Chapter Thirteen

The Kitten's Paw

 

Kataji's work went much faster with Nekohiko's involvement. Once Nekohiko knew what was going on, Kataji invited him to check in on the parts he was slowly assembling. First -- rough sketches and measurements, then cut-off crude pieces, then carving. In the absolute end -- detail work and sanding. All brought pain on him, but it passed by easier with experience. Nekohiko had already gotten himself eight-part segmented torso, thirty-two-piece face and head, and nineteen-part segmented legs each. With a springing mechanism built into the legs for smoother jumps.

"You have to understand the carcass bones will have to be hollow, right? Cats' anatomy requires extreme lightness," Kataji explained to him as he and Nekohiko were sitting around the books and diagrams and quite a sprinkle of postcards with kitty pictures that Kataji's Great Aunt collected.

Nekohiko didn't mind. He wanted to have a body of his own as soon as possible. He wasn't picky about the weight of that body, or its brute strength, or its capabilities. As long as he was able to move on his own volition and communicate with others, it was all fine by him.

Plenty of Kataji's wooden cat sculptures in various poses stood, lounged, jumped, and curled down sleeping around them. They obviously weren't here for reference with how rigidly-carved their poses were compared to multiple small fragments and connecting gears Nekohiko's future body consisted of. But Nekohiko still enjoyed looking at them. Kataji was a good woodcarver, whatever Aomi said about him. Maybe his hand wasn't as creative or naturally-gifted, but his statues had a certain feel to them. A life and a gentleness Nekohiko learned to appreciate.

"Stop staring at them like that, or I'll put them away," Kataji told him. "They aren't exactly my best work."

"I like them," Nekohiko said simply.

"Well. You don't understand the first thing about carving, then." Kataji scowled at the current piece of Nekohiko's future shoulderblade he was polishing in his hands, then grumbled even lower. "This body is only temporary, too. Just because you clearly need it. But once you have the actual humanoid one--"

"Can I see it? Can I!" Aomi popped her head into the window. The overcast, rainy weather had passed them by these last few weeks, so the brilliant noontide light was too good to pass on, and most windows of the workshop stood open, allowing the glow in.

"NO." Kataji slid to the floor from his bench and huddled close to Nekohiko. Protectively, he put his long, skinny legs over all the crafted parts in between the two of them. "Go away!"

"But tell me at least what it is you people are doing? You are all so secretive lately," she whined from the sill onto which she had already clambered from the garden. "Is it that relief panel for Eldest Brother? Is it the actual human doll you're making? Come on!"

"Hi, Aomi," Nekohiko called. "Please don't step on any of our postcards. They're your aunt's."

"Postcards?" Aomi naturally couldn't help but look down, intrigued. "Of what?"

Nekohiko had spotted a small piece of his own live wood on the floor under Aomi's feet. Smaller blocks of wood constantly split away from him during the chopping process, and some of the less fitting chunks were dismissed by Kataji when he wasn't working on them. Nekohiko had memorized all such small parts of himself, and where they lay in the workshop. Patiently waiting for an occasion such as this one.

Perfect.

He made the most dramatic expression with his drawn face, signaling for her to pay attention. "And above all, don't step on that small part of me right beside your left foot. Will you?"

However, Aomi hardly heard him, instead squatting on the floor and reaching for the postcards. "Why cats? And what are you boys doing over there with all those cat statues?"

Kataji swerved to her. "You're already inside? The insolence! I told you to go away. I told you not to dare come in. Do you want an actual kick out, or what?"

It went as it usually did. Catastrophically. Aomi squealed, skittering around the bigger statues, Kataji threw books at her, both of them at some point ran out the doors, screaming and threatening each other with retaliation. Nekohiko patiently waited till it was all past him. The day was marvelous enough that he even let out a wistful sigh at the thought of finally having legs and being able to walk where he wanted, and hide where he wanted, and not be bothered by anyone or anything -- exactly as he had always wanted.

Nevertheless, he didn't mind either Kataji's or Aomi's presence. Once Kataji came back, rubbing his kicked knee and with a mask of woe on his face, he sat down against Nekohiko and went back to his quiet scraping and carving. On her own, even Aomi wasn't that bad. Nekohiko could block her endless yammering out and just enjoy the sights and new experiences she shared with him. It was when both of them were in his face at the same time that his fake eyes began twitching and his temper to seriously strain.

Abruptly, some distance away from Kataji's workshop, Nekohiko felt that something was tickling him over his surface.

Only one explanation for this. A piece of his live matter. A piece of him -- in Aomi's hands!

When had she managed to--

"Heey," she purred into his newly doodled-on ear. Her coalstick licked his surface a couple more times, and Nekohiko realized he could now switch to the piece of wood in her hand to see around.

So he did. By that point, Aomi had drawn him a mouth there as well -- all in the tiniest of strokes -- and Nekohiko understood. This wasn't even a wooden block. This was a minuscule wood chip, almost a splinter.

"When did you get time to grab it?" he asked the moment his consciousness fully settled in a pebble-sized wood piece Aomi was holding up in her palm. "I thought you wasted all your time there running from Kataji?"

She huffed a lock of her stray hair out of her eyes. "I have my ways."

She twirled once, lifting Nekohiko up for him to properly appreciate the verdant lush of the garden and the roar of the distant tiding waves crashing on shore from beyond the jagged reddish cliffs. "Soooo. Now that I have you like I promised I want information! What are you boys doing in there, for real?"

Information? Spirits. Kataji didn't want to tell her about the cat body for a reason. So she wouldn't overpower the cat-crafting process, and wouldn't mock it or even ruin it outright with her enthusiasm. The less she knew, the better -- as Kataji had posited. Not that the secret was all that hard to guess.

"It's a cat, right?" Aomi gave Nekohiko a reproachful gaze when he tried to act as if he didn't understand. "You two are making you the body of a cat. That's... smart, actually. Cats are probably the best small animal there is."

She rocked Nekohiko up and down as she ambled along the tiled garden paths, wondering out loud. "They're fast, and cute, and good at offensive, but also flexible and evasive. They hop so nicely and can climb. All in all, that is a genius solution for anyone who wants an animal body. Good one, Itsuki."

"I don't want an animal--" he began, but stopped himself before he went on into a weird tangent. There were more important things to discuss here. "You finally grabbed a piece of my wood."

Aomi couldn't avoid giggling suggestively even if she tried. Which she obviously didn't.

Nekohiko ignored her as best he could. "This is a small piece, mind you, so if you still want to make something decorative for your Eldest Brother out of it, it has to be something tiny. I think that... maybe a wood chime for his study, or--"

"Nuh-hm. I want something pretty." The pride swelled in her voice like a billowing sail. "Something he can wear so that I get to know everything he does and everyone he sees. You know? A hairpin, or a pendant charm."

Not bad, actually. Nekohiko was beyond himself with his luck. He didn't even have to trick her into spying on Abihiko. She did it all herself and was so much better at it than even Nekohiko.

"The thing is -- I don't know what shape to design it in," she went on, suddenly serious. "What do you think it should be?"

Nekohiko was taken aback. "How would I know? He's your brother. What kinds of things does he like?"

Nekohiko had some very specific thoughts regarding this matter, but of course he couldn't say them out loud. Nobody would if they truly knew that bastard and his quirks.

"I haven't seen him for a long time, and besides, most of his accessories are regalia or stuff that's styled by designated courtiers. I don't know what will go nicely with any of those. Plus, Itsuki," she slowed down, picking Nekohiko up to smirk at him, "shouldn't you know best what my Eldest Brother's tastes might be?"

...what...

...was this supposed to mean?

Wary with distress, Nekohiko remembered very clearly. Aomi had already implied that he knew Abihiko personally, hadn't she? Or at least he'd interpreted her ambiguous remarks in this way even though they might as well be innocent prattle, only barely coincidental.

Yet now, he could swear she was alluding to something.

"Excuse me?" he asked groggily.

"Mm? You and Eldest Brother are both young men, and if you were sixteen five years ago, you would seem to be of the same exact age."

"What does it have to--? Kataji is also a young man, and besides, I've never met your Eldest Brother! How should I know anything about him?"

She shrugged, nonchalant. "Duh, we're stealing stuff from Kataji. I can't ask him for advice, of all people. And in regards to you -- you're a Spirit Binder, like Eldest Brother. You surely have more in common with him than I or Kataji do. No?"

Inwardly, he let out a relieved breath.

He was only being paranoid. Only that. Of course.

The girl couldn't possibly know anything about him and Abihiko.

"Like right now -- do you see any Spirits about?" And Aomi pointed to a plum tree nearby, then to an artificial pond filled with lilypads, and to the small stone shrines peeking from within the mosses in the garden like mysterious mushroom caps. "Tell me. I'm genuinely curious. Just how many Spirits can an average Binder see on any given day?"

It took a bit of his effort to concentrate, but once he did, seeing the faint, evanescent traces of Spirit forms drifting through the air and hiding within the tree trunks and branches and under the still water was blissfully easy. Nekohiko swept a cursory glance over this tiny corner of the garden.

"There are currently eight here."

"Eight? That many!" Aomi circled the spot, sizing the surroundings up and down as if wanting to see them anew.

"The Spirit of the lanternpost, of the mossy stone, of the frogs, of the peony," Nekohiko counted down as he guessed the allegiances of the indistinct, even abstracted blurs of the Spirits nearby. He judged them solely by the plant or the object they hovered closest to. "Hibiscus, plum tree, bird nests and..."

The last Spirit gave him a heavy drop in his nonexistent stomach. A vaguely humanoid form stood afar among the grove trees but unlike humans, it was twig-thin and just as rickety. Its long dead branch hair covered its face save for one huge, staring eye and the gaping, hideous mouth with a set of sharpened teeth. All of which were pointed toward Nekohiko as though a trap open and waiting.

Nekohiko shuddered. "And the Lumber-Devouring Spirit."

Aomi slowly drew Nekohiko back to her chest, both palms cupping him. "Lumber-Devouring Spirit? Don't tell me it's dangerous to you? It sounds horrible."

YES. Very.

"Fortunately, all professionally prepared lumber or any other useful material is purified by Binders, so is untouchable to malevolent Spirits," Nekohiko said. "So it may want to eat me. But it can't. I'm too pure for it."

"Purified?" She puffed her cheeks, clearly disheartened. "Ah, so you mean like when we enter shrines and such. We wash ourselves and pray and inhale incense to... clean ourselves off darkness or somesuch?"

"You're making it sound weird," Nekohiko cut. "Please don't. Spiritual purity is paramount as a defense against demonic Spirits. What, did you think Spirit Binding is just... arbitrary 'magic', without any drawbacks or rules to follow?" Nekohiko couldn't help the patronizing tone in his voice. As all Spirit Binders, he'd had it with people who didn't respect this noble art, or thought of it as only an ancient, made-up superstition.

Spirit Binders had their pride, too.

"Someone's cranky," Aomi drawled, instantly entertained. "But -- see what I'm talking about? No doubt the world appears to a Binder completely different from how normal people see it. So you and Eldest Brother simply have to have a lot more in common than others. Add to this the fact that it's your body we'll be making. Don't you have any suggestions or preferences on what you'd want it to look like?"

The canopied garden path ended at an ivied gazebo, the thin, lacy stems sprawling out of the grass to form a pavilion held together solely by Spirit Binding. Dark red flowers bloomed within the intricate branches, releasing a sultry, feverish scent in the air. The building both alive yet rigid, set in proverbial stone for all eternity. Aomi slipped inside to lounge on the ivy-bound benches. She propped Nekohiko's small chip in her fingers against her mouth as he was rummaging through his memory, trying to find a form he wouldn't hate and one that would suit Abihiko's taste so that he had no choice but to wear it.

Then, as though out of a hazy dream, it came to him.

"Do you know seashell shapes?" Nekohiko asked Aomi.

She had begun snoozing a few minutes ago, bored out of her mind, and now jolted, waking. Disappointment colored her dour. "No. Seashell? Is that what you want to become?"

Not any seashell, Nekohiko thought bitterly. A very, very special one.

He still remembered the day Abihiko had shown it to him. And then later, when he had gifted that shell to Nekohiko like the most mundane thing in the world. The two had been apart for a time that year because Abihiko had had some incomprehensible grievance with him -- one that he solved by drinking a lot, gambling, and spending so. much. time with boys he'd claimed he was currently in desperate love with, Nekohiko hadn't approached him just to avoid the drama Abihiko was so fond of.

Ugh. Most of Abihiko's behavior that year simply gave Nekohiko the "what the hell?" feeling. He preferred not to think about it too much.

And then, suddenly it had all stopped. With that seashell -- a small, even modest gift to Nekohiko's fifteenth year. But hey, it was the last birthday gift he'd received before that fantastic shanking of his throat only a year later. Truly, he preferred the seashell, ha ha!

Even just thinking about it made him seethe with acidity.

Through strain, he smiled at Aomi. "This shell is a rare kind, and most people wouldn't even recognize it." However, Abihiko certainly would. He would recognize it and would remember -- everything. And then, he would feel the chill creeping onto him from beyond the grave. Of that, Nekohiko had no doubt. "But it's very pretty and unique. I feel your Eldest Brother might find it to his taste."

"Sure. What's it called?"

Nekohiko smiled, slow, content. "It's called the Kitten's Paw¹." Seeing as Aomi had no clue what he was talking about, he let his smile take on a gentler curve. "It actually looks like one, hence the name. If you have a paper and graphite, I'll tell you how to draw it."

"Great!" As long as it was something practical, Aomi was all for it. She hopped up and ran back toward the house even before he finished his sentence.

And thus, by the time Kataji had finished with his cat body parts and was finally ready for a proper trip to the Spirit Binder in Sai to animate the body, Aomi was itching with elation as well, hugging to her middle her small bag with Nekohiko's wood chip and a decent sketch of a Kitten Paw Shell inside.

Himself, Nekohiko was all but jittering and buzzing with anxiety, anticipation, fear, and an almost intoxicating kind of glee.

He was getting himself a body. Two of them! And one of them would even be able to move!

"Are you awake?" Kataji rapped his fingernail at Nekohiko's cat skull that he held up before him. They were on their way to Sai, and the cart trip was getting seriously long and just as boring.

The cat skull Kataji was holding had empty eye sockets and the gaping maw in it. They were enough for Nekohiko to see through it, and to speak back. Even the thin-twig moveable ears worked fine as is. Imagining what it would feel like to have all these body parts connected to one another in a cohesive body was equal parts uncanny and dreamlike.

"I'm awake. Only dizzy," Nekohiko said, and Kataji nodded.

"It's only about half an hour more. Go back to dreaming," he told him and scratched the bare wooden surface under Nekohiko's cat chin with his finger.

The sensation was unpleasant, but Nekohiko wouldn't trade it for anything. Gratitude and tenderness toward Kataji tided in him like sea waves -- endlessly.

The wooden cart driven by a dummy in front rocked and bounced over the dilapidated country road from Red Stone to Sai. Nekohiko reminisced wistfully about his and Aomi's ride on Coalback weeks prior and how smooth that trip had been compared to this one. But Kataji's Great Aunt hadn't allowed them to take horses -- neither animal nor Bound ones. This Bound wooden tub of a cart with wheels powered on animal heat was all they could take to ride to Sai. So they did. The ride rattled their bones and put everyone in bad moods. Aomi most of all. She whined about the bone-breaking journey all the way through Sai streets after they had long left the dummy and the cart behind the town's gates.

"My knees hurt. My back hurts. My neck is bent wrongly! Oh, a rouge stall."

And with that, she was gone.

Also aggravated by the ride, Kataji swerved to yell after her. "Don't go far and don't waste money on nonsense!"

She flapped a hand back at him, already sneaking into the perfumed, powdered little store, and Kataji could only add louder, "We'll be at the Binder's!"

"And I'll be at the carver's, ordering my dumb seashell without you looking over my shoulder all the damn time," Aomi sang in the undertone, mocking Kataji's voice. She must have thought Nekohiko couldn't hear her from within her beaded purse, but of course he did.

Yet she wasn't entirely faking her greed for the make-up goods either. "Though I'll go there only after I pick amazing carmine blubber for my lips," she added, making her way toward the shelves brimming with cosmetics.

It was calmer with Kataji. He didn't shake him, and they ended up in the woodworks and Binding district quite fast. Yet, suddenly, the young man stopped.

Nekohiko trailed his gaze over to the Metori's Lumberworks across the street. A slight tinge of annoyance rose in him when Kataji made a doubtful step toward it.

"I promised to pick a body model with you, didn't I?" Kataji said. "Chances are after the Binder puts all of your cat parts together, you will be too sick to perceive the world outside you for a while, no?"

"So what?" Nekohiko tasted bitterness in his mouth.

"So," Kataji clearly found the subject as uncomfortable as Nekohiko did. "The final human body you'll want -- it will be a body of a man, right?"

Actually, Nekohiko hadn't given this much thought yet. The cat body they'd made didn't have a gender at all since it wouldn't show on the outside anyway. But in a humanoid, it had to be important. Was a woman's body more convenient for committing murder? Especially against Abihiko? Probably not.

"A man, yes," he decided.

Kataji inhaled, bracing himself. "A big, older man or... like, a youthful one? Slender, or well-built, or--"

Spirits.

It was exactly like with picking the Kitten's Paw seashell! He didn't know what he wanted. He didn't have many ideas on the matter. The only important factor was the way Abihiko would perceive him. All of this -- bodies, plans, Nekohiko spying on him -- was for Abihiko. And for him only. To make Abihiko scared, to make him regret what he'd done. To make him ache.

And to do that effectively, the body Nekohiko most needed would have to be... the spitting image of his old one.

"My own, I guess?" he said at last.

"Ah." Kataji smiled, somewhat nervous. "So what did you look like when alive? Do you not want to go and form your face and body now, while we have time?"

...

What a question.