Author's Note: Change of plans - there are some really creepy and interesting Japanese folk tales out there. This creature caught my interests and it's similar to what I originally had in mind. I wouldn't want to cross one of these things. I did add my own little twist to the legend and some background history. Enjoy!

The Triplets

"I found something." Sam turned the laptop so that both Dean and Elizabeth could see the article he'd found. They hovered on either side of him, Elizabeth resting an arm on his shoulder as she read. "Okay, so the Yakuza are a transnational crime organization. There are several different syndicates including one in the Bay Area. Under rituals, it says that members are often heavily tattooed, sometimes from head to foot. They use hand-needles instead of the normal electrical ones."

"Ouch." Elizabeth didn't understand why anyone would do that.

"I guess it's sort of a symbol, but they tend to keep the tattoos covered up in public. They also have a ritual of cutting off fingers with a sword. It's a sign of atonement. In the past, they used to cut off the little finger up to the index finger to weaken the person's sword grip."

"Brutal."

"Yeah. The victims all had body parts removed. What if they'd done something to piss the syndicate off and this was their atonement. Only they ended up dead."

"Did you find anything behind Japanese mythology or monsters? It could be some sort of wrathful spirit or something."

"The Japanese do have a lot of lore behind spirits, most of it pretty gory. There are quite a few infamous spirits who are noted to cut peoples' legs off or their faces. These people all bore claw marks on their chests, but they were also missing limbs. It's going to be hard to narrow it down. Quite a few of the legends refer to sickly looking women like the one seen after the murders. I think it might be time to talk to the one victim who survived and is conscious. He might be able to tell us more about this clawed woman."

…

"Mr. Otani? We're with the FBI. We'd like to ask you some questions about the attack," Sam said as they entered the man's room at the hospital. Kensei Otani was looking worse for wear, but was at least sitting up in bed. His chest was heavily bandaged.

"Go away," he said. "I've already spoken with the police."

"They said you mentioned a woman with claws," Dean said, pulling a chair up to the bed. "Why don't you tell us about her."

"No one believed me. They thought I was crazy. You will too."

"We like to keep an open mind," Sam told him.

"I was leaving the Shojo – I like to eat dinner there and get a drink every few nights. I decided to take the alley behind the restaurant to get home. It's a short cut, and I've never run into trouble. I thought I heard someone following me, but every time I looked back there was no one there. I had nearly reached the end of the alley when I heard something like fingernail's grating against something. That's when I saw them."

"Them? I thought you saw a woman."

"Women. There were three of them. They all had long black hair and claws. One of them knocked me down, clawing my chest in the process. Then the second raised its claws like a sickle and was about to cut my legs off. Something must have distracted it because they all stopped and then disappeared. I blacked out after that."

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance. "Do you have any idea why these women might attack you?" Sam asked.

The man shook his head.

"How about the Shojo? Do you know the owner? Kento Oshiro?"

The man's eyes widened in fear. "I can't talk about him," he said.

"He's part of the Yakuza, isn't he? Were you a part of it too?"

"Either you talk or we bring him in here to identify you," Dean said.

"No, no! I'll tell you everything." Otani looked around as if expecting someone to be eavesdropping on their conversation. "Oshiro paid for me and five other men to come to America. We had all been part of his syndicate in Japan, but Oshiro got ousted. We were all paid for our silence and allowed to live normal lives until he needed us. Turns out he never did get a grip in the city."

"So that's the connection between the victims," Sam said. "You were all part of the Yakuza under Oshiro's syndicate." Otani nodded. "Would Oshiro have any reason to want you dead?"

"He has many reasons," Otani said. "These women are spirit wraiths from my homeland. They came here because they were brought here by someone."

"I think it's time we checked in with Mr. Oshiro again," Dean said.

"Thank you for your time," Sam told the frightened man. "We'll make sure this ends."

"Be careful," Otani warned them. "Someone is controlling this wraith. They can send them after you just as easily as me."

…

"This is twisted," Elizabeth said when they got back into the car.

"Most of our jobs are," Dean told her.

"So we're looking for three women now?" she asked.

"We're looking for whoever is controlling them. If we can stop him, then we can most likely stop the spirit."

"Before it decides to make us its next victims," Elizabeth put in.

"I want to keep my legs, so yeah, we'll get to it first," Dean assured her.

"Have you heard of this spirit before?" Elizabeth asked.

"No. We've dealt with a lot of spirits, but this one comes from a totally different culture," Sam told her.

"Why would Oshiro want all those men dead?" she asked.

"Maybe one of them was working for the police, and he just wanted to protect himself," Sam suggested.

Dean parked the Impala in front of the Shojo restaurant. The closed sign was turned around and the building appeared empty. "Isn't it getting around lunch hour?" Dean asked. "Why would he close?"

Sam tested the door and Dean pulled his gun out. "Do you have any idea how to fight this thing?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, but this gun is loaded with rock salt. Usually that works on spirits."

The door was locked, but Sam stepped back and then kicked it in with all his might. It crashed open. They entered, keeping eyes on every inch of the restaurant for any signs that something was off. No one came running at the sound of the door being kicked in.

Dean motioned with his gun toward the kitchen and Sam nodded. "Stay here," he told Elizabeth.

"By myself, I don't think so!" She followed the brothers as they pushed the kitchen doors open. Sam put out an arm to stop her, but she had already seen what he had tried to prevent her from seeing.

Kento Oshiro was lying on his back on the kitchen counter. His chest had been ripped open and his arms and legs were missing. Elizabeth could see black stitching keeping the wounds closed up. Elizabeth turned away, her stomach roiling. "Oh God," she said.

"I guess it wasn't him controlling the thing," Dean said.

"Who else is left? We don't have any more suspects," Sam said.

"There's got to be a piece of the puzzle we're missing," Dean said.

"Guys!" Elizabeth said, grabbing at Sam's shirt sleeve. "Look." She was peering through the heavy plastic windows in the swinging doors. A little girl stood at the kicked in door. She had long black hair that hung in tangled tresses and a face as pale as death. She was staring straight at Elizabeth.

Dean barged through the doors and the girl turned and fled. They chased her out of the building, but lost sight of her nearly at once.

"Was she the spirit?" Elizabeth asked.

"The victims saw a woman not a little girl," Sam said as Dean ran toward the alley at the side of the building.

"You think she might have been a real girl?"

"It's possible. I think we need to learn more about these women first," he said. "There has to be a connection somewhere."

Dean jogged back. "Gone," he said. "Either she vanished into thin air and we're dealing with another spirit or she has a hiding spot near here. Did Oshiro have a daughter?"

Sam shrugged. "She was so pale," Elizabeth said. "Like she hadn't seen daylight in a long time."

"I'll see if I can find any traces of sulfur inside. You two search the building. Maybe there's something in his office."

Sam nodded. "Unless you want to wait in the car," he told Elizabeth.

"I'm alright," she said. "It wasn't as bad as seeing Rae or my parents dead. I didn't even know him."

She followed Sam into the restaurant again and they found Oshiro's office at the back. The door was unlocked and they entered, flicking on the overhead light. "Oh my." Elizabeth took a step back as she took in the office.

The walls were plastered in articles and pictures and torn pages from books. Three women dressed in white with long black hair and dead faces were prominent in most of these. "He knew what they were," she said stepping forward and pulling a page off the wall. "Kamaitachi," she read. "These spirits usually take the form of triplets, usually women. They can be summoned and will obey the commands of the summoner. Kamaitachi literally means 'sickle weasel.' The first of the triplets knocks the victims down while the second uses its sickle-like claws to cut off the arms and legs of the victims. The third triplet sews the victims back up. They move quickly and the victim will hardly be aware of what has happened. They take the legs and arms like prizes." She shuddered at the thought. "That's gruesome."

"But it fits. Looks like Oshiro knew what had attacked the men."

Elizabeth pulled another page off the wall. "This article mentions that the Kamaitachi usually takes the form of three ghostly women believed to be triplets. There's a story behind it. Triplet girls were born back in 16th Century Japan. Their parents didn't want them because back then women were not valued – only sons could work and honor their family. The parents took a sickle and cut the babies' arms and legs off and threw them into the well to die. The three women are supposedly these babies grown up. They set out to avenge their deaths by taking their victims arms and legs. The third was the most compassionate though and sews the victims back up so that they won't die."

"Unless the one summoning them wants the victims to die."

"Right. It sounds like the summoner can tell them to kill certain people. What if this little girl we saw is Oshiro's daughter? Maybe he kept her out of sight, and she grew to hate him. She could sort of relate to these triplets. Maybe their spirits attached themselves to her when she travelled to America."

"Some spirits feed on emotions. They are drawn to people in pain and they can act on that person's pain whether or not the person is controlling them consciously. It could be that the spirits are striking out when the little girl feels strong emotions. She could have no idea what is happening."

"She could be completely frightened. We need to find her."

"I found traces of sulfur," Dean said, entering the office. "Wow, can you say obsession?" he added, seeing all the articles and pictures around the room.

Sam filled Dean in on what he and Elizabeth had discussed. "Most of these articles are from Japan," he said, pulling an article off the wall that was written in characters. "So they aren't going to be much use to us, but I think the girl might be the missing piece of the puzzle."

"We need to talk to the bartender. He might know if Oshiro had a daughter," Dean said. "I'm going to call this in. See if you can find any employment records for our friendly bartender."

Sam dug through a filing cabinet while Elizabeth looked through one of the desk drawers. "Look at this," she said, holding up a faded photograph. It showed Kento Oshiro looking stern next to a Japanese woman who smiled brightly. A little girl stood between them. It was the same girl she had seen standing in the doorway only a few years younger. "It's her," she said.

"We need to find her. Here's the bartender's address," he said, holding up an employee record for a Johnny Sato.

"Let's get out of here." Elizabeth felt suddenly stifled. She headed for the Impala, Sam right behind her. Dean joined them, getting behind the wheel.

"Here's the address," Sam said, handing over the record. He took the map out of his back pocket and helped Dean navigate to the one story house. The streets were deserted as if word had got out that a Kamaitachi was on the loose. They got out of the Impala and walked up the front steps. Elizabeth noticed the curtain move a little as if someone had been watching their approach. Dean knocked on the paint-peeled door. There was a long pause where Elizabeth wondered if he was going to answer at all and then they heard bolts being drawn back and locks being unlocked. The door opened a crack.

"FBI," Dean said, holding his badge up.

"You're here about Kento?" the man asked.

"Were you at the restaurant today?" Dean asked.

Johnny Sato shook his head. "Bad vibes," he said. "That man brought down this curse."

"What do you know about Kamaitachi?" Sam asked.

"Who are you?" Sato narrowed his eyes. "You aren't FBI."

"We're the ones who deal with the unnatural aspects of a crime," Dean said. "Just answer his question."

"I know the legends behind them, but I thought they were just that until the murders started."

"Do you have any idea who would have summoned the Kamaitachi?" Sam asked. "Did anyone want Kento dead?"

"Dead?" Sato asked.

"Yes, dead. We found him in the kitchen. His arms and legs had been removed."

Sato looked shocked. "Kento had a lot of enemies," he told them. "That's why he left Japan. I was never part of the Yakuza. I avoided them. I didn't know Sato was one of them until after he hired me. I overheard him talking on the phone. He owed someone a lot of money back in Japan."

"Did Kento have a daughter?" Elizabeth spoke up. Sato turned her eyes to her. There was a sad glint behind them. Then he nodded slowly.

"Poor little girl. Her mother died. Casualty of a Yakuza disagreement back in Japan. Kento kept her hidden away in the cellar of the restaurant. She had a little room, but it was more like a jail cell. I saw her once when I was investigating some sounds down there. Turns out it was her crying. I called the cops anonymously, but when they went down there she was gone. I think Kento knew it was me. I didn't dare do anything after that. I wasn't getting mixed up with the Yakuza."

"Any idea where she might be?"

"Probably still in the cellar. Poor thing."

"Alright, thank you for your time," Sam said, turning away.

"Wait. Are they going to come after me for talking to you?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Sam said. "I think we know who is behind this."

"Good. Be careful. The Kamaitachi don't let anyone truly control them."

"We'll be careful."

…

"Quite the case you picked," Dean said when they were all safely in the Impala. Elizabeth was beginning to get jumpy, expecting to see the white faced women standing in the shadows.

"Yeah, it's turning out to be a little more…intense than I expected," Elizabeth admitted.

"We should go back to the restaurant. Johnny mentioned that Kento kept his daughter in the basement."

"But we saw her leave."

"Where else would she go though?"

"Alright, that's a good idea. She must be so afraid. What a monster," Elizabeth said.

The restaurant was blocked off with police tape, but Sam and Dean flashed their IDs and were let onto the premises. They went around the back of the building and found a cellar entrance. It was padlocked, but Dean cracked it open with a thrust of his shotgun butt. The stairs led down into darkness.

"After you," Dean said to Sam. Sam took a deep breath and started down into the dark unknown.