Big thank you to ilarual and sandmancircus for your eyes on this thing.
The ayakashi have become more aggressive of late, hunting stray spirits with a relentlessness that Hiyori has never seen before. Sure, those monstrosities have always been malevolent, but never so outright vicious. Some have taken to directly attacking the Near Shore, made evident by the deep furrows in the concrete of the sidewalk, the police presence, and the lone figure covered in a red stained white sheet.
Hiyori steps carefully through the crime scene, taking measures to remain out of the emergency responders' way. She moves closer to the victim and lifts the sheet a few centimeters to get a look at them.
They were no older than Yukine, and their face is frozen in an expression of abject horror. Her stomach lurches; if the scattered papers and torn back pack were anything to go by, they had been making their way home from a study group or something. With shaking hands, she reaches out and closes their eyes gently before letting the sheet drape back over their face, murmuring a soft prayer for the spirit set adrift. With any luck, Bishamon or another god will find and name them, that is if they still exist. Due to the nature of the attack, she knows it is a feeble hope at best.
With one last glance around, she springs up to the oddly intact light post and then to the roof top. Yato and Yukine are out hunting for the night already, so who knew where they were. She considers going to fetch them when a sour, coppery scent wafts across her nose. It instantly instills a deep sense of revulsion, and her attention is drawn completely to it.
Be it instinct or duty, a compulsion she can't identify pulls her after the source. She follows the scent over the rooftops, down to the streets and alleys, and through the cover of the trees.
She finds herself overlooking a lit foot path winding around the pond that Yato, Yukine, and herself frequent. She crouches on the high, thin tree branch to survey the area. The scent that led her here was overpowering, forcing her to breath through her mouth lest the potency of it incapacitate her.
Hiyori's tail lashes the air, freely displaying her agitation. Something isn't right; she must be right on top of it, but it is nowhere in sight. Cool fingers of discomfort creep up her spine, but she does not move. It came here for a reason, and she'll be damned if she lets it get away. The dead eyes of its victim flash across her mind's eye, and she resolves to settle in and wait. Neither of them move for a long while, and Hiyori wonders absently if it has sensed her there. It's not likely, considering it's definitely savage enough to attack just about anything on sight.
Movement below snaps Hiyori out of her boredom. It isn't the colorful, ghastly form of the ayakashi, but that of a man. He strolls along leisurely, pausing and taking in the scenery every dozen or so paces. He is humming, and the jaunty tune drifts up for her to hear. To Hiyori, he looks for all the world a man completely at ease with himself. The sight of him is reassuring for all of five seconds.
She feels the shadows shift below her, and the ever recognizable three tone voice rasps, "Smells good. Smells. Good. Smells good." One bright orange, clawed forelimb reaches out of the tree trunk below, followed by a horned head and long slithering body. So far as size went, it is middling, but the wicked twist of it horns and dripping maw lends to a terrific silhouette.
At first, she expects the guy to continue on his merry way quite oblivious to the danger, but he stops, back ramrod straight at the sound. He turns towards them, his face paling as he lays eyes on the great beast weaving through the trees. It is then seeing his face full on, that Hiyori recognizes her elder brother Masaomi.
The ayakashi steps into the light of the lanterns with no hint of aversion to it. "Smells good," it rasps again, lips and thick plaques of bone pulling back to reveal a wide gruesome smile of jagged teeth.
Masaomi's cry as he staggers back and falls is what urges her into action. Hiyori leaps in a high arc, spinning and building momentum as she comes down with a brutal axe kick to the phantom's head. Her attack blinds one of its six eyes, and it rears with a roar of fury. It shakes its head and glares at her through its five remaining eyes as she skids to a stop next to her brother.
"H-hiyori? What are you doing here? What is that thing?" Masaomi yelps as Hiyori hauls him to his feet. Her hand stays gripped around his wrist while she eyes her foe.
The ayakashi winds up to charge them, cutting into her chance to respond. "This way!" Hiyori pulls them further down the path as fast as she can, Masaomi practically flying behind her. The monster is right on their tail and she redirects them abruptly across the bridge to the left. It overshoots the crossing by a couple dozen meters. While it searches around for them Hiyori turns to her brother.
"You have to get out of here, that ayakashi is going to kill you. It already got somebody else a few hours ago."
"Ayakashi? Like a spirit? How are you- we seeing it?"
Hiyori winces and says, "I, well, it's a long story. Look you have to leave alright? I'll be right behind you once I fight it off-"
"What?" He shouts, "You're going to fight that thing? Are you mad? I thought you said it was dangerous." He is terrified to be sure but she can see the anger start to creep onto his face. He's nothing if not protective of her. It's then that he notices her cord whipping back and forth behind her and he gasps, "A tail…?"
The ayakashi has since corrected itself and is creeping over the bridge, determined to not make the same mistake in pursuit of its next meal. At the sight of their encroaching doom, Hiyori shoves Masaomi down the path she knows will lead him in the direction of Kofuku's place and insists, "Long story! Just go that way until you find a small food shop attached to a house. Ask for Kofuku-"
"Who?"
"-tell them I sent you. Now go!" Hiryori wastes not another moment with her brother and turns to face the ayakashi. She hears him hesitate for a moment before he starts to run, shouting, "Hold on Hiyori! I'll get help!"
Seeing that part of its meal is getting away, the ayakashi tries to charge past her but she unleashes a war cry and sends it sprawling with a flying side kick to its ribs. It howls and swipes at her as it goes down, missing her by a hair's breadth as she flips just out of its range. It rolls to its feet and lunges after her, snapping jaws whizzing by over her head. She squeaks and dives out of the way when it tries to flop down and crush her. Coming to her feet, she leaps and comes down between its shoulders. The attack does nothing and it bucks violently to dislodge her. Hiyori loses her balance and bails, hopping down the handrail lining the pond to gain some distance and stopping to catch her breath.
Her form shakes with fatigue and her tail droops. This battle is more drawn out than any other she'd participated in, and certainly the only one where she's been completely on her own. She'd fought smaller ayakashi on her own with little trouble but nothing the size of a delivery truck, nor so naturally armored. Not one of her attacks after the first seems to have damaged it at all, and she is tiring alarmingly fast. She barely dodges the renewed attack of the monster reaching for her.
The ayakashi's claws come crashing through the post and rail she was perched on, and follows her in relentless pursuit. It is done playing around, having realized that she's less helpless than its usual prey. It doesn't give her another chance to bound away and rest. Her reactions become slower and slower until finally its jaws clamp around her right leg.
Hiyori screams as the teeth tear into her before it swings her right into the ground. Light flashes behind her eyelids and she lays on the ground dazed. Her wound and lower leg are immediately Blighted and the burning sensation creeps along her skin. Panic, pain, and disorientation blend into a paralyzing cocktail that pins her down. For the first time that night, it dawns on her that she is in way over her head.
"Smells good." The cold rush of air that is the ayakashi's breath wakes her from her daze enough for her to kick up with both of her legs with all the force she can muster from her position flat on the ground. Its jaw is slammed closed with the force of the blow catching it under its chin.
It howls in rage and bats her through an undamaged section of handrail and into the shallows of the pond. Hiyori cannot right herself by the time it is upon her, pinning her to the bottom with a massive foreclaw.
The water hits the back of her throat and rushes up her nose as she fights valiantly to bring her face to the surface of the water for a breath. She can't even tell how far away the surface is through the murk of the kicked up silt. All she can see is the faint lights of the distant street lamps. Her racing thoughts slow bit by bit, coherency fleeing the scene.
The last thing Hiyori feels before she passes out is the weight of the ayakashi being jerked off her chest and a strong pair of hands pulling her back into the light.