukie had been age appropriate for those magazines when Abe Hiroshi was Japanese girls' most wanted guy, then she was…over forty?

Huh.

After that, she looked on Amazon for a book about yokai, and found an e-book translated into English that was something like a field guide. There were even more than Yukie had mentioned, and for a while Rose read up on creatures like the kappa, a water spirit with a taste for both cucumbers and human entrails, but which was so polite that if you bowed to it, it bowed back, spilling the water atop its head that was the source of its strength, so then you could defeat it. There were talking futons, teapots that could turn into badgers, or vice versa, and nearly a hundred others…Rose could feel she was getting sleepy, so she found the section on Yuki-Onna and read that before she turned off the lights.

Yuki-Onna had more powers than were revealed in Kwaidan, it seemed. In addition to the cold-based powers one would expect, like causing blizzards, shooting icicles as missiles, and flash freezing victims by breathing on them, they were also able to either create illusions out of snow and ice or cloud people's minds to lead them astray to their deaths. They were  strong enough to pick up a man much bigger than they were and lift him up over their heads to throw him around, if necessary. When they transformed into a gust of wind, they were invisible and imperceptible, except as a blast of icy cold air. Some accounts said they stole a victim's life essence when they froze them solid.

All of that was only during the colder months, however. When it was warm, they were much weaker—logical enough. Since they were susceptible to heat, in summer they needed all their remaining powers just to stay alive.

But just as the tale of the woodcutter said, Yuki-Onna also had a nurturing and protective side. If moved to compassion, they not only spared people but led them out of danger or even defended them, especially if they were young children. Or guys they fancied. They often came out of the mountains to marry and live among humans—there were no males of their species, as Yuki-Otoko (snow men) were basically yeti and came in both genders, so they had to take human men as lovers or husbands if they wanted to have children. Since Yuki-Onna were tall, stayed youthful, and were always described as having beautiful skin, they had no trouble finding spouses.

Rose wondered Yukie had any Yuki-Onna on her list of things to see and investigate. She'd quite like to see one…

She turned off her computer, then the light, and soon fell asleep.

In the suite next door, Yukie modeled the new ski jacket for her beloved over nothing at all. He showed his appreciation in the logical way, to the delight of both, and then he fell asleep as men were prone to do post-coitus. Yukie was left awake for a time, torn between happiness and apprehension. For so long she had been able to fool herself, if not Slade, into believing she could keep having sex with him and that it still meant nothing more to either of them. Not any longer…

Eventually, she too slept.

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In the ryokan's lovely pocket garden, the young man who Saori had captured in the background of the group selfie taken at the shrine watched as the lights went out in the respective rooms. He was the one with russet hair tipped with ivory, whose face was clever and fox-like, and his name was Kitaro.

'It'll be easy', they said. 'All you have to do is make sure is that the Princess of Snow makes it up Mount Hakkoda safe and sound before the vernal equinox. That isn't until late March, it's only January, and she'll be drawn to it inexorably anyhow. It'll be like making water run downhill. You'll just be on hand in case something unforeseen happens, and you'll have your promotion in no time.'

Yah, right. Except that since it was January, the water he was supposed to make flow downhill was frozen. And her grandmother, who was supposed to be the one to make that journey, had over two hundred years to do it and had successfully resisted the call, so it could be done.

Nobody had said she was going to have company, let alone a huge foreigner who looked like he was wearing a yoke under his coat until you realized his shoulders really were that broad. Kitaro had seen bigger, but he'd never fought bigger and he didn't relish the idea of trying to get Lady Snowblood (Yah, he'd taken the name from a movie. It was too appropriate not to.) away from him. Everything about him screamed 'Apex Predator'!

Nor had anybody said there was a girl along as well, one so pretty she knocked Kitaro sideways. She was obviously the big foreigner's daughter, but the question was, was she Lady Snowblood's as well? How long had the Lady been gone from Japan? The girl—Rose?—was nearly an adult. Lady Snowblood's branch of the extended family did tend to reach fertility early, the result of having to breed with humans, but she was probably a bit young to be having a baby of her own yet, let alone be the mother of a girl that age. So Rose wasn't of the Blood. Too bad.

And then there was the green-skinned kid who could shapeshift. What was he? It was said that foxes had seven shifter forms, badgers had eight shifter forms, and weasels had nine shifter forms. Thus far he'd seen the kid be a mouse, a human, a gull, and a parakeet. How many more forms did he have? Now Greenie was lost in Tokyo and huddled up with other parakeets for warmth, picking up a bird mite infestation while he was there. He wasn't Kitaro's problem, though, which was good, as Lady Snowblood's consort and adoptive daughter were likely to be more than enough trouble.

The problem was, the extended family's information network was puny compared to what was possible these days. 'We don't want to lose our identity,' was their response when he and some of the other younglings suggested they learn how to use phones and computers. That might have been enough to quiet him when he was three hundred, but he was three hundred and fifty years old now, and that excuse wouldn't fly anymore. Why shouldn't yokai become a little more like humans? Humans were becoming more and more like yokai all the time, with the powers they were developing these days.

His job would sure be easier if he knew where Lady Snowblood and her companions were planning to go and how long they were planning to stay.

Then it struck him. All he needed to do was strike up an acquaintance with Rose. He knew she was friendly—he'd seen her with the two local girls. She was also nice, as she had bought the poorer one a prayer placard, and intelligent, too—how many foreigners spoke such perfect Japanese? She already knew people with unusual characteristics, so she wouldn't freak out if she met somebody else with a few quirks.

But how to go about meeting her? Sure, he was what girls considered cute, in his human form or his fox form, but that wasn't necessarily enough and these days if you approached a human as a fox, they didn't think, 'Oh, it's a kitsune', they thought, 'RABIES!' Then you had all sorts of problems…

The green-skinned kid! He was the answer. Kitaro could track him down, talk to him, 'help' him find his friends, and claim an introduction that way. Not tonight, though. He'd wait a day or two until the kid was really missed and really desperate.

Smiling, Kitaro took on his fox form, which had particularly handsome russet fur and four long, luxurious tails. Not for much longer, though. Once Lady Snowblood got to Mount Hakkoda, he'd have a fifth.

The yokai leapt up to the inn's roof, then over to the next building, and scouted his way over the Tokyo rooftops, intent on the trail of 'Greenie'. Best to keep an eye on where he was, make sure he wasn't eaten by anything or anyone…  

A/N: So have you put the pieces together? I was going to do this more subtly, spin out the mystery of what or who Kitaro is longer, and what Yukie actually is, but you know what? I seem to be writing this for three people, Tevinter of our Discontent, SwordStitcher, and myself, so fuck it. I'm doing the reveal.