KAIZEN

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The past dozen millennia, give or take a few, were not kind to Kaizen.

Still, the suffering and agony quickly faded away when he finally reunited with his trusty familiar, Rukia, the yokai fox. She sat patiently waiting for him, as always, at an intersection of the rough dirt road he walked along. Kaizen recognized her immediately, though she wasn’t the colossal beast he’d previously known, that he’d previously led to slaughter.

He drew a deep breath. Today is not for sorrow.

Now a fraction of her former tigress size, Rukia inhabited the body of a tiny snow fox kit with black paws and ears, and crimson tail and eyes.

Kaizen spread his feet, dug into the ground, and glared at her. He spread his arms to the side. She stood up on all fours with narrowed eyes. He jabbed a hand inside his kimono, grabbed something, and stood motionless with his hand still concealed. In turn, she slowly leaned forward and raised one paw in a point. Her nose twitched wildly. He ripped the item from his kimono and raised the hand above his head in a threat. Rukia snarled. Her wet nose glistened in the moonlight. Drool dripped from her jowls with murderous intent.

Kaizen chucked the ball far to her side. Rukia dashed through the air in a furry fury and caught it before it touched the ground.

“Still haven’t lost your touch, I see,” he said. Rukia growled and thrashed about. She shook her stubby snout and the ball, pretending to crush its vitals.

“Hell no!” Her growls were low, but her voice pitched high. “I’ll kill it, kill it, kill it!” Rukia snapped into a neck-breaking frenzy, surely to showcase her overwhelming strength in her new body in this new world in this new Cycle.

When she’d made her point, she proudly cantered over to Kaizen, who crouched down with arms wide open. She jumped into them, and they embraced with plenty of rubs, scratches behind the ear, and slobbery licks.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you, Little One,” Rukia said.

“Seems like you’re the pipsqueak now. How long have you been waiting?” Rukia withdrew from the embrace and tucked her tail. She flashed droopy puppy dog eyes and pulled her ears back. “Ah, that long. It’s been the same for me, Ruke. It’s been the same for me…”

“You know, I always lose my memories,” she said. “I can remember you clearly, our bond. But I just don’t remember what happened last time. And somehow I remember there was a last time.” Kaizen stroked the soft spot between her eyes with his thumb.

“I’m glad you don’t remember. But,” Kaizen sighed and looked away, “lucky for us, I do. I’ll hold on to that weight for the both of us. Come, we need to meet our protégé. Should be born any time now.”

Kaizen picked up Rukia and carried her on his wide-set shoulders. He couldn’t stand to be as far apart from her as even walking side-by-side. It’s nice to finally repay her for all the rides she’s given me.

“So, how long have you been here, in this world?” Kaizen asked. “I’ve only just arrived.”

“I was reincarnated last week. Gave me mum quite the scare.” Rukia dropped her playful demeanor and addressed the real question. “The only intel I’ve gathered is that this world operates on a life force called Ryoku. It powers all life and exists in everything, even the sticks, squirrels—and that insufficiently squeaky ball.”

She dropped her voice to a low but quick whisper. “Seriously, do better next time, Kaizen. I need to really, really hear the life draining out of its voice as I crush its dreams, hopes, and ambitions. I know you can do better, I've seen you do better, though I don't actually have the memory, it's a strong feeling, and before you say anything, no I'm not gaslighting you. Ok, I trust we won't have to have this conversation again. Anyway!” She returned to her high pitched, squeaky voice. “The humans also have certain systems they have to abide by—classes and ranks or some crap.”

“Not so different from our world, is it? Social castes and all.” He reached into his kimono again to fetch Rukia’s collar.

“Well, yes and no. The system here, it’s not necessarily social classes, but I only just started going out on my own yesterday.” Kaizen fixed the collar around Rukia, and she resumed her playful nature. “Also, everyone must be chefs because they’re always talking about their menus.”

Huh, odd.

“Anyways, maaaaan, everywhere I go—I’m a wondrous sight to behold! So it’s hard to stay stealthy.”

“What’s a fox if not sly?” he asked.

“What’s a star that can’t shine?” They spotted their destination, a solemn cottage deep in the woods. “What are you going to tell them?”

Kaizen chewed his lip while they approached a window. “I’ve rehearsed this moment a thousand times. Now that we’re here, I find myself…doubting…myself.”

Rukia blinked. A leaf drifted past them in the cool night breeze. “You’re certainly off to a great start.”

They spied through the cottage window beside the front door. Two men surrounded a woman lying down on a kitchen table. Luxurious satin cushions lined her body, but she still shouted horrific obscenities at both men. Every so often, she grabbed one man’s hand, and they’d gaze into each other’s eyes during a fleeting moment of respite. Kaizen noticed this man’s lean arms because they were sleeved in tattoos, mostly blue, though also speckled with green and black. The woman boasted a few tattoos around her wrists and one eye, as well.

Are those written in some type of text? Kaizen leaned into the window.

“Evelyn, my dear,” the other man, short and plump, said. “You couldn’t be doing any better. I wish all my patients were as easy as you are.” Evelyn muttered more insults at him. “You are so close!”

“Doctor—isn’t there something you can give me to prolong this?” Evelyn looked nervously at the doctor and occasionally grimaced in pain while speaking. “I’m not ready.”

“Why Evelyn, I’ve never had a patient who didn’t want to rush through this part.”

“It can’t be today, it can’t be tonight— oh fucking shiiiiit. ” She heaved short but deep breaths. “Slow it. Down.”

“My dear—”

The gray tattoo around Evelyn's eye burned bright red. “Call me dear one more time and Salvos himself—”

“We can only speed things up at this point. That baby is coming—”

“What about the prophecies? All those fanatics and Zeke, talking about the births tonight—about how the Fourteen will be born?”

“Evelyn, we’ve been over this.” The large, tattooed man sighed. “Those cultists are just shilling everyone for money. They want to scare us into donations and contributing to their Church. Nothing they say can affect our baby.”

Kaizen felt Rukia glance at him from the corner of her eyes, watching him for a reaction. She’s forgotten what my mother was like, but she can still sense when I’m reliving moments I’d rather not.

“Think we’ll just wing it, then?” Rukia asked innocently.

“No,” Kaizen said. “I think I will just wing it.”

“Okay, then—Let’s wing it!” Rukia shook while she spoke, and her mischievous eyes widened with the thrill of the hunt. She leapt from Kaizen’s shoulder.

“No, wait—” Kaizen reached for her but only caught air. He loved how wild she was, even as she burst through the door beside him. Kami, how I've missed you.

Through the window, he saw the three startled figures and clambered inside after her. He locked eyes with the woman first and hesitated. Practiced this a hundred times, must achieve perfection. Just inside the door and facing the three strangers, Kaizen slammed down to his knees and bowed to them, forehead to the ground—a sacred act in his homeland where the proportions of the bow mattered. He eased his muscles into position and—

Ah, yes, perfection. An impeccable bow of humility, honor, and peace. Head still pressed to the ground, he began his speech.

“Honorable parents, I have journeyed a long way to witness the birth of your daughter. She has a prophecy to fulfill, and—and a destiny—and, I’ve prepared—I will prepare her…” Tongue-tied in the final hour, dammit. Lost that bet to Wrath.

“Son.” The doctor spoke first. “I don’t know what nonsense you’re hollering about, but shut the damn door. This woman is in labor and it’s freezing outside.”

Kaizen gave Rukia a glance and then got up to face the door. He wasn’t sure if any of them had noticed her or not, but he needed her to shut the door for him. She nodded at him with furrowed brows. Kaizen sighed in relief. Glad she remembers.

Rukia stood up on her hind legs, skipped to the door with flailing front paws, and slammed it shut with a roundhouse kick. Kaizen looked back to see everyone staring at their newest guest. He ran a slow hand through his long auburn hair.

A gust of freezing air swung the door open again and toppled Rukia over into a clumsy sploot. The icy wind extinguished all the cottage’s candles, which provided the only light besides the stars and the moons.

“Quickly, Doctor,” Kaizen said. “It’s time. She’s coming.”

Evelyn shrieked in pain and the doctor rushed to her. Kaizen’s heart raced. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead into his eyes. Rukia’s tiny fangs dripped with saliva, and her pupils widened out to her irises. The tattooed man ignored the intruders and squeezed the woman’s hand. Moments later, a baby was successfully delivered.

“What do you want to call him?” the doctor asked the parents.

Rukia and Kaizen looked at each other, puzzled. He mouthed, Him!? Did you pick the right house!?

Evelyn admired the baby boy still held by the doctor. Not even the mass confusion of what just happened could override the joy of a newborn baby.

“Jules. His name is Jules,” Evelyn whispered. She kissed the icon strung about her necklace. “Thank Salvos.”

She smiled warmly, then looked over at her intruders. “If you’re with those cultists, then looks like you were mistaken. This boy isn’t one of The Fourteen. Now if you wouldn't mind to fu—"

A bright light emerged from Jules’ little baby chest, and his body grew scalding hot. The doctor flinched and clumsily dropped the infant into the bucket of water prepared to clean him. The water evaporated within seconds, and Baby Jules burst into flames.

A column of vertical light emitted from Jules’ chest and burst through the thatch roof high into the night sky. The light eventually stopped radiating from Jules, but continued shooting upward until it’d left the atmosphere.

“Yeah well, ya know," Rukia said, "I’d say we’re definitely at the right house and all."

Evelyn shrieked again, and the father looked at the doctor in disbelief. Here it comes.

“Did you just drop my son?” he shouted.

“Ah—Um—Well…” The doctor fumbled his words and shrank away from the father. He fears you. Why, I wonder?

Kaizen stared at Jules and felt a truly deep mix of guilt and obligation, as if the infant were his own son. Rukia, on all fours again, cantered over to the bucket and licked the baby before the fire even died down. Kaizen felt a tinge of envy. Jules giggled. Everyone else was silent.

“This,” Kaizen, composed once more, gestured to the fox, “is Rukia. She is Jules’ guide, his Familiar. She will go with him everywhere, and their lives are intricately laced. As for me, I am Kaizen, and—”

“The hell is going on here,” the father demanded. “Are you one of those damn cultists after all? If you wanna see some real magic tricks, just try me.”

The tattoos all over his body illuminated brighter shades of their base hues. Kaizen met the threat with compassion and patience. Chill air misted around the father’s clenched fists.

« Ice »

He shouted the incantation in a harsh, foreign tongue and launched a flurry of ice spikes at Kaizen.

Kaizen felt no pain and didn't flinch as they passed right through him, but adrenaline still flooded his system. Oh, how I've missed that feeling. But back to the father. Quick to anger. And ready to defend his family. Good.

“What can I say,” Kaizen said. “It’s complicated. I’m a ghost, so you can’t harm me. Like I said, my name is Kaizen and I am the previous incarnation of Jules. We have a lot to discuss, but these cultists you spoke of, they make me nervous.” I didn’t have them until much later. Nor did my…master. The father’s tattoos dimmed down, and both he and Kaizen redirected their attention to Evelyn.

“Your son,” Kaizen continued, “is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Wrath, and I am the previous incarnation. I regret your fears came true.”

Evelyn clutched her necklace again. The icon's sharp metal drew blood from her palms. “Salvos, no—No! Not my baby, my son!” She fainted. While the father attended to Evelyn, the doctor inched towards the door.

“I’ve come here to prepare Jules for what’s to come, to give him tools, to help you two raise him.”

“The prophecies of Salvos are true? Our boy, he’s…”

“I’ve only just come back to life and am ignorant of your prophecies or this Salvos, though he’s probably full of shit. But…if they mention an Apocalypse, that part is, uh, very true, I'm afraid.”

"…Apocalypse?"

Dammit, man, you are too close to that door. “Rukia. Please let our esteemed medic know that, however gracious we are of his delivery skills, that you won’t hesitate to violently, meticulously, surgically even, rip out his pudgy little throat. Should he flee, that is.”

Rukia growled and snapped her sharp fangs. The doctor collapsed on his ass, paralyzed in fear by a tiny, impish fox kit. “That pillar of light is going to draw attention Jules doesn’t want or need, but what he does need is a safe hideout. I’ll tell you more on the road.”

“But you’re sure it’s him? You thought he’d be a baby girl.”

Kaizen balked at the man. “ Did you just see that fucking column of —ah, you know what? Tensions are high. Forgive me.”

Inside voice, Kaizen , Rukia thought to him.

Kaizen took a breath and composed himself. Time was scarce, but he needed the dad to cooperate. “Rukia bonded with him, so I’m certain. If you need more proof, that column of light would have left a mark on him like mine.”

Kaizen pulled back his kimono and revealed an intricate tattoo of the number 7 over his heart. The father walked over to his son and stared at him, in silence, his question answered. He picked up his son, crudely swaddled him in a blanket, and rocked him in his arms. As any first-time father would, he gazed at Jules with a blend of deep love and sheer terror. Kaizen knew those emotions would run deeper for him, given the news.

“Can I—can I see him?” Evelyn was awake again. The father awkwardly transferred baby Jules to his mother. He wriggled around in the blanket and grunted. He tried to escape his warm little prison but couldn’t, so he shrieked in frustration. Tiny red embers sparked around his eyes.

“Get him away from me,” Evelyn shouted. She thrust Jules back into his father’s arms. “I won’t have this monster feed from me. He’s a devil, sent to destroy us all.”

Rukia turned her attention from the doctor to his patient and barked a yappy protest. Why must we always be doomed to this family? “You are mistaken, Mother,” Kaizen said. “It is he who’s stuck with you.” She froze, and Kaizen spoke again to the father. “I understand Ryochu is important here, but can I use chi to power up a vehicle to escape? Or do you have a carpet?”

Kaizen heard the crickets outside, all desperate to find each other and mate. Right. They don’t have the concept of chi. “Dammit, man, help your son!” Kaizen’s eyes emitted red flames like Jules’.

“You must mean Ryoku. I don’t know what chi is, but Ryoku fuels everything here. I have stores of it, we can power my sailboat to safety.”

Kaizen and Rukia worked out a hurried plan. Rukia informed him of the meager forms of transportation here while Kaizen watched the man shush and rock his son; he felt the father’s love through his weak bond with Jules. I feel worse for this man than I do for losing to Death right now.

“Alright, we need to flee to a new city. You’ll have to start over again, but Rukia has experience with fresh starts. Now let’s pack up your—shit.” Kaizen scanned the room. “Where’s your medic?”

Kaizen sprinted through furniture and the window he’d spied through, touching nothing. In the distance, a mob approached the cottage, outlined by the torches they carried. The doctor scurried away, halfway between them. He flailed his arms and yelled at the growing crowd. Kaizen ran back inside.

“Dad, in five minutes, you’re gone. Rukia, our prey awaits.”

The father shoved Jules into Evelyn’s reluctant arms. She held him at a distance from her breasts and looked disgusted. At least she’s holding him.

Kaizen and Rukia exited the cottage together. They heard some of the doctor’s shouted words. Sins. Wrath. Monster. Another villager called out from the pack’s center.

“That true, Tideshaper? You harboring the spawn of demons in there?”

“Zeke,” the father whispered at the doorway, though it was more like a curse. “They really will kill my boy, won’t they?”

“They’ll certainly try. I’m afraid it’d be easier for them to kill me, though. Thought I told you to pack. Three minutes now.” Kaizen and Rukia approached and stopped short of the madding crowd, who hurled a variety of slurs, insults, and threats at him. All around, the vigilantes' tattoos lit up the growing darkness. Kaizen concentrated his strength to his core and grew in size by another half. His muscles bulged and veins popped.

“Said he’s a g-ghost,” the trembling doctor said. “He can’t touch or do anything!”

“Aye. I can’t.” Kaizen jerked a thumb towards the fox. “But she can.”

Rukia charged to the midpoint, fangs out, and squealed out a roar. The villagers cackled and shouted more insults. The right side of Kaizen disintegrated slowly from his body, into a fine powdery mist.

« Integrate »

The rest of his body evaporated into a cloud of ash that flowed into Rukia. She grew back to the size and build of a tiger, though she retained her foxy features. Archaic patterns and glyphs lined her white fur in fiery crimson tufts all over. Like the tattoos of this world?

A girl of honor, a regal lady true to her word, an avenger of the downtrodden and the weak, Rukia fulfilled her promise and attacked the doctor first. She pounced high into the air and roared again. This time the sound echoed through the entire forest. Rukia—and Kaizen within her—flatted the medic and wrenched out his throat with surgical precision. We warned you, they thought as one.

The villagers rioted and ran forward to attack, with their pitchforks and makeshift weapons brandished, their own tattoos aglow. Nothing braver than a zealot. Rukia charged the horde. She lacerated and crippled a dozen men before she took a pitchfork to the side. Enraged, she eyed the man who had impaled her.

“I’ll give you a head start.”

The man fumbled with his farming tool and scurried back to the safety of the crowd. She slashed the throats of three more men with thick claws and bull rushed a few others before she leapt on her assailant’s back. Rukia held him prone on the ground with one paw and glared at the remaining villagers. The young man writhed around under her weight as he suffocated in the mud. Too many. Time to pull back.

Rukia carved her claws into the man’s back and flung him through the air at the group closest to Jules' home. The man howled midair and collided into his own allies. Rukia leapt back to the cottage door, and Kaizen ended the Integration and ripped himself away from her. He removed her collar just as she turned back into her fox kit form, then ran inside to the father.

“We don’t have enough power to fight them off. I’m tied to Jules’ and Rukia's energy levels, and I don’t know how anything works here. How can he get more?”

The father held up a pouch filled with roughly cut purple gems. “We can give him Ryoku from these crystals, but not much. It’s all the money we’ve got.” Money?

“We can’t give away all we have for him ,” Evelyn snapped.

Kaizen’s skin crawled. “Give him all the energy you can. We will stay and dispose of the villagers, but we won’t be following you. Here, take this collar. Rukia will find Jules one day.” The man took the collar. “Let Jules give her the collar—make sure it’s him and only him.”

Evelyn continued to protest, but Kaizen knew she was much too weak from childbirth to fight. The man picked up Jules in one arm and wrapped Evelyn around his shoulder with the other. He turned for the back door, which overlooked the sea. Kaizen reached for the father's shoulder but went through it. He whipped around, startled by the sensation. Jules cooed.

“What’s your name?” Kaizen asked.

“Liam. Liam Tideshaper.”

Liam? Jules acts like this is his father, but—What the Hell is going on here!?

“Liam…I see.” Kaizen gazed at Liam with forlorn hope; after taking the deal with Wrath, Kaizen knew all too well how this would end for him. “Take care of Jules. You are all he has. Your son was born a Sin, but his destiny is far from determined.” Wide-eyed, Liam nodded, and Kaizen felt he understood the message. This woman may have given birth to him, but you are Jules’ only parent. “Patience,” Kaizen added. “You must seek Patience.”

He turned his back on Liam and returned to Rukia. The villagers threw torches at the home. Kaizen felt Jules carried through the back door as Liam ran to safety. Better still, he felt Liam feed Jules all that invigorating Ryoku. The riot closed in on the cottage. Kaizen and Rukia smiled at the raging flames. “If only they knew how much we love fire."

« Integrate »

This time, Rukia’s body disintegrated into Kaizen’s. His long auburn hair receded back into his scalp until it was much shorter and mixed with white tufts. The slits of his eyes narrowed like a cat’s, and his fingernails sharpened like claws. Crimson tattoos crept down from his eyes to his cheeks.

Thirty men, most of what remained, stormed Kaizen in a full frontal assault. He dug his feet into the ground and wrapped one finger at a time around his katana’s hilt. When the wave surged close enough, he ripped the Sound of Fury out in a single sweep across them all.

Upon finishing, he cleaned off his blade with the inside of his elbow and sheathed it. Rukia disintegrated from his body and formed her own again. Kaizen turned back to the shore behind the cottage. A lone pale white sail drifted through the darkness.

“That’s all the Ryochi, Ruke. I’m sorry to leave you again so soon.” She didn't laugh at the poor attempt for humor. A single tear fell down Kaizen’s cheek. “Find him, but keep your distance. This time… This time I trust the father.”

“Why do you have to leave? I’ve missed you so much.” Rukia’s puppy dog eyes welled with tears.

The Sound of Fury lit up with a soft white glow, then burst into light. It shattered into three pieces that hurtled off into the night sky in different directions. Each left a comet's trail behind them. Kaizen thought of his friends, his comrades in arms, as the light from each faded away.

“Just now, I breached an agreement.” He knelt down and scratched her ears, one final time. “We’ll meet again. But for now, there’s more prey to hunt.”

They surveyed the battlefield. Just beyond the thirty butchered bodies were a handful of villagers who kept a safe distance from combat. Some backpedaled and ran away, while others stared in horror at the massacre.

“Will you do it one last time, Little One?” Rukia asked, still moping.

“Of course.” He pet her from head to tail and stood up. Kaizen reached back into his kimono and chucked the ball towards the survivors. “Fetch, girl!”

Rukia’s face lit up with excitement and focus. She zipped through the air after the ball, full speed ahead. Kaizen smiled as his vision once again faded to black.