Ink Stained

99: power left behind*

残された力

She hadn't thought much on Kouta's comment about where she would be 'sitting' when they flew to Kyoto. There were too many things for her to think about, crowding her brain that thumped with an almost never-ending headache.

She really should have, because she hadn't thought he was being serious about not using a plane to get there. She'd thought they'd at least travel part of the way by plane.

He had been deadly serious, just masking it in a joker face. He was disturbingly good at that.

Even though she was shocked to realize Shin would carry her in his arms the whole flight – as in, flight with his wings – to Kyoto, she'd put on a brave face and gone ahead with the plan. When she got back home the previous day they barely had five minutes together before duty whisked Shin away.

In that time, she'd fretted that she was too heavy for Shin to carry on such a long journey. He'd responded by grinning rakishly at her and picking her up bridal-style, spinning round and round until she was laughing and dizzy and thoroughly convinced that he had more than enough stamina for the trip.

And of course Shiori was there to snap five thousand pictures.

Despite leaving before the night sky got truly dark last night, it took them the whole next day to get to their destination. It was approaching dusk by the time they spied the imposing figure of Mount Kurama. Within lay the main Tengu village, the capital of the Clan.

The lengthy time was mostly due to the fact that they kept stopping for breaks before resuming, on account of Pai's being wholly un-Tengu. The high altitude got to her head and made her stomach roll at random times, so they had to stop to let her calm before continuing. At the pace Kouta was going as he flew ahead of them, she was sure that the two would have gotten to Kyoto much faster if not for her burdening them.

To weather the cold, she morphed into a toasty marshmallow in Shin's arms as they flew the final leg of the journey to Kyoto. She was bundled up well, in five layers of warm clothing that made her feel up to ten times her actual size. Pai honestly had no clue how Shin was able to carry her for so long; it was mind-boggling.

Kouta was the one who carried all of their bags, on account of how difficult it was to fly with something strapped to your back. They flew well above the city, to avoid pedestrians looking up and thinking they were more than the shadows of large birds flying through the sky. That would make for an interesting report on the evening news.

"Spotted: Winged Man Carrying White-Haired Humanoid Balloon Flying Over Kyoto City In Broad Daylight"

The thought amused Kuniumi enough that her laughter at it seeped into Pai and lifted her spirits from the anxious depths they lingered in.

Still, Pai was worried, more than she let on. She kept turning over every scenario she could think of for what could happen once they reached Kyoto, and more often than not she arrived to horrid endings. She'd only seen Sojobo Kurama from a distance, and all the downright terrifying stories of the stern man that was Kouta's father that Shiori told her did nothing to calm her.

Shiori had coached her on how to act with him so that she didn't inadvertently disrespect the Sojobo by not bowing low enough or something of the like, and given her plenty of tips. But then Shiori went ahead and idly commented on how Sojobo Kurama was rumoured to have the strength of a thousand normal Tengu, was over five hundred years old, and had the unsettling propensity to tell when someone was lying to him. It was how Kouta rarely managed to keep secrets from his father.