Chapter Two: New Home
The house Nasuti bought was small but adequate. She had kept her original bedroom furniture; everything else was still packed in boxes. She knew where everything was. All Nasuti really needed access to was the refrigerator, stove, Shoji's crib and changing table, and her grandfather's computer.
Nasuti just put her six-month-old son down for his nap when she heard a knock at the front door. That must be Ito, Nasuti thought. She had invited her friend to come over and see the house. Nasuti opened the door, but instead of seeing Ito, Nasuti saw one of four people she had prayed that she would never see again.
"Hello, Nasuti," said Rajura.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to see how you and your baby are."
"Leave," Nasuti hissed.
"As you wish." Rajura walked off the porch.
"Rajura," Nasuti called, "how did you find us?"
"The shakujo is a remarkable piece." Rajura looked away for a moment, and then returned his gaze back to her. "Nasuti, if I came here to take your baby away, do you think I would have knocked?"
"No," she answered, "but then again, how do I know that?" Nasuti was still edgy around him. Rajura had tried to kill her as well as the other Ma Sho for interfering.
"I understand that you're not happy that we found you," Rajura said. "Nasuti, the moment Kayura told us that you were carrying Shuten's baby, we swore on his grave that we would protect his child. And we swear it to you, also."
For some reason, Nasuti believed him. "Do the Troopers know?"
"We haven't told them."
"Would you like to meet Shoji?"
"Shoji?" Rajura looked at quizzically.
Nasuti nodded. "My son."
"Hai," Rajura smiled, "I'd like that." He walked into the house and Nasuti led him to Shoji's crib. Rajura looked at the sleeping boy, noting that he had some of Shuten's features. He had no doubt that when the boy would start growing up, he would look like Shuten.
Rajura put his finger into Shoji's little palm and smiled as the little fingers closed around his. Shoji's eyes opened and he blinked at Rajura. "He has your eyes, Nasuti," Rajura said.
"I know," she said. "He looks like his father."
Rajura moved away from the crib. "I've noticed." He reached out to Nasuti's throat, catching the chain, pulling the locket out from underneath her sweater. He opened the locket, closed it, and let it go. "Are you going to tell him everything?" Rajura asked.
"Do I have much of a choice?" Nasuti looked at her son. "How else am I going to explain to him about his father or the rest of you?" She picked Shoji up and held him out to Rajura. He looked at Nasuti in surprise then took the baby from her. Rajura couldn't even remember ever being so careful as he now held Shoji.
"Hello, Shoji," Rajura said, "I knew your father. He was a good person." Rajura gave Shoji back to his mother. "Arigato," he said. "How did you know that I wouldn't take him?"
"I didn't," said Nasuti.
Rajura laughed slightly. "We won't take him away from you, Nasuti. That we have also sworn to Shuten." He bowed at them and left.
Nasuti sat down in the rocking chair. "You father knew some interesting people," she whispered to her son.
*****
Shoji groaned and put his hands on the back of his head. He hadn't felt so much pain since the time he fell out of a tree when he was eleven. He rubbed his head as he sat up and opened his eyes.
And wished he hadn't.
The walls were of the room were old Japanese architecture. Shoji looked around, seeing everything from his house in the room.
I'm in the Youjakai, Shoji thought. He reached inside his shirt and pulled out the locket, opening it to stare at the hand painted picture of his father and the picture of his mother, taken around the time she had met Shuten.
Shoji closed the locket and tucked it inside his shirt again. He blinked back tears as he stood, refusing to let them fall, and walked over to the door - only to find it locked. Shoji growled and leaned his head against it.
To his right on the floor, there was a plate of food, a small pitcher of water, and a cup. Shoji looked at it, not wanting to eat anything - to show the Troopers and Ma Sho that he wasn't going to cooperate with them.
Shoji's stomach grumbled. How long was he out? In the end, Shoji's hunger pains won the battle. He ate every morsel and drank the water. Finished with his meal, Shoji looked at his reflection on the pitcher, feeling in some way he had submitted and betrayed his mother.
Shoji threw the pitcher, watching it hit the wall and shatter.
____
CRASH!
Everyone looked in the direction to Shoji's room. "He's up," said Rajura.
"What was your first clue?" Shu asked.
"Perhaps one of use should go talk to him," said Ryo.
"I wouldn't go in there by myself," said Naaza. "We're all on his - as you say - shit list, right now."
"He can't have that much of a temper," said Shin.
CRASH!
Anubis looked at the Suiko Trooper. "Care to change your opinion?"
"I hate to be around Shoji when finds out that we moved Nasuti here," Seiji said.
"Maybe he'll ease off when we tell him that she's next to Shuten," said Touma.
CRASH!
"Not hardly," Rajura said.
"I say first one was the pitcher," said Shu, "second one was the cup, and third one was the plate."
"Well, Shu, you've broken enough," Anubis said. "I suggest the next we feed him, we use something non-breakable."
"Anubis, I'd rather he throw it at the wall than at us," Naaza said.
"You're actually afraid of him?" Shin asked.
"You've seen Shuten pissed off," Rajura said, "and if Shoji gets pissed off like his father… hai, we're a little nervous."
"Look on the bright side," said Touma, "he doesn't wear the Oni yoroi. Yet…"
____
Shoji was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, wondering how he was going to escape. He sighed, knowing that the only two ways to leave the Youjakai were teleportation or through a gate. But Shoji couldn't teleport and he didn't know how to use a gate.
He heard the sound of the lock being undone and sat up. The door opened and there stood the Ma Sho with the Troopers behind them.
"Nice to see you up, Shoji," Anubis said. "Sleep well?"
Shoji glared at him. "You realize that despite your gracious hospitality, I must take my leave soon."
"Don't start, Shoji," Naaza said.
"Gomen," he said sarcastically, "but I'm not staying. My home is in the Nigenkai with my mother."
Here goes nothing... Rajura thought and said, "She's here."
Shoji quickly stood up. "What?"
"We brought Nasuti here," Rajura said. "She's-"
Rajura didn't have a chance to finish. The next thing he knew, he was lying on his back and couldn't breathe. He opened his eye and saw Shoji above, strangling him. Rajura grabbed Shoji's wrists and tried pulling the boy's hands away from his throat. The other Ma Sho and the Troopers ran over to them, and pulled Shoji off of Rajura.
"You had no right!" Shoji yelled, fighting against the Troopers' hold.
"Shoji! Calm down!" said Ryo. "She's with Shuten!"
Upon hearing his father's name, Shoji ceased his struggling. A little tension eased out of him and he looked at Rajura, who was sitting up and rubbing his throat.
"We buried your mother next to your father," Rajura coughed, "and you know damn well, Shoji, that's where she would want to be."
Shoji pulled himself away from the Troopers and walked to the back of the room, facing away from them. He hated to admit it, but Rajura was right. Shoji would have done anything to have his parents near each other. And now they were.
Shoji closed his eyes and sighed. He turned around and looked at everyone. "I want to see them."
____
They led Shoji to a small building and he went into the crypt alone, while the others waited outside.
Shoji looked around, noticing that the Troopers and Ma Sho went through a lot of trouble to make this place beautiful, even though the feeling that all resting places had still hung in the air.
Blue-flamed candles lighted the room and he walked over to a large stone that reached up to his waist in front of a few wooden poles, blocking off a section of dirt.
Shoji looked at the stone. His father's name was carved on the left side, his mother's on the right. Behind the stone and poles, he saw the rocks he had placed on his mother's grave. Next to them was an area about the same size outlined with bamboo poles that had gray chords binding the poles together.
Shoji knelt in front of the stone and lightly touched his parents' names. He leaned his head against the cool surface. "I'm sorry," whispered Shoji, and a tear slowly made its way down his cheek.