The full moon found me on the roof of Samu's house in the country. Well, relative country by Japanese standards. He lived up in the mountains near Fussa in the midst of old trees and curving mountain roads.
The house was a reformed shrine of sorts, complete with zaori arches and a Zen garden. Samu had told me it had all been rebuilt during the 60's after WWII.
I breathed in the air, fresh and crisp at this altitude. My hanyu ears twitched, listening for Samu. He was coming up the ladder to the roof.
I spun around, my feet silent on the rooftop in their leather dance-like shoes. I was garbed from head to toe in black from my stretchy jeans to my sleeveless t-shirt, the only accents a deep blue along the collar and hems to match my eyes. I looked like a cross between a ninja and an royal assassin between the outfit and the blue detailing along the oriental collar. The top of the outfit was held shut with six blue buttons. My hair flowed freely, parted by my ears, brushing them in a silvery curtain. The silver hoop earrings I wore glittered in the starlight. A large cabochon cut onyx was visible on my forehead through my bangs, held in place by a headband that kept my hair out of my face. My bracers, full size now, covered my forearms. Around my waist, two straps crisscrossed, lighter then usual. I'd left my guns and their holsters at home along with kitana and my throwing knives were tucked into a hidden compartment in my duffle bag. I didn't want to scare Samu, or give him an idea of why I was here but I wasn't going around unarmed. Saying, "Hey I want to kill your boss and best friend," wouldn't get me many brownie points.
A set of blue knee pads, snuggly laced into place and a spiked right shoulder guard, completed my garb. I looked deadly and pretty, though I've never been sure which was more prominent. The straps, knee guards and shoulder guard had appeared via a magical triggering effect after I fell into my full Yukoi form at the moon's calling. I could no more deny the moon's call then I could stop breathing. Many hanyu are tied to the new moon for their transformations, but they spend most of their lives in hanyu or full yukoi forms, rarely, if ever, becoming human by choice. This means their human blood has to have a night to enact itself. I'm the opposite- spend too much time in human form so my yukoi blood asserts itself.
Samu didn't know what hit him when I stepped out from behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, darting to his other side before he saw me, taking full advantage of the roof's shadows.
I ended up perched on top of the chimney, smiling down at him. He cheated and pulled out a flashlight, blinding me for a moment in the beam before my eyes adjusted.
"That's cheap," I said, my voice laughing.
He turned the light away from me. "So is darting around in the shadows."
"That's neither here nor there," I said, hopping down to stand on a rise in the roof about two feet above Samu. "Its so pretty up here, the stars are so bright. I'd forgotten how beautiful they are."
He looked up at the sky overhead. "Yeah they are. You going to come with me to that dance I told you about?"
"Sure," I said, secretly grinning. The local area mob bosses were having a Black and White ball and Samu wanted to take me as his date. Would give me a great chance to meet other mob bosses. Why would I want to do this? Simple- someone to take the fall for the murder of Danny after I did it. Leave a few tell-tale signs at the scene, a calling card of another rival boss and no one would look my way. The upper brass in Danny's organization, who were paying for the hit, would make sure of it.
"Wonderful," Samu said cheerfully. "You do have a white or black formal right?"
"Aw, I can't go as I am now," I teased.
"Sexy as that is, no." Samu laughed and held up his arms to me. I hopped down to stand before him, almost falling into his arms. He closed the gap between us, bringing his lips to mine.
I allowed the kiss, returning it in full measure. We were still new enough to one another that every kiss was a rush, every touch something special. I ran my hands over his back, careful of the claws I could not retract. Wouldn't do to destroy Samu's shirt, especially since most Japanese men would have never made a move on me sober like he was.
The full of the moon forces me into my hanyu form, makes it impossible for me to appear human. I am my true self in the light of the moon, the creature I was born as. Samu embraced all that I was. He'd asked questions, both of me and of Meele, about hanyu in general, yukoi, and anything else he could think of that might give him an insight into me. He hadn't asked me why I was working at a camera store selling toys yet or my real age. I was hesitant to tell him I was chronologically older then he and certainly didn't want to tell him I was a killer for hire. Something told me that it would take the sparkle out of relationship to say the least.
We stood there in the dark, on top of a shrine older then both of us by far, kissing in the starlight. I pulled away from the kiss with a gentle smile.
"We best be careful or I'm not going to want to stop," I told Samu honestly. We still hadn't "done the deed" as Meele would have said in his modern slang. "I'm more dangerous in this form, more likely to scratch you or bite."
"And that's a problem how," Samu asked, his voice serious. "Cara, I accept you for what you are- human, demon, mononoke, hanyu, whatever. This is the real you. This silver hair," he ran his hand through my hair, "this darker skin, these startling eyes. This is you as you were born and I love you."
My breath caught in my throat at his words of acceptance. "You accept me, knowing I've killed before, knowing that I'm a monster."
"You've killed in self-defense, nothing wrong with that."
"Oh, how little you know," I muttered.
"What do you mean," he asked.
"Nothing, its nothing, Samu," I said, laying my head on his shoulder. "I've done some things in the past I'm not proud of, my love. You don't want to hear the details. Sometimes I wish I didn't know the details."
"The devil's in the details," Samu said, the cliché making me laugh.
"More then you know," I said with shake of my head. "Moving along- what did you mean by its not a problem if I hurt you?"
He stalled for a moment, searching for the words that do not come easily to Japanese man. They tend to be quiet about their sexuality unlike Americans who blurt it out for all to hear sometimes. "I mean that its okay if you rake your nails down my back or whatever. I don't mind- besides a little pain at the right moment can heighten everything else."
