Fic fragment – Kotodama part 8

But Ogasawara had been worried about the trip, and more worried about the politics surrounding his superiors and the shogun. And this was Yuki. He trusted her. “Of course I do.”

Yukiatsu’d smiled. “I guess we’re stuck with each other, then.” And brushed his shoulder, right over the family mon, almost casually-

Sending the oath home with the speed of an enchanted bullet.

He… really hadn’t noticed the force of it. Not then. If his blades bit a little deeper, if colors seemed a little brighter in the dark – well, Ogasawara had been ayashi more than a year. He’d been far too accustomed to the surge of magic from youi meat to realize something far more subtle had hooked his soul.

But Michael Doughal had never had magic, and Yukiatsu Ryuudou’s power hit like bottled lightning.

The Ancient Pact.

That was what Genbatsu had told them both later. Maigo and human. Magic and mortality. Yukiatsu and his own words had bound them more tightly than iron chains. And she hadn’t even known she was doing it-

I’m not Ogasawara!

Magic was like the youi. It didn’t listen to anything as human as logic. It poked him, prodded him, tested him-

Curled about him like a satisfied cat, and sank into his bones.

I’m Lieutenant Michael Doughal, U.S. Army. Serial number-

The weight of daisho at his side, the sturdy black cloth in his hands, said otherwise.

Yukiatsu’s haori.

A match to his own. A deliberate match; Yukiatsu had made the pair of them, not long after that accidental pledge. For a moment he saw it as civilians saw it; plain black, sober linen, the white Ogasawara cedar tree mon. Good quality, but nothing to impress high lords-

And the magic within him breathed as he breathed; linen shifting into silken moon-shadows and whispers, scarthistle fluff and the darkness before dawn. Ogasawara’s mon glimmered like the first rays of morning; aside from that, eyes slipped away from dark folds.

“Just wear it and stop grumbling,” Yukiatsu had said gruffly. “Too many damn things try to eat you, Chief. Let’s make that a little harder.”