TITLE: Spell of a Dark Sea

AUTHOR: Tiffany Park

CATEGORY: Supernatural, Drama

SPOILERS: None

RATING: PG

CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild violence

SUMMARY: Kantarou and Haruka investigate a spirit troubling a small fishing village.

STATUS: Complete

ARCHIVE: Please ask first

DISCLAIMER: Tactics and its characters belong to Sakura Kinoshita, Kazuko Higashiyama, TOKYOPOP, MAG Garden Corporation, and probably a whole bunch of other people and companies I know nothing about. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Story was inspired by the traditional Japanese ghost story, "Funa Yurei," from Nihon no Obake Banashi, translated by Zack Davisson.

This story is influenced more by the anime than the manga.

This story was written back in February before the tsunami in Japan. My beta reader and I did some soul-searching about whether I should submit it or not due to its ocean and drowning themes and imagery, but both of us finally agreed that we were probably just being oversensitive. I hope the readers agree with us.

Spell of a Dark Sea

by Tiffany Park

Submersion came as a traumatic jolt to his system. The sudden flurry of bubbles, splashes, and foam blotted out his vision. A half-gasp escaped his lips at the icy shock before he clamped his mouth shut and held on to his lifeline: his remaining air.

Where the foam dissipated and cleared, shafts of sunlight cut into the dark, frigid depths. Where the light flickered and rippled, the gray water turned a lovely shade of blue. Above, the surface was an uneven, undulating membrane, a mysterious division separating the liquid depths from the open air like the fine line of consciousness separated dreaming from waking. Sounds grew thick and muffled, swelling and shrinking with the slow, rhythmic surges of the ocean.

Everything was calm and peaceful beneath the sea's surface.

He held his breath and kicked his legs, aiming up towards air and chaos, but a heavy, dead weight wrapped leaden arms about his waist and dragged him down into the sea's frightening tranquility.

Kantarou sat over tea with the headman of a small fishing village. "Please, Sensei," the headman said, "you must help us."

"You say that fishermen are disappearing?" Kantarou asked.

The headman nodded. "In the last month since we started fishing the new location, five boats have put out and not returned. The remaining fishermen refuse to go to sea, even to fish other places. Some have reported seeing strange lights in and above the water. They say a vengeful sea spirit was disturbed and took their comrades in revenge." He wrung his hands. "Fishing is our main source of food and income. We'll starve if we can't fish."

"You said they're fishing a new area. It might just be some natural danger or hazard that they didn't know about…" Kantarou pretended disinterest in the case, despite his near-constant need of money for the household groceries and expenses.

"No, it's nothing like that. We're fisherfolk, we understand the ordinary dangers of the sea," the headman protested. "Please, Sensei. We'll pay your fee and provide transportation, meals, and lodgings. I will put you up in my own home. Please help us."

Still feigning reluctance, Kantarou said, "I don't know... I suppose I could look into it when I get some time…"

The headman sweetened the pot. "We'll pay you twice your regular rate! Anything to get rid of the spirit."

"I'll need to bring my assistant with me."

"Of course," the headman nodded. "Naturally my offer of transportation and lodgings also applies to him."

"All right," Kantarou said, with the air of a noble lord conferring an immensely inconvenient favor upon a peasant. "I'll do it."

"Oh, thank you, Sensei," said the headman, tearfully grateful.

The underwater sunbeams danced restlessly. Stalks of tall, waving kelp looked black, silhouetted in the shafts of light.

Panicked, he struggled harder, trying to swim up toward the light. The weight on him pulled him down. Long tendrils of seaweed tangled around his legs. He thrashed against the restrictions. His chest ached from holding his breath for so long.

The dancing lights seemed so far away...

The sky overhead was clear and sunny. Gentle waves lapped the sand and gravel shoreline, while flocks of seabirds swooped and cried out raucously. Kantarou and Haruka walked along the narrow beach, following the village headman to the grounded fleet of gracefully curved fishing boats. The larger ones had masts for sails; smaller vessels were driven only by oars. All had been pulled from the water and rested on the beach.

The group passed rows of small, weather-beaten houses where the fisherfolk lived. On the porches men and women alike swept out dirt and mended nets. Their curious and hopeful eyes followed the newcomers.

"Smell that," said Kantarou, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. His colorful robes seemed to glow in the sunlight. "Isn't the air invigorating?"

"It stinks of salt and rotting seaweed," Haruka replied, scowling.

"Ah, Haruka, you just don't appreciate the many health benefits of sea air."

"You sound like an old man."

A cormorant swooped overhead. It plunged into the water, surfacing a moment later with a struggling fish held tightly in its sharp beak. Silver scales flashed as the seabird took flight and winged off into the distance.

The three men stopped at one of the smaller fishing boats. It looked like it could carry no more than four men in addition to some nets and other fishing tools. It had no masts, just two sets of oars. Two dour fishermen stood by, staring mutely at Kantarou and Haruka.

"These are the only men willing to take you out to where the spirit resides," said the headman.

"It's more than sufficient, sir," Kantarou replied. "I'm sure we'll solve your problem."

"Thank you," said the headman with a bow. "We will be in your debt."

Haruka lifted a cynical eyebrow but refrained from making any snide commentary about Kantarou's mercenary ways.

Kantarou and Haruka climbed into the boat and settled on the forward benches. The two fishermen pushed the boat into the water, then got in and started rowing.

His chest seized with a series of convulsive spasms, but he stubbornly held on to the precious air in his lungs. He wanted to let it out, exhale, and gulp in another lungful, but there was only the sea all around him. Sharp pains stabbed his ears from the increasing pressure. His body started to go numb from the icy cold, his limbs grew clumsy and disobedient, and his mind clouded.

The radiant sunbeams cutting through the water mesmerized him. Cerulean blue filled his eyes. He stopped struggling against the weight that dragged at him and allowed himself to sink farther into the depths.

The fishing boat rocked over the waves as the fishermen pulled the oars. The shoreline was very far away, just a dark blur on the horizon. Sunlight glittered on the rippling, gray-blue water, throwing off multitudes of bright sparkles. Kantarou and Haruka sat in silence, watching over the sea, seeking any malicious apparitions.

The boat stopped, swaying gently. The steady strokes of the oars became frenzied splashing. Kantarou turned around to look at the fishermen, his eyes widening to see that despite their increasingly panicked efforts, the boat stayed locked in place.

"Sensei, something's wrong," one of the fishermen said breathlessly. He looked terrified. "It must be the spirit holding us here!"

Kantarou's bracelet of mystic bells chimed, warning of the approach of a negative presence. "Haruka," he said, holding out his wrist so the jingling bells were clearly visible. Haruka looked grim and nodded.

"Look!" the other fisherman called, pointing out at the water.

In the distance, a ball of pale, sickly light flickered beneath the rolling waves. It grew larger as it came nearer.

The fishermen pulled the oars with frantic vigor, but the boat remained unnaturally frozen in place on the restless sea.

The light came up beside the boat and rose from the waves, resolving into a ghastly female corpse in a plain white kimono. Her long black hair was tangled with rotting seaweed; her skin was pale and putrid; her eyes were infinite black pits lit by tiny, burning coals. She extended skeletal hands, crying, "Give me a ladle. Give me a ladle," in an eerie, wailing voice.

Both fishermen screamed at the apparition, then one fainted dead away. Kantarou gasped and clutched at the sharp pain in his chest, triggered by the strong sense of evil. "It's a funayurei!" he said.

"What's that?" asked Haruka.

"It's the ghost of someone who died at sea. They all carry grudges, and try to drown any sailors they encounter. Don't give her a ladle, or she'll use it to fill the boat with water and sink us!"

The funayurei continued to demand a ladle. The remaining fisherman panicked and cried out, "Get away! Get away!" He brandished an oar and attempted to strike the ghost.

"No, don't!" Kantarou yelled.

The ghost clutched the oar and pulled the fisherman off balance. The boat tilted dangerously to one side.

Kantarou cast an ofuda at the funayurei. Bright light flared. She screamed, released the oar, and sank beneath the waves. The fisherman fell backwards and struck his head on a bench, losing consciousness. The boat rocked then settled.

"She's not gone yet," Kantarou muttered, leaning over the edge to see where the funayurei went.

In a geyser of icy water, the vengeful funayurei burst from the sea and grabbed Kantarou. She swiftly dragged him overboard and took him beneath the water's surface.

"Kantarou!" Haruka shouted, gripping the side of the boat and staring down at the spot where his master had disappeared.

Overhead, sunbeams rippled, lightening the cold, gray water with a halo of glowing, cerulean blue. At the edges lurked impenetrable darkness. The kelp entwined Kantarou further, holding him trapped in place. The dead weight dragging on him released him and slipped away.

His burning chest could no longer take the strain. Air leaked from his lips in a long stream of silvery bubbles. They floated up toward the sunbeams in a swirling dance. Mesmerized, he reached upwards to them.

A large, strong hand grasped his in a crushing grip. Just before his body forced him to take a convulsive breath, he felt himself ripped away from the entangling kelp and yanked out of the sea. Holding him by one arm, Haruka soared upwards, black wings spread wide. Kantarou remembered the seabird that had captured the fish, and whimsically thought that he had been plucked from the sea the same way. He drew a shaky breath and coughed, pressing his free arm against his chest to ease his shivering. Giddy with oxygen, he asked, "Haruka, are you a tengu or a cormorant?"

"Idiot master," Haruka berated him.

Haruka swept over the boat and carelessly tossed Kantarou into its relative safety with the two unconscious fishermen. "Don't stick your head so far out again," he said roughly.

The funayurei surfaced and floated in the air above the water, wailing horrendously. Haruka summoned his staff to call down lightning upon her. Thunder rumbled as dark clouds gathered in the previously clear sky.

Kantarou ordered, "No, Haruka! Don't destroy her!"

"Fool!" Haruka snapped. "That thing tried to drown you." But he relented. The thunder faded, the storm clouds thinned.

Mastering his chills and coughing, Kantarou stood up in the boat and addressed the funayurei. "I know you died at sea, so your body could not undergo funeral rites and your spirit is restless and wrathful. I can help you to move on to where you need to be."

The funayurei shrieked at him, her mouth a gaping void filled with rotting teeth. The coals of her eyes flared with fury and fire.

Undeterred, Kantarou grasped his prayer beads, bowed his head, and started chanting.

The funayurei screamed and screamed as the holy words stripped her of her grudges and anger. She burned with unhealthy phosphorescence, and then a blinding flash engulfed her corpse form and purified it. A luminous white sphere of pure light drifted upwards toward the sun and faded away.

Haruka alighted in the boat. His wings vanished. "Is it done?"

Kantarou nodded. The exorcism completed, he relaxed and immediately started shivering again. Frigid seawater shook from his clothes and hair.

"What's wrong now?" Haruka asked.

"Just cold and wet," he answered through chattering teeth. He wrapped his arms around himself for warmth. "I just need to dry off and warm up." He nodded to the unconscious fishermen. "We need to wake these two to take us back to shore."

Haruka's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "We can fly there faster."

"These fishermen would panic if we were gone when they woke up," Kantarou objected. "Besides, we'd have to explain how we got back without the boat. Don't worry, I'll be fine. It's only a mild touch of hypothermia," he added with a wink.

"Idiot," Haruka said. "If you're so concerned about appearances, rouse them when we're almost back. They can finish rowing the rest of the way." He tied the mooring rope to a deck ring, gripped the free end of the line and, summoning his wings, took off to tow the boat towards the shore.

Wearing dry clothes, well wrapped in blankets, and sipping hot tea, Kantarou knelt at the table with the village headman. Haruka sat leaning against the wall, watching with cynicism.

"The funayurei has been exorcised," Kantarou told the headman. "Your fishing boats won't be troubled by her anymore."

"Thank you, Sensei, thank you," the headman bowed his head in gratitude. "For your esteemed services..." He slid a sealed envelope across the table.

"Thank you, good sir," Kantarou also bowed his head as he accepted the payment. The dignified movement was ruined when he let out an enormous sneeze.

The headman looked alarmed. "I was so sorry to hear the spirit almost drowned you, and that you have become ill as a result. Should I call for a physician?"

"No, no," Kantarou said cheerfully. "It's just a cold. One of the many mundane hazards in my line of work."

The headman accepted this without question. "Thank you again, Sensei," he said with another respectful nod, then he rose and left.

"So can we go home?" Haruka asked abruptly. "I hate the sea."

"I don't like it much, myself, right now," Kantarou agreed.

"The headman won't want to feed and lodge us for much longer now that the ghost problem is solved."

"And I got paid," Kantarou said happily. He counted his money, then tucked the envelope safely away.

Haruka grunted, and it sounded a little like "mercenary."

"Oh, come on. You like money, too. You and Youko both complain when I don't make any, and then you complain when I do. Make up your mind." Kantarou sulked and slurped his tea loudly.

"We should leave now."

"I'm cold and sick," Kantarou complained. "I don't want to travel today."

"It's your own fault for letting yourself almost get drowned," Haruka said unsympathetically.

"It's not like it was my idea, Haruka."

"Leaning over the edge of the boat like that was stupid." He got up and loomed over Kantarou.

"Well, yes," Kantarou admitted, "but I needed to see where the funayurei went..."

"Stupid." Haruka abruptly picked up Kantarou and slung him over one shoulder like a sack of rice, blankets and all.

"Haruka!" Kantarou protested, then sneezed again.

"We're going home," Haruka stated flatly. "Youko can make a fox remedy for your cold."

"I don't think there is such a thing—Ouch! Take it easy, Haruka, this isn't comfortable."

"You're awfully lively for someone who's sick. Stop squirming." Haruka shifted Kantarou's weight to balance him better.

"Haruka, what about our things? We can't leave our clothes and luggage behind—"

"The headman can ship them to us." Ignoring his master's further objections, Haruka opened the window and launched outwards, spreading his black wings wide to catch the air and sail up into the sky.

*** end ***

February, 2011