Oogway's Little Owl - Chapter 24

[On the Road]

Fung had to take a moment to rewind the previous few seconds before he could understand what was going on.

First, he was getting angry at Michi, and she was teasing him, and okay, it was kinda on him; it wasn’t her fault they got left behind, and she wasn’t obligated to escort them. Then Jiang lost his patience and threatened her, and then…

Here was the part Fung was having trouble with. Michi looked scared for just a moment, then… there was a glint in the trees to their left… a dark green blur… and then… Jiang was in a crater, unconscious.

A cloud of dust had been kicked up by the force of the blow, and the attacker was standing between them and Michi, having pushed her back as he arrived. He stood in the middle of it, silhouetted by the dust with his hands on his hips and throwing his head back in boisterous laughter.

“(HA HA HA! That’ll teach you to threaten beautiful young maidens, villain!)”

Michi blushed scarlet from something the guy said, but Fung didn’t know why, not speaking Japanese.

Jiang groaned while Gah-ri and Zhu cowered behind Fung, and the leader of the crocs could only sigh and run a hand down his snout. “Ugh, and who’s this guy?”

The figure in the dust flexed, and the sheer force of it parted the cloud to reveal him. Muscles rippled under scaled skin and his teeth were so bright he nearly blinded them in the midday sun. “(So, you outsiders think you can come here to harass our lovely citizens?! I think not!)”

The first thing Fung internalized was surprisingly not the man’s species, but his clothes. The bandages around his hands were one thing, but the eye-meltingly orange headband and the sash around his waist was exactly the right shade of green to clash horribly with his skin. The fact that he was some kind of turtle almost didn’t register.

“What’s he saying?” Zhu whispered.

“I dunno, but he sure is saying it a lot,” Fung responded, not bothering to lower his voice as he scratched under his helmet.

“I think I heard the word gaijin in there,” Gah-ri offered.

“Yeah?” Fung asked, turning to him. “What’s that mean?”

“It means he doesn’t like us being in his country, I think.”

“Oh.”

The turtle waited patiently for them to finish talking, then struck another heroic pose. “(Dastardly criminals! Do you not take me seriously?! That is a mistake you will not make twice!)”

Michi’s eyes widened. “(Hey, wait, let’s not be hasty--)”

“HI-YAH!”

The turtle rocketed forward and hit Fung across the mouth with all the force of a firecracker; he even saw stars. 

“(HA! Not so cocky now, are you?)”

Fung groaned. Zhu groaned louder, and Fung realized he must have bowled them over when he got kicked. He spat out a tooth and regarded it with a feeling of… hm, what was he feeling? Frustration? Annoyance? Probably closer to resignation if he was honest. “Man…” He looked around the turtle to Michi. “Can ya tell him to back off? He can keep beating up Jiang if he wants.”

The squirrel dusted herself off. “Right. (Sir, there’s been a misunderstanding--)”

The turtle spun, taking her hands in his and flashing an award-winning smile. “(Don’t worry! I’ll have these ruffians dealt with soon, fair maiden, on my honor as a Yōsai!)”

Michi blinked, bewildered, then pulled away with a jerk. “(I appreciate it, but I’m not actually a maiden. Stop assaulting my--)” She paused, trying to think of the proper term. “(...associates.)”

The turtle gasped. “(Then these fiends have sullied your honor?!?! How dare they--!)”

“(NO! Shut up already and listen!)” Michi snapped. 

He leaned back in surprise, but mercifully stopped talking.

Michi took a breath to calm herself. “(These guys aren’t bandits or whatever you think they are, they’re just some guys who got separated from their group and I’m guiding them back,)” she explained.

The turtle gasped, then looked confused and glanced at Jiang, still unconscious in his hole.

“(That one is a jerk,)” Michi admitted. “(The rest are mostly okay, even if their leader’s a little stressed.)”

He was silent a moment longer, then pivoted in place and bowed deeply towards Fung. “(Ten thousand pardons, sir crocodile! I saw a frightened woman and was compelled to interfere, but I should have known better!)”

“(I was not frightened--)”

“(My mother would have my shell if she knew I was so irresponsible! I beg forgiveness!)” He glanced at Jiang and winced. “(I definitely should have pulled my punch there… I know! I will atone for my sins directly!)” He lifted Jiang out of the hole by his tail, slinging him over his shoulder. “(My village is nearby, and they can provide medical treatment for the hostile one! You will have to forgive me after that!)” He gave a wink and a grin, saluting with two fingers as he waited for a response.

Fung and the others stared at him. He looks at Gah-ri. “You get any of that?”

“Not a word, boss. He talks too fast.”

Michi sighed. “(This is going to get old quickly, I just know it.)”

The turtle smiled, oblivious to the translation issues, and gave a thumbs up. “(How rude of me! I haven’t even introduced myself. I am Tsuyoi! Pleased to meet you!)”

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[Temple of Inari]

The room was silent. Taylor, perched up high in the rafters, adjusted her neck just slightly to better hear. The music had settled into a steady drumbeat, jarring for how it almost faded from notice. It emphasized the shinobi rabbit’s heartbeat racing despite his outward calm, and let her hear the grinding of Eiko’s teeth. Taylor noted the rabbit’s eyes darting around, searching for exits, and she adjusted herself to better block the window. Minoru had tied the intruder up, but she was feeling cautious.

Oogway glanced up at her, then cleared his throat and nudged the fox’s foot with his cane.

Eiko’s fur bristled, and the shinobi grew even more tense. Finally, though, she took a deep breath and forced herself to calm. “Good plan.” Her lips pulled back in a smile that had just a few too many teeth to be entirely friendly. “Great plan, even! I just have one suggestion to make it perfect.”

The rabbit shifted. “And… that is?”

“Let’s reverse the order,” Eiko said cheerfully. “Tell us where the bugs have gone, and then we’ll let you go.” Her tail lashed behind her. “And if it’s the truth, you might even win a prize.”

“I will not speak a word until I am freed,” the rabbit said, starting to sweat.

“Well then, it looks like we need to prepare for a long term guest,” Eiko said, inspecting her claws. “Minoru, prepare a guest room. Make sure it’s nice and clean and cozy, will you?”

The dog bowed. “There is a broom closet in the basement that will suffice, I expect. The floor is solid stone, to prevent any burrowing,” he added, when the ninja perked up.

“You’ll never know what became of them!”

Eiko paused, and Taylor felt something dangerous swell in the air. “So the shinobi clans are behind the disappearances, are they?”

The rabbit sputtered, dropping his calm facade entirely in shock. “W-What?! No! We had nothing to do with it!” He flinched, looking around nervously.

“Why else would you have any information on it?”

“We--” He paused. “...there are many insect shinobi, Guardian. We have a vested interest in searching for our own.”

Eiko made a dismissive sound. “As do we all. But I’ve known your ilk to be eager and willing  gamblers. Even with each other.”

“We would never!” The rabbit pulled against his bindings as he protested.

This was going nowhere, so Taylor decided to interrupt. “Out of curiosity, Master Eiko,” Taylor began, “What will happen to him if he doesn’t know anything?”

Eiko and Oogway glanced up at her. Eiko shrugged. “We don’t normally have long term residents. If he overstays his welcome, we’ll have to contact the local authorities. It’ll be up to them what to do with him…” She smiled nastily toward the intruder. “...But the Shogunate's current stance on shinobi isn’t very tolerant.”

The shinobi seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, before sighing in defeat. “Alright. Okay. So. I don’t know where they’ve gotten to,” he said, then when Eiko’s expression darkened, he continued, “But! Last time I reported in, I was there when our investigators returned! I don’t know all the details, but I know they’ve been found! I would stake my life on it!”

Eiko growled. “You’re staking your life on it? Be careful saying such things. Someone else always has the information. But I think we can agree that life is too short to gamble on someone else’s rumors, yes?”

“Eiko.” Oogway spoke quietly, bidding her calm down. “Child, is there nothing else you can do to help us find the missing people?” he asked. “We only wish to save them, we do not desire conflict with your clan.”

Eiko folded her arms, muttering.

The rabbit hesitated. “I… can carry a message to the Mistress for you. If she decides to help you…”

“Well we can’t have you getting distracted and lost in the minnows,” Eiko drawled. “We’d never see you again and wouldn’t that be a shame. Try again.”

“The only other option is--I can’t just bring you to the compound!” he protested. “The shogunate might execute me but the Mistress will do so much worse!”

Oogway raised his arm between Eiko and the ninja. “You will have my protection. All you need to do is show us the way. You don’t even have to go yourself, once we know where to go, we will set you free to go your own way.”

The rabbit bit his lip. He shuffled for a moment, testing the ropes binding his wrists before his expression fell. His ears twitched as he thought, considering his options. Taylor saw the moment he made his decision, and--

The music died.

She swiveled her head around. There was someone in the window. Then they stepped into the room and all but vanished.

“Fine,” the rabbit said. “Our compound is north of--”

Eiko’s ears twitched, and she looked up.

Metal sang, and Taylor shot forward. She stretched out a wing, and a knife she had only barely been able to see clanged off one of her own blades, hidden in her feathers.

The rabbit shrieked at his near-death, and Oogway moved to stand between him and shadows while Eiko twirled, eyes subtly glowing as she tried to locate the threat.

Taylor, still falling, righted herself in midair and threw a dagger of her own. It hit nothing, sticking in the wooden rafters, but the attacker struck again. Three knives flashed out; two bounced off Oogway’s shell, but a third flew past him, ricocheted off a wall ornament, and would have ended the rabbit’s life if Tailei hadn’t reacted again, snatching it out of the air.

She ended up catching it an inch from the rabbit’s nose, and he whimpered.

“I knew it, I knew it,” he whispered. “They’re always watching, always…”

“Master Oogway promised his protection,” Tailei assured him. “And that means mine too.”

She looked into the dark of the ceiling, scowling. Even to her eyes, it was impossible to see the intruder in the swirling darkness. Eiko attempted to light the shadows with a ball of glowing chi, but Tailei only spotted a glimpse of motion before a thrown needle popped the ball like a balloon--incidentally, causing a flash that nearly blinded them.

It was silent. That… couldn’t be right. A fight should never be this quiet. Even before she began hearing the music of the world, there was always the sound of motion and effort.

Tailei deflected another barrage of blades when she realized: everything was muted. She only barely heard the sound of metal against metal, when it should have rung like a bell. They were making it silent.

Tailei jumped back up into the rafters to meet the threat, ignoring the shout of warning from Oogway that she could only just hear (and ignoring the way Oogway put a hand to his own throat, surprised at the lack of his voice). Everything was quiet… but she needed to find the spot that was quieter than the rest.

A glint of light--A knife shot out. Tailei caught it and flung it back from whence it came, only to hit nothing. Whoever they were, they were fast.

A rest in the Song… A muted melody… She ducked, letting a trio of throwing stars form a constellation over her head. She couldn’t hear, but she saw, just barely, the timbers shake as the assassin jumped from one to another. She threw a dagger. It vanished into the shadows.

It wasn’t even that dark in here, this was ridiculous.

Silence. The faintest of sounds… Tailei slowly rotated her head, listening closely. …A sudden sharp note!

Without taking the time to think, Tailei threw a blade. It stopped in midair.

There was no real transition. They didn’t melt from the shadows or appear in a puff of smoke. One minute they were all but invisible, and then they weren’t. They had been there all along, but it was only now that Tailei was able to see them. Standing there with Tailei’s knife caught between two fingers, as if the assassin allowed themselves to be seen.

They took a step into the light, and suddenly the cat’s eyes glowed as they stared her down.

“...” Their eyes flicked to the rabbit, who stared back in horror. Tailei scowled.

“Eyes on me, buddy,” she warned.

“As you wish,” the cat said in a surprisingly delicate voice, and then she was on her.

Tailei flapped her wings, stirring up dust and blowing it in her eyes. The cat sliced the dust cloud apart with Tailei’s own dagger, then followed up by trying to stab her. The owl moved enough for it to miss, getting slowed down by her feathers, then kicked one leg out and struck the attacking arm, disarming it and taking her knife back. Three more emerged from her other wing, and she slashed.

The cat was behind her now, somehow, and Tailei kicked backwards with talons splayed. The cat dodged, but her tail didn’t manage to get out of the way in time and Tailei grabbed it, pulling her back into range as she pivoted her body to face her.

“There you are!” Eiko growled. She jumped up, and Tailei swung the cat down by her tail to meet the fox. Eiko’s paw glowed as she struck the assassin in the chest… or tried to.

The cat twisted around the strike and crawled down the fox’s arm and over her back. Eiko attempted to swat her with her own fluffy tail, but the cat recoiled away like the tail was an open flame.

All three of them landed on the ground in a triangle, Tailei and Eiko facing the cat together…

…Who ignored them in favor of turning around to face Oogway and the rabbit behind him.

Eiko moved first. Her hand wrapped around the cat’s tail just as the assassin moved to jump over Oogway’s head. The black cloth covering the tail, however, turned out to not be attached to the rest of the shinobi’s outfit and slipped right off. The fur underneath was even darker than the cloth covering it.

Taylor threw four knives. Two went wide, and the cat flipped in midair, caught the remaining two and threw them back down directly at her target.

Oogway, expression calm, scooped the rabbit up with one end of his cane and moved him out of the way.

The cat sneered. She completed her arc against the wall and pushed off of it directly into Oogway’s chest. She failed to make an impact through his shell, and instead shot one leg straight up towards his chin. The old tortoise smoothly moved his head out of the way. With his free hand, he flicked one single claw against her, and she flew across the room into a wall.

The cat grunted on impact, shaking her head in confusion. She noticed that she landed next to Minoru, who had been quietly observing the battle, and grabbed him by the collar, knife to his neck.

Minoru stared at the cat through lidded eyes. “Oh, dear,” he said, placidly and without flinching.

Taylor started to move, then froze, unsure what to do. Eiko put a paw on her shoulder, glowering at the assassin.

The cat looked Oogway up and down. “Let me have the traitor and you can have your servant back, fox,” she said, not taking her eyes off the tortoise.

“Let him go, or else,” Eiko rebutted.

The rabbit peeked out from behind Oogway, and flinched when the cat’s eyes flicked to them.

The assassin’s eyes narrowed and she looked to the side. “Cease your illusions now, guardian, or his blood spills.”

Eiko growled; the fox next to Taylor dissolved into light. She reappeared closer to the cat, leaning against the wall. “Looks like we’ve reached an impasse.”

“Why are you trying to kill him?” Taylor asked, drawing the cat’s attention. “What made him a traitor?”

“He was about to reveal our location. No one outside the clan may know,” she hissed. “He knows what the penalty for betrayal is. There is no chance for forgiveness.”

Taylor glanced at the rabbit, who looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “Please,” he whimpered. “Anything but that.”

“But--” Taylor began.

“This is Oogway!” the rabbit burst out. “This tortoise is Master Oogway!”

Taylor and Eiko blinked, thrown by the seeming non sequitur. Even Oogway stopped to look at his charge.

The cat’s reaction, however, was the most noteworthy.

Her eyes dilated from needle thin slits as tension bled from her shoulders. She didn’t drop her knife, no, but it clearly came close.

There has to be a way to use that, Taylor thought. But she wouldn’t have the opportunity, because-- 

“...Truly?”

The rabbit nodded frantically. “Yes! I was just about to leave to make my report when the owl caught me; you know the Mistress wants--”

“Silence.” The cat’s tail flicked, and she glanced at Taylor. She stepped away from Minoru and hid her blade away. “...It would seem I was wrong. There is one chance for forgiveness. The Mistress will decide your fate, Genji.”

From the way the rabbit whimpered, that wasn’t exactly a comfort.

“Genji?” Eiko repeated to herself. “The gardener?”

“As for you,” the cat started, turning to Oogway. She lowered her hood to reveal her full face. “Master Oogway of the Jade Palace.” She bowed. “I am Tsume, student of the Yōsai clan of shinobi. The Mistress will want to speak to you immediately.”

Oogway’s eye ridges were raised as high as they could go. “Really? Huh.” He paused to scratch his neck, thinking. Then he gestured to Taylor and Eiko. “Am I allowed to bring guests?”

Tsume’s ears twitched in agitation.

-----------------------------------------

Tsuyoi led them down the road for a good hour before suddenly turning sharply into the brush for no apparent reason. To Fung and company’s irritation, the muscular turtle hardly seemed to notice the thorns and briars that even Michi had trouble with, thanks to his shell. A crocodile’s scales were thick, but not thick enough apparently.

Thankfully, the thorns ended not far into the woods, and the path opened up again into a proper road.

The turtle spouted some nonsense at them.

“Not far now, he says,” Michi informed them.

“Any idea where he’s leading us?” Gah-ri asked.

“I don’t have any idea,” Michi admitted. “As far as I knew there weren’t any towns out this way; it’s supposed to be nothing but countryside until the Temple of Inari.”

Fung grumbled. “This bites.” He pulled a thorn out from somewhere not worth mentioning. “How do we know we’re not being led to some creepy murder hut? This guy’s a nut, no offense.”

Michi looked at him weirdly. “None… taken?” She shook her head. “Trust me, if you guys could understand him you wouldn’t think that. He’s very… straightforward.”

“He could be acting,” Zhu pointed out.

Michi looked forward. As if sensing her gaze, Tsuyoi turned and flashed a thumbs up, grinning widely. Jiang was still slung over his shoulder unconscious. “...Nnnnnnnno, I don’t think so.”

“Well I’m getting tired of walking,” Fung complained “Ask him how much long until--”

The tree lining the road ended without warning, and a massive wall they hadn’t been able to see before loomed over them. Tsuyoi stepped up to a stone door three times his height and knocked a distinct rhythm.

As it creaked open, he grinned. “(Welcome to the hidden ninja village, friends!)”