Disclaimer: I own only Yuriko, her kids, and any weird youkai I happen to come up with. The rest belong to someone else, who has a lot more money than me.
A/N: Even though I'm even sleepier than the last time, I owe lots of thank yous, so here we go. Thanks go to Cuiledhwen (it is an author's prerogative to throw in the occasional cliffie), segumisama (ditto), DCoD (I'm glad everyone loves the sword, and there will be a very rocky road yet for Akai and Tsumeato), Alexa (wait, that sword does more fun stuff!), Cylinse (celery, huh? Well, you gave me a cookie, so I'll take the celery too), and midnightwaters (thank you for setting aside your shippiness just for me!) This chapter, by the way, is what is happening with the boys while Akai is kicking the crap out of the other youkai. I wasn't going to put it in, but then decided to. It just didn't feel right without it.
Tsumeato felt something connect hard with his shoulder before he even registered the sound of the explosion. He found himself on the ground, the breath knocked from his body. For a moment he lay still, trying to push through the throbbing in his arm to understand what had happened.
"Michio-sama! Michio-sama's house is on fire!"
Akai!
Tsumeato pushed himself up and turned, sprinting back the way he had come. There, in ruins, was the headman's house. Burning boards stuck out in a haphazard pile, the ends broken and misshapen.
In the light of the fire he saw silhouettes leaping out of the wreckage. Two were definitely men, one turning back to help a woman from the fire. Too tall to be either Akai or Keiko, the woman could only be Yuriko. Tsumeato sped up as several flaming timbers collapsed.
Something flashed out of the night, something like a solid log. He had no time to stop, and barely time to throw up an arm to take some of the blow. He staggered back, managing to keep his balance. He felt blood welling up from a cut on his forearm, but ignored it as he turned to face this new threat.
"Going somewhere, young man?"
The voice was musical, enchanting, and deadly. From the shadows a tall, heavy figure moved towards him. The face broke the darkness, and he fell back a step.
"Ah-ha!" the monster before him crowed, scaly face breaking into a grin. "So it's you, is it? And what are you doing here? Saving the innocents from nasty mononoke like me?"
"I'd settle for just the enjoyment of hearing you scream," Tsumeato murmured, unhooking his weapon from his belt. "But I'm in a hurry today, so I'm afraid we'll have to finish this fast."
"You're not going anywhere," the youkai said. "You are going to stay here with me, and let her finish the job."
"Her?" Tsumeato echoed uncertainly. "Her who?"
Smile growing, the creature jerked a thumb behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Tsumeato spotted something white gliding ever closer to Michio's house. A jolt of fear sent him back to the enemy at hand.
"Iie. I won't let you take Akai."
The youkai just laughed, and flexed its powerful shoulders. "Won't let us, hmm?"
The creature was almost as wide as he was tall, a solid wall of silvery scales and bulging muscles. A mouth full of fangs and terrible white eyes finished his horrifying appearance. Then he spoke in his soft, soothing tones, throwing one off balance if they were not ready.
Tsumeato was ready.
The spikes went first, coming from up high and aiming straight for those white eyes. The youkai simply laughed and batted them away. His arm still raised, he gave Tsumeato an open shot at a weak point. The young man lunged for it, hoping to dispatch the creature quickly and get to Akai before the white figure.
Unfortunately, he moved to soon and gave the monster warning. His blade barely penetrated before the youkai knocked him back with a small hiss of pain. Black blood dotted the very tip of the sword end of his weapon.
"Now, now. That's not playing fair."
"What is fair in battle?"
An arrow shot past Tsumeato's head, hitting the creature directly between the eyes. Unfortunately, the scales held strong, and the arrow only made a soft thunk and fell to the ground. More laughter shook the thick, silver body.
"And now more mortals come to try their hand, hmm?" he hissed, as Tsumeato glanced over his shoulder at the two brothers. Higure stood there with his bow and looked enraged. Minoru, seeming somewhat concerned, held a heavy, decorated spear, the long tip apparently made of gold.
"What do you want?" Minoru asked as his brother moved slightly to the left, and he to the right so they flanked Tsumeato. "Why all the sudden attacks?"
"Because, my sweet little mortal boys, you have something we want."
"Really?" Higure growled, raising another arrow. "What is that?"
"The girl," the youkai said hungrily. "We want the girl you call Akai."
"Iie!"
"Hai, that's what he said," he sighed, gesturing to Tsumeato. "You all seem rather attached to her, for someone so very dangerous."
"The girl is no concern of yours," Tsumeato said coldly, trying to ignore the sounds of another explosion.
"Oh, I find I am very concerned about that precious little girl."
"We can take care of that for you."
Moving as one, all three young men threw themselves forward. Spear and sword tried to find an opening in the scales, while the arrow this time went straight for the beast's eye. The youkai only laughed, bringing a heavy arm down on both blades while at the same time twitching his head aside, and letting the arrow bounce off his cheek.
Then he howled in surprised pain, and looked at his left arm. Minoru's spearhead had left a long, thin gash across the scales. No blood escaped, as the wound had been seared closed, as though Minoru's spear had been heated before battle.
"What manner of weapon is this?" the creature whispered, taking a step back. "Something strange, that tastes like a youkai's power. But which one, I wonder?"
"Not really your problem now," Higure snarled, firing again.
Again, the youkai allowed the arrow to strike his scaly hide without concern. Again, he shouted in startled pain. Another thin, smoking cut came across his cheek. He shook his head and moved further away.
"More youkai power being wielded by mortals. How strange. Unless…" A low, deep laugh rumbled through his body. "Of course. How else could you harness such power, unless it already dwelt within you?"
"Very clever," Higure lauded with a thin smile. "Now, enough!"
Tsumeato allowed the two brothers to lead the attack this time, their weapons superior to his at inflicting damage on this beast. As the youkai became concerned with arrows and spear, he moved silently behind the other two men, waiting for an opening. A shot at the eye, or the under side of his arm again, would be best.
Turning his head from another shot by Higure, the youkai offered Tsumeato his chance.
The tip of his blade slid directly into the left white eye. A terrible roar of agony shook the very ground. Tsumeato threw his weight forward, hoping to sink his blade all the way into the dark brain behind that eye.
Two massive hands closed on his blade. The hilt came shooting back towards his face, and he barely managed to avoid having his own nose crushed. Gore coated several inches of his weapon, but still the youkai lived. And now he was angry.
"Useless mortal!" he shouted, swiping blindly towards Tsumeato. "Filthy, short lived insect! I'll crush your skull, and dance on your bones! Do you hear me?!?"
"The whole village hears you!" Higure snapped, loading one more arrow and aiming for the other eye. "Shut up!"
Headless of any more danger, the youkai ducked his head and charged. The spear caught his side and gauged it open, but still the demon did not stop. He caught Minoru and Tsumeato with his left arm, and Higure with his right. Carrying all three as though they weighed nothing, he raced forward, directly towards one of the few houses still standing on that side of the village, intent on crushing them.
"Stop!"
Something golden slashed through the air. The youkai shouted, and Tsumeato felt himself released. He and the brothers fell free as the monster staggered back, holding his face. Black blood spurted between his fingers.
Tsumeato took this brief opportunity to glance around. Michio stood just behind them, holding in his hands a sword of the same gold as Minoru's spear. Dyed in blood, it had been the sword that had set the young men free. Against the wall of the nearest house, Keiko watched with wide eyes from the shadows.
"Wretched humans, all running around with power that does not belong to them!" the youkai howled. "When I find the youkai who gave his powers away so willingly, I will strangle the life from his body!"
"Her body," Michio corrected, stepping between his sons as he moved towards the monster. "And, if I know her, I doubt very much she would give you the opportunity to kill her. But I have no intention of letting you anywhere near my wife."
The hands came away from the youkai's face, and Tsumeato winced in unintentional sympathy. Not one, but several cuts set blood streaming from the ugly face. The beast snarled in pain, his one good eye fixed with deadly intent on Michio.
"You! The husband of a youkai with such power! I don't believe it!" He gave a snarling laugh. "You are more worthless than your offspring. Why would a powerful creature want you?"
Michio smiled slightly. "I don't think a being such as yourself would ever understand. So, think of this as a favor."
The sword seemed to blur as he attacked. Though impossibly quick, his every move seemed almost languorous until it struck hard and deep. In a moment, he had closed the distance between himself and the youkai, one cut opening the powerful chest, another sliding deep into the thick muscles of a shoulder. The youkai tried to move, to keep up with the mere mortal, but found himself always a step behind. Michio ducked easily under a swing at his head, slid behind the creature, and thrust his sword straight forward in a strike to the heart.
The youkai threw himself backwards. Michio saw the sudden change in his enemy's movements, and dodged to the side, his blow only half finished. It left a long graze across the youkai's back, but nothing more. A slight sigh of frustration came from Michio as he leapt out of the way unscathed.
Falling flat on his back, the youkai realized too late he might have made a mistake. Even as he tried to roll back to his feet, Michio was upon him. His sword rose high into the air, then came down through the youkai's chest. Bucking in pain, the creature struck out with one powerful arm. Tsumeato watched in wonder as the older man jumped over the strike, and landed with perfect composure.
"Well," Michio sighed, "your heart does not seem to be where it ought to be. Still, I'm sure there are other ways to kill you. Shall we find out?"
The youkai grasped at Michio's sword, trying to draw it from his body as he had with Tsumeato's blade. Another shout of pain came as the blade cut deep into his palms.
"You should really stop trying to do that," Michio advised him. "Now—"
Tsumeato saw it from the corner of his eye, a ripple like heat off of stone. Michio, his attention focused on the youkai, did not see it at all. Before he could finish his sentence, the ripple hit the ground, and the earth under his feet exploded.
"PAPA!"
Keiko sprang, faster than even her father, from the shadows. Both arms flung out, she managed to catch him as he soared through the air. She tumbled to the ground, holding him against her chest.
"Papa? Higure, he's unconscious!"
"Is he breathing?" her older brother shouted back.
"Hai!"
"Then he'll be alright! Just stay with him!"
Tsumeato doubted very much anything could move the girl from her father's side. He gave her only a quick glance, before returning his attention to the youkai picking gravel from his bleeding face.
"You all seemed to have forgotten," the monster hissed, "that I did not come alone. It is always good to keep one's friends close, isn't it?"
"You bastard," Higure hissed. "That is our father lying there!"
"The lover of a youkai bitch so foolish she had to wed a mortal," the youkai muttered. "She will suffer the same fate."
"Iie!"
Tsumeato did not try to stop the brothers from their foolish charge. Instead he let them take the youkai's attention as he began to move. Like Michio, he circled around to the creature's back. As the beast warded off Higure and Minoru's rage, he flung the spiked end of his weapon out towards the scaly chin. It flew past, then arced, coming back into his hand with the twine firmly around that thick neck.
Pulling with all his might, Tsumeato managed to upset the youkai's attack. He yanked harder on the twine, forcing the creature's head back. The muscles in his arms screaming protests, he shouted to the brothers.
"Quick! His eyes or under his arms! Anything soft, just hit it!"
Higure lunged forward, dropping his bow and taking the arrow in his fist. He caught the underside of the youkai's jaw, forcing it down, the mouth open. With a sharp thrust, he sank the arrow into the roof of the beast's mouth. For a second, Tsumeato saw his eyes burn golden. Then the whole arrow burst into flames.
Both Tsumeato and Higure released the youkai and jumped back, Higure adding a sharp jab to the bottom jaw to force it closed. For a moment firelight reflected from behind the youkai's eyes. Then, smoking rising from the top of his head, he toppled over, and lay still.
Tsumeato swallowed and nodded.
"That works too."
"Higure!" Minoru shouted. "There! The other one!"
His brother and Tsumeato turned together towards the slim white figure standing several houses away. Most of the men of the village surrounded her, their weapons at the ready, trying to catch her between themselves.
"Come on," Tsumeato muttered. "We're not done yet."
"What about Father?" Higure turned towards his sister. "Keiko! Is he alright?"
She studied Michio's face for a moment, then nodded. "Hai. He'll be alright."
"Oneechan!" Minoru added. "Look! Akai needs help!"
Tsumeato's head whipped around to follow the younger man's gesture. To his great relief, he saw Akai standing before another youkai, blade in her hand. She shouted something and threw her hair back from her face.
"Keiko!" Tsumeato shouted. "Help her! Please!"
The girl only hesitated a second, looking down at her father's still face. Then she kissed his forehead, and ran behind the men, aiming for Akai.
"She'll take care of her," Higure assured Tsumeato. "Why don't we help the men take care of that?"