“... Who were you again?”

“That's Zhāng Yàn, the current Master of the Clear Sight School,” Cheng Guk Lung reminded her.

“How was I supposed to remember that?”

“That's besides the point. Are you going to accept my challenge or not?”

“Yeah, yeah. Calm down.”

Zhāng Yàn marched back to the centre of the arena, trailed by a yawning Eitsu. He turned and bowed energetically.

“Zhāng Yàn, Master of the Clear Sight School of Mount Huā, Third Dāntián Adept, requests a spar with Lady Eitsu.”

“Huh, so you're kind of strong. Alright, I'll bite.”

The disciples who had left earlier were starting to hurry back, called by their peers. Despite this, the audience retreated further from the pair, some disciples hiding in the safety of the trees. Zhào Xīn muttered some words, and a wall of wooden stakes, a bu high, rose around the opened space, providing some protection for the watchers without blocking their vision.

“Participants, are you ready?”

“Bring it.”

“Just say start.”

“Three. Two. One. Start.”

Before Eitsu could blink, Zhāng Yàn was right before her. His movements were fast and fluid, on a completely different level of skill to the two disciples Eitsu had fought before. She dropped and rolled, avoiding first the fist that rushed towards her face, then the foot that nearly stamped into her stomach. She jumped backwards, hands first, her foot whistling through the air and narrowly missing Zhāng Yàn's nose as he halted his charge to avoid it.

“Seems like you're a bit quick.”

“Those with a strong Fire attribute are the fastest of all.” He snapped his fingers and a ball of flame erupted over his hand, enveloping it as he charged to strike again. Eitsu smelt her hair singe as she whirled to avoid him. Her nail suddenly grew long and sharp, and they took a few strands of Zhāng Yàn's faintly red-hued dark locks.

He laughed fiercely. “Good, good!”

Eitsu took the initiative next, swinging her nails at his face. He turned his face rapidly away, the tips of the nails just grazing his cheek, and let his momentum continue the turn, his leg, now also coated in flames, swinging around to strike Eitsu's back. She just managed to backflip over the leg, landing hands first, then pushed back again with them, her feet finally making contact with Zhāng Yàn's shoulder. He staggered several paces, instinctively throwing himself backwards to avoid Eitsu's follow up attack.

The watching crowd was absolutely silent. Barely anyone could see the details of the fight. At most, they were watching blurs. The combatants broke apart, their breathing growing heavy.

“A third of your time has passed,” Zhào Xīn announced.

“Is she telling us we're not going fast enough?” Eitsu asked.

“We'd better hurry up then.”

Zhāng Yàn charged and aimed his fire-clad legs at Eitsu's feet. She in turn leapt high, her claws aiming for his head. Red light flashed in his eyes, and he kicked his legs up, his feet meeting Eitsu's stomach and sending her flying over his head. She twisted to land safely, but had to immediately roll to put out the flames.

“Well, I'll admit this is a unique way of undressing someone. Can't say I've experienced it before.” The front of her borrowed robes were tattered. She undid the sash of the ruined outer one, revealing the inner robe with a patch burnt away over her stomach. The loose pants she wore underneath were mostly intact. Many of the watching disciples shuffled with embarrassment, some covering their eyes.

Eitsu leapt for Zhāng Yàn again, shedding the billowing outer robe at the last minute. He burnt it to a crisp within moments, but she took the opportunity to land and strike at him from the side. He caught her hand with his forearm, bringing his flaming right fist towards her in an uppercut. Once more, she backflipped, the fist sailing harmlessly under her chin, her feet again just missing his jaw as he leaned back.

They were both panting now, a sheen of perspiration over both their foreheads. Eitsu gritted her teeth. This was bad. At her prime she would not have had such a difficult time defeating a human, no matter how skilled they might be. Would she have to use that power? Somehow, it felt as though, if she meddled with this human's mind, she might as well have lost.

Again, they clashed, constantly evading each others' attacks; she moved with the instinct of a wild animal, Zhāng Yàn seemed as though he was predicting her movements.

“Those red eyes of yours... Do you have some kind of foresight power?”

“The guiding principle of the Clear Sight School is Doong joek gun fo, 'Clear as a blazing fire'. At my level cultivation, this is the least I can do.”

“One third of your time left!”

The disciples watched, wide-eyed and white-knuckled.

Eitsu's eyes narrow. If he can predict... I'll have to move on pure instinct.

Forward. She feinted towards his face, twisting suddenly and driving her nails into his foot. There was a smell of singed keratin, but although Eitsu was slightly burnt, Zhāng Yàn was now limping. With a roar of pain, he burst into flame, his entire body surrounded by fire. Eitsu clicked her tongue in annoyance, ducking and twisting as he battled towards her with hands and feet.

Damn it all! Would she really have to use that power after all?

Leaping up from a crouched position, with her nails swinging for his stomach, she dropped suddenly to the ground as he curved his spine to avoid her strike, rolling under his feet instead and knocking him off balance. He quickly rolled and righted himself, rushing back and just barely avoiding the kick she aimed at his face as she pushed off the ground with her hands. She cartwheeled into crouching position.

Her skin was hot and blistered from his flames, he was dripping blood across the the earth of the clearing, they were both panting heavily and sweating profusely, although his perspiration was evaporating almost immediately with the sweat surrounding his body.

With a hissing, cat-like scream of annoyance, Eitsu shut her eyes tight and opened them suddenly, the pupils shrinking rapidly to tiny slits in the golden glow of her irises. Zhāng Yàn froze in place, his own red eyes staring as if seeing something invisible to everyone else -

“Time's up!”

Eitsu shut her eyes quickly, and Zhāng Yàn collapsed to his knees, his flames dying out instantly. They both sat in absolute silence, gulping down air, drenched and battered. Disciples with healing powers shook themselves out of their stupor first, rushing forward to administer first aid. Noise immediately broke out in the audience, and Zhāng Yàn had to shout to make himself heard.

“What was that at the end?”

“Nothing. I shouldn't have used it.”

“You could have beaten me easily if you'd done that from the start,” he said, laying down under the guidance of the healers.

“It's not something I want to rely on,” Eitsu growled, as a disciple began to apply balm to her scorched hands.

Zhāng Yàn laughed as he listened to Cheng Guk Lung's translation. “I see. So this is... divinity. It was an honour to battle you, Divine Lady.”

The hands treating Eitsu's wounds were reverent and careful. In spite of her injuries, she felt light, somehow. Her exhaustion seemed to be lifting rapidly. As she lifted her eyes to the disciples around her, she saw the look in theirs – awed, amazed – and as she raised her face further, she could see, first Ayame, her mouth open in surprise, and then, behind her, Tsubaki, a look on her face that was equal parts relief and shining devotion.

“I thought I got rid of your obsession,” Eitsu said.

“That's what you think,” Tsubaki replied. “You're not that great.”

“Ha... Actually, I think I am.”

“There's no curing you.”

“You'd be sad if I was cured.” She pushed herself upright.

“Divine Lady, please stay still!”

“Lady Eitsu, please lie back down.”

Eitsu snorted at their pleas. “No.”

In a moment, a little black cat sat amongst a puddle of damaged robes. She limped over to Tsubaki, who carefully lifted her up, holding her close. The cat wrapped one paw around the back of Tsubaki's neck like a hug.

“I'm tired. I want to go nap somewhere.”

“Yes, Eitsu-sama.” Tsubaki bowed to everyone in general, patted Ayame on the head, and carried Eitsu away as the cat dozed in her arms.

---

“In the end, I'm still not strong enough.”

“But Eitsu-sama, you fought on equal terms with one of the strongest people at Hanasan!” Ayame objected. With a newfound admiration, she had appeared to peel and cut apples into the shapes of little bunnies to feed to Eitsu, but the kaibyou had turned up her nose at them, so she was giving them to Tsubaki. “Why didn't the two of you tell me that Eitsu-sama is a kaibyou?”

“You're too chatty. You would have told everyone.”

“But I can't even speak the language here!”

“That doesn't seem to stop you.”

“Argh! Don't gang up on me! And everyone else hear already knows! I was the last one to find out... Even though... Everyone keeps coming to me trying to ask questions, and I don't know anything...”

Eitsu ruffled her hair. “Sorry, kid. We've been pretty bad to you. We'll tell you these things from now on, okay?”

“Then, Eitsu-sama, how old are you?”

“Hmm... somewhere over a thousand years old.”

“A thousand! How? Really? When's your birthday?”

“No idea. I only know my rough age because I can manifest nine tails if I try hard enough.”

“Wow, can I see?”

“I don't have the energy right now.”

“Oh... Um... What about your powers, Eitsu-sama? What can you do?”

“She blessed me with luck,” Tsubaki said, munching an apple bunny. “That's why I've done so well with my career.”

“Oh, really? Then, that must have been several years ago! When did you meet?”

“When I was a teenager, I would pray at Eitsubyou no Mikoto's shrine in my hometown. She gave me luck in return.”

“Wow... Wait! So that time when we prayed to the Omanekineko, and then the disciples of Hanasan found us... That was Eitsu-sama's luck, wasn't it? Amazing!”

“Well, gifts can sometimes be double-edged,” Eitsu laughed.

“What do you mean, Eitsu-sama?”

“I'm too successful, it's tiring,” Tsubaki said, flopping flat onto her face.

“Ah! Tsubaki-dono! Not your face!”

“I think I might stay here for a while,” Eitsu said, as Ayame fussed over Tsubaki, who lay buried face-down in a pile of leaves. “You two should probably stay here for a while as well, but that's up to you.”

“I'll follow Tsubaki-dono.”

“I'll follow Eitsu-sama.”

“Ugh, you're both hopeless.”

“You're the worst.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright. If it makes you feel better.”

And so, through winter, they stayed in Hanasan. Ayame learnt with the junior disciples of the Clear Sight School, and their Master continuously ambushed Eitsu at strange times to try and determine a clear winner between them.

Tsubaki would disappear and reappear whenever she felt like it. She had found out quickly that she had no spiritual power. She could learn the martial arts of the Sect but not enforce them with ki, at which news she just shrugged philosophically and followed the movements of the disciples. In spite of the safety of Hanasan, the dark circles around her eyes seemed permanent; she perpetually looked as weary as a student cramming the night before a test.

The pelts stayed in the box, under Eitsu's bed.

She slept when she wanted and dodged lessons and fought with Zhāng Yàn and teased Tsubaki and all the while, the pelts cast a shadow in the back of her mind. She knew there were still memories to regain. She didn't want to think about them.

“When will we go back to Yamato?” Ayame asked, one day, as winter was coming to an end. Her new ability to maintain a warm body temperature had made her a favourite with Eitsu, who would curl up around her as if the girl were a hearth. The snow had already started melting a week ago, and the paths of Hanasan were wet and muddy.

“Do you want to go back, Ayame-chan?”

“Well, it's nice here, but I want to see all my friends again, and Tusbaki-dono, can you really be away for so long? What if they find another dancer to replace you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it does! You're the greater dancer, Tsubaki-dono! People come from all over Yamato, and even further, to see you!”

The great dancer half-slid from the bed, the upper half of her body dangling. “Meh.”

“Wow.”

“Tsubaki-dono!”

“How about we send you back first, Ayame-chan?”

“No! I can't leave Tsubaki-dono behind.”

“I'll look after her.”

“... Great Kami, Eitsubyou no Mikoto, Omanekineko... I don't trust you to look after her.”

“Ouch.”

“I can't be bothered going back,” Tsubaki said, her voice muffled by the bedsheets.

“Look, Aya-chan,” Eitsu said, before Ayame could start crying, “I'd like to go back eventually too, but there are a few things I have to sort out first. We'll go back when I do that, okay?”

“Are you even doing anything, kami-sama? You just seem to be messing around.”

“Why are you sounding more and more like Tsubaki every day?”

She was right, though. Eitsu couldn't avoid the box under the bed any longer.

That night, she retrieved the furs, letting their shining forms slip through her hands as she sat on the wooden floor of their room. Tsubaki's breathing was even and soft. Her bed was empty. Every night, she walked, asleep, to Eitsu's bed and climbed in. Every morning, just before she woke, Eitsu put her back in her own bed.

The fawn pelt of her third life lurked at the edge of her vision.

She grimaced, and pulled it out.