A New Normal
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Drawing Lines
"I would imagine that he'll want the fatal verse for Yamantaka if the Myo'o Dhari have it."
Yaozo heard himself asking, "Yamantaka possessed Ren?" but he didn't hear the Taiwanese exorcist's answer. Instead he was transported back thirty-five years.
"Your father's condition is degrading rapidly. We don't expect him to last the night."
Yaozo dropped his suitcase just inside the door, "They said it was a basic Jikininki, how could this happen?"
"The wound was only minor but it acted as a vector for the Myodha plague."
Yaozo walked up the stairs to his father's room in a daze. Lesions covered the older man's right arm and half his face, harsh racking coughs shook his frame but when he saw his son he pulled himself upright. For the next two hours, despite the rapidly advancing illness, he relentlessly grilled Yaozo on everything that would be expected of him as the new head of the Shima family. "Are you ready to assume responsibility for ALL the oaths our family has entered into?" Yaozo's father asked once he'd finished.
The question should have been a rhetorical and ceremonial, Yaozo had been preparing for these duties since he was twelve, but his father asked the question seriously and the look in his eyes demanded that Yaozo consider it fully before answering.
The moment Yaozo paused to think there was one particular oath that leapt to mind. Yaozo had married his fiancee just two weeks earlier, he and Sakura both knew they wanted a horde of children, starting as soon as they could. If Yamantaka invoked that oath it would almost certainly be one of his children to bare the cost. And for a moment Yaozo hesitated, but the oath had only been invoked twice in five hundred years, chances were it wouldn't even come up in his life-time. "I am prepared."
Twenty years later, Yaozo stood at the door of his home numbly receiving mourners to his eldest son's wake. He knew Renzo was hiding in the bushes just outside the door. They'd tried to explain what's happened to the four-year-old but all Renzo could understand was that they won't let him see Takezo.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yaozo saw a flicker of black flames wrapped around Renzo's huddled form. A ball of ice formed in Yaozo's stomach, because in that moment he knew he was going to lose Renzo to Yamantaka as well as Takezo.
"It's quite convenient honestly; the True Cross has wanted to get a closer look at a demon-eater since the Todo incident."
Yaozo's thoughts were jerked back to the present when Kinzo leapt at the Taiwanese exorcist. Chen-long snapped up his staff to knock the attack aside but Kinzo grabbed the weapon. The loud smack of polished wood meeting flesh made everyone around wince, Kinzo ignored the pain to yank Chen-long off guard and punched the other man squarely in the nose. "Shima Kinzo!" Yaozo shouted and the two broke apart.
Chen-long pinched the bridge of his nose to stem the bleeding while Kinzo cradled his hand to his chest as a welt formed across his palm. "That's my little brother you're talking about," Kinzo snarled unrepentantly. "Him getting hurt is NOT 'convenient'."
"My apologies," Chen-long replied. "But until we know how to fight these demon-eaters, someone's family member will be hurt. How many Myodha were killed during Todo's escape from Kyoto?"
"Three of our exorcists," Yaozo said quietly.
Cautiously Izumo swung her legs over the edge of the bed then grabbed her IV pole and used it to stand up. Leaning heavily on the IV pole she started slowly toward the door.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Izumo-chan?" Uke asked her as he and Mike fell in step with her.
"I need to," Izumo said. "I owe it to Shima."
She ignored Konekomaru sitting outside her door even when the other Exwire leapt up to open the door for her then followed her inside. Both of them cringed at Renzo's appearance. The pink-haired boy had been cleaned up since they'd last seen him but both of his arms were immobilized, the bandages around his throat were spotted with blood and his skin had less color than the bone-white horns curving back from his temples. If anything he looked worse than he had when Juuzo carried him out of Lucifer's audience chamber.
Bon jumped up and shoved his chair toward Izumo as soon as she hobbled into the room. His eyes looked hollowed; he knew Renzo was getting worse and six hours had passed with no sign of Rin's return.
Izumo hesitated for a moment then decided that her pride could take accepting the chair. "I hate both of you right now," she said preemptively her eyes still fixed on Renzo. "You hurt Rin to force me into a corner. You used his oath get what you wanted, used that he's not human against him."
Konekomaru had stopped just inside the door. Uncertain of his welcome he stood on the threshold, staring at the floor and rocking from one foot to the other. He flinched at Izumo's words.
She turned to glare at Bon, "If you were really Rin's friend you'd be helping him figure out how to nullify that damn thing's power over him instead of leaving him to trust your good intentions. Making it so the bond breaks if you ask him to do something dishonorable was a start but Rin would let you get away with murder; as long as you think you're in the right it'll hold."
"You're right about the oath," Bon said. "But you endangered my friend. You created the situation where Rin had to choose between us."
Izumo's gaze strayed back to Renzo. "If not for me you'd have rescued him sooner than you did," she admitted. Then her posture stiffened. "I'd do it again," she said flatly. "To make sure that Tsukumo was safe I'd make the same choices. But I bear responsibility for what happened to him and I'll do what I can to help put it right, even if it means putting up with the two of you."
Bon looked back at Renzo as well. "Good," he said quietly. "Because I'm in over my head." He turned slightly to include Konekomaru. "I'm not exactly happy with the two of you either but you're what's left of my team. I don't know where Rin is and I can't think of a damn thing to do to help him. Shiemi-chan's… I'd give a lot to have a doctor candidate I could trust right now but Shiemi can't be here. I don't think the doctors the True Cross sent care one way or another whether Renzo makes it."
"They might have an interest in dissecting his corpse," Konekomaru said, finally looking up from the floor. The other two nodded grimly.
"We've gotta look out for him, 'cause no one else is." Bon took a deep breath then plunged in before he could change his mind, "Kamiki, your sister's safe right? You don't have a conflict of interest any more?" Izumo nodded. "Okay, then. I think I need you to be Renzo's advocate. I want him back the way he should be, maybe too much. He wasn't born with demon blood like Rin, this is something that was done to him. But-" he hesitated for a moment, "But I think the people here would cheerfully kill him trying to make him human again. Or just to strip him of the powers he got from Yamantaka. We all agree that their only real interest is figuring out how to fight demon-eaters."
"He might not be Renzo anymore," Konekomaru whispered. He glanced up at Izumo, "At least not completely. Back there, when Inari possessed you, that wasn't you exactly. You bit that guy's finger off! But it wasn't entirely not-you either. We don't have anyone to do what your mother did for you so we can't totally alienate them; we might need them get Renzo back."
Izumo flinched at the mention of what she'd done to Gedoin and her mother.
"But he is himself," Mike interjected. "We don't know what this 'demon-eating' thing is but when Shima Renzo attacked Lucifer he was grieving Yamantaka."
"What do you mean?" Konekomaru asked.
"Merging isn't quite the same for us," Uke replied. "Our hosts are foxes. But we've been around a long time, we've seen it done plenty of times. Past a certain point in merging you do not mourn, you cannot think of yourself as two separate beings. Others may perceive the merger as a death of one or both of the unique individuals who existed before, but the being themself cannot see either of their old selves as dead as they have both continued in the new being. Shima Renzo mourned Yamantaka as being lost."
"That's a relief," Bon said earning an unfriendly look from Mike and Uke. "We just have to focus on getting Renzo better, we can worry about the demon thing later."
"In that case, the first thing we need to do is get that power suppressor off him." The three exwires jumped at the unexpected voice from the door. They turned to see Juuzo standing there. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it. "I got a look at Ren's medical charts," he said. "His brachial nerve was practically torn out of the spinal cord on his left side. The damage to his right arm wasn't quite as bad but still severe. A human just can't heal those kind of injuries. Renzo, on the other hand, had been getting better all morning, until they put the suppressor on him anyway. After they put that thing on him his motor responses stopped improving and his GCS score dropped from a nine to a four, from the explanation I got you score a three even when you're dead. "
"I'm familiar with the suppressor they used," Bon said. "Professor Shiku taught me the incantation after we found out about Rin being a demon and once I got to know her I spent some time figuring out how to break it. But if Renzo starts freaking out again like he did when Egyn grabbed him no one will be able to treat him. His flames aren't like Rin's, I only touched him for a second or two to try keep him from falling off the bed and got knocked cold."
"Just being a demon is doing more to help Renzo than anything these doctors have done," Juuzo replied bitterly. "Get the suppressor off him. Then talk to Karura, he's a more powerful fire demon and should be able to shield us from Yamantaka's flames if need be. As for Egyn, he might be our trump card against the True Cross, but he's the King of Water-"
"And Renzo is, in essence, a fire demon now," Konekomaru realized. "He's going to react to Egyn as a massive threat."
"Okay, I'm ready." Bon said focusing on Renzo as he took out his rosary. He chanted a lengthy incantation, when he finished the suppressor around Renzo's tail shattered with a sound like breaking glass. Renzo drew a deep breath and after a few minutes his color started to improve. For a moment everyone exchanged looks of relief.
Then Konekomaru asked "What do we say when they notice it's gone?"
Juuzo scowled darkly. "Tell them they can keep their fucking hands off my little brother."
Graciously Chen-long offered Yaozo the front seat of the taxi ferrying them in from the train station. Yaozo took half a second to consider the ice-packs that both of the younger exorcists were holding. "It would be easier to talk without either of us craning our necks," Yaozo declined. He nudged Kinzo toward the front seat and slid into the back beside Chen-long. "Why don't you continue debriefing me?" he suggested. Because Yaozo wasn't entirely certain of Chen-long's disposition but he knew his son was more than ready to resume the earlier fight. Having to go over the back of the car seat might slow Kinzo down a bit.
Chen-long nodded. "The Shinto sect which was believed to be monitoring demon activity in this area was wiped out five years ago when their miko, Kamiki Tamano, lost herself to a vengeful aspect of Inari. The current miko and only surviving member of the sect's exorcists is Tamano's daughter, Kamiki Izumo, an exwire with the True Cross. There shouldn't be any resistance when it comes to bringing the territory under our protection."
Yaozo remembered the prickly girl from her stay in Kyoto and considered warning Chen-long not to under-estimate Kamiki Izumo. Then he remembered Chen-long's casual dismissal of Renzo's suffering and decided that Taiwanese exorcist could figure it out for himself.
Chen-long continued reviewing the situation in Shimane while Yaozo watched the rice field as they passed by. "Do we know how many tsubo of farmland have been contaminated?" Yaozo asked when Chen-long had finished.
"We haven't determined the full extent yet," Chen-long replied. "It's likely that most of the prefecture is impacted."
"How far along are you on importing food and has any effort been made to purify the contaminated rice?" Yaozo asked. "It would be devastating for the area if they lose the entire crop."
"I- Yes. I hadn't thought about trying to recover the crop," Chen-long admitted with a small wince.
The closer they drew to the hotel the True Cross was using as their headquarters and field hospital the harder Yaozo found it to keep up his end of the conversation and eventually the ride deteriorated into a terse silence. "Your son's room is on top floor," Chen-long said when they finally arrived. He guided them to the elevator just off the hotel's lobby. Kinzo bounded past the other two and mashed the elevator button impatiently.
An interminable minute later the elevator doors slid open on chaos. The entire hallway was drenched, water dripped from the ceiling and the carpet squelched underfoot. Dr. Hsu and his exorcists lay in a pile at the far end of the hall, struggling to untangle themselves. Egyn stood in front of Renzo's door, arms crossed over his chest looking pleased with himself. Juuzo stood beside the Water King, his staff in hand, barring entrance to the room.
"What is going here?" Yaozo demanded.
"Dad!" Juuzo exclaimed with relief. He pointed his staff at Hsu angrily, "That quack wanted to give Renzo an infusion of realgar and cinnabar!"
"Both are well known for their purifying and protecting properties," Hsu replied defensively. "They've been used to combat evil spirits for more than two thousand years."
"I think Renzo can do without the side-effects of getting shot-up with arsenic and mercury," Bon growled as he joined Juuzo in the door.
Hsu turned to Yaozo. "Of course, if I'd had access to Yamantaka's fatal verse that would have been my first choice. It's a much safer means of exorcism, but as you know, time is critical. The longer a possession continues the more entrenched the demon becomes."
Yaozo stepped out of the elevator and slowly walked down the hall, his eyes fixed on the room behind Juuzo and Bon. As he approached they stepped back, allowing him access. Just inside the room, Yaozo froze, transfixed by the sight of the bone-white horns sprouting from just above Renzo's temples. They were about four centimeters across at the base and curled back to lay almost flat against his skull for the first half of their length before angling slightly away from his head. The horns twisted as they narrowed, terminating in sharp points. 'Horns,' Yaozo thought with a touch of hysteria, 'Renzo has horns, Yamantaka's horns are growing out of Renzo head.'
Kinzo brushed past his father and went to perch on the edge of Renzo's bed. "Hey brat." He reached out for Renzo's hand then stopped at the sight of the bandages covering the rope burns on Renzo's wrists. Kinzo's hand waver as he took in the immobilizing braces on Renzo's arms, the bloody bandages around his throat and the assorted lesser cuts and bruises that covered Renzo's body. Gingerly Kinzo reached between the horns and patted his younger brother on the head. "Everything's going to be okay," He said. "You just let your big brothers look after you, yeah?"
Juuzo noticed the painful-looking welt across Kinzo's palm. "What happened to you?"
"Hey I gave as good as I got," Kinzo protested with a nod toward Chen-long's swollen nose. "That guy's an ass."
"It is a sorry day when honesty is considered ill-manners," Chen-long replied, tilting his head back to look down his nose at Kinzo. "It is fortunate that we have the chance to study a demon-eater before engaging the Illuminati army in battle. Even if we assume that Lucifer has lost the confrontation with Sir Pheles, Exwire Okumura and the Earth King Amaimon, they may rally behind another leader. Apart from that now that the demon-eater technology exists you may be sure that it will surface in other places."
"You know, I do appreciate honesty," Juuzo remarked with a dark look at Hsu. "Doctor, your assistant was thrilled to explain Renzo's medical chart to me." he turned to his father. "Renzo was getting steadily better all morning, in spite of them doing jackshit. Then this guy stuck a power suppressor on him and his condition nosedived."
"He began to regain consciousness and attacked Exwire Suguro with his flames," Dr. Hsu explained calmly.
"More like Renzo panicked when the Water King grabbed him and I was careless enough to put myself in contact with the black flames while trying to keep him from falling out of bed," Bon corrected.
"Most of the tests he's been running on Ren have nothing to do with fixing his injuries," Juuzo continued.
"That is an injury," Hsu disagreed pointing to Renzo's horns. "Figuring out how to free him from the demon's influence is as important as treating his physical wounds."
Juuzo shook his head. "According to your own assistant Renzo's wounds should be irreparable and crippling for a human but because he's got Yamantaka's powers running through him he's getting better."
"The longer we wait the more solid the demon's possession will become," Hsu replied unperturbed.
"But it's not possession," Izumo interjected. "Yamantaka's presence isn't in Shima, my familiars told us so."
Hsu looked over Izumo and the byakko, completely unimpressed. "Consider the source of your information young lady and be more cautious about accepting it as unvarnished truth."
"I'd trust them before I trust you," Bon snapped.
"Juuzo, Ryuji, I know you mean well, but you don't have the expertise to know what's best for Renzo," Yaozo said. "Let Dr. Hsu treat him."
"Dad!" Juuzo protested. "He's not doing anything to help Ren. Hell, he was going to poison him!"
"Getting that thing out of your brother is helping him," Yaozo said sternly. Then he sighed, "Realgar and cinnabar are extreme, but accepted methods of exorcism when no fatal verse is known."
"On that note," Hsu interjected. "The sooner we try Yamantaka's fatal verse the better. The demon's hold on him is very strong."
Yaozo's mouth thinned. "Clear the room," he ordered.
"I should be on hand-" Hsu began.
"Part of our arrangement with Yamantaka was that we would keep his fatal verse concealed," Yaozo said. "So get out. I'm already breaking one of my family's oaths to Yamantaka by even trying to take Renzo back."
"Dad, you can't do this," Juuzo said, stunned. "If you get rid of Yamantaka's powers now, Renzo could end up crippled."
Yaozo pointed to Renzo, "And if I don't that could end up as nothing more than a shell for a demon to possess."
"Shima-san-" Konekomaru began.
"Let him," Izumo interrupted. "Remember what Mephisto told us about Rin? A fatal verse weakens possession allowing the person or object's native soul to push the invading demon out. It won't hurt Shima because his soul is native to his body." She turned to Yaozo, "Maybe that's what it will take for you to realize that that is your son lying there." Imperiously she held out her arm and Konekomaru helped her up. Bon glanced back at Renzo then followed the other two exwires into the hall.
"Dad!" Juuzo tried again. "You weren't there when Yamantaka found out-"
"Leave," Yaozo repeated.
Juuzo spun on his heel and stomped out slamming the door behind himself and Kinzo.
Yaozo's shoulders slumped tiredly as he stood beside Renzo's bed. "Since you were barely more than a toddler this has been my nightmare," he told the unconscious teen. "We never really tamed Yamantaka, in all the centuries he's been bound to our family he's used us as much as we used him and the deal Takezo made to save you from that demon of rot left you so vulnerable to Yamantaka himself."
With a forced smile Yaozo reached out to brush Renzo's bangs back from his face. "You always act like you don't take anything seriously, but I know you're tough as nails Renzo. When I was teaching you to fight it almost scared me, how ruthless you could be. I need that now, I need you to fight with everything you've got, Ren. We're going to get you back."
After being ousted from Renzo's hospital room the exwires, Renzo's two older brothers and Dr Hsu joined Egyn and the exorcist guards in the hallway. After a several hostile looks traded back and forth they split into two groups holding court at opposite ends of the hall.
"He was supposed to be on our side," Bon said with an accusing look back at the door Yaozo had firmly closed.
"Dad didn't see Yamantaka these last couple of days," Juuzo said. "I really don't think he'd ever hurt Renzo, but Dad hasn't seen that and he's not hearing me."
Kinzo gave Juuzo an odd look, "I get holding off exorcising Ren until he heals up, but isn't that going a little far? This is Yamantaka we're talking about."
"What do you mean?" Konekomaru asked.
"This is Shima clan history, not Myodha history," Juuzo explained. "You know, we were exorcists even before we joined the Myodha. Yamantaka had been bound to our clan for several hundred years before Fukaku sealed the Impure King."
"In 1550 a small village in the mountains north of Kyoto was wiped-out, the inhabitants' souls consumed down to the last child, but their bodies didn't have a mark on them. They were found collapsed in their tracks, their bodies slowly dying of exposure and neglect. Two brothers from the Shima family were sent to investigate. They found Yamantaka, replete from feasting on the souls of the villagers and entered battle with him. But there were whispers of a dark power rising and, besides, the village was known to worship Ekibiogami of the Kingdom of Decay, so when Yamantaka was at a disadvantage the brothers offered him a deal: Swear fealty to them or be destroyed. Yamantaka agreed, but with the stipulations that first, the means of defeating him could never be revealed outside of our clan and, second, whenever his host became unsuitable that a new vessel of our blood would be provided for his use."
"The deal was struck and the ten years later the son of the elder brother was possessed by Yamantaka, eventually merging completely with the demon. In the early stages of merging, Yamantaka was able to pass for human, but as time went on the body took on more and more of the demon's characteristics," Juuzo grimaced, "eventually becoming unsuitable to the demon. To uphold our end of the deal our family has provided Yamantaka with a second hosts in the five centuries since then."
"For better than a decade now, Dad's been terrified that Yamantaka would take Renzo as his third host. Merging with a demon is horrific enough under normal circumstances, but in this case, because of Takezo's oath, Yamantaka has the ability to drain Ren so completely that his body would essentially become a shell. Under those circumstances merger would obliterate every last trace of Renzo's soul."
"Why would Yamantaka want something so pointless?" Egyn asked sounding disgusted.
Kinzo blinked at him in confusion, "Well, obviously, because Yamantaka wouldn't risk losing himself merging with Renzo then."
"There is no risk, no loss," Egyn snorted. "Demons don't merge with people who are incompatible, that we don't like. Yamantaka wouldn't pick a vessel who wouldn't add to him. Those who fear being influenced by their human hosts do not merge, they merely possess."
"Possession can be revoked with a fatal verse, merger can't." Bon said. "Don't pretend there aren't advantages."
"The thought of merging with an empty shell is revolting," Egyn countered. "Like wearing a gutted corpse as a coat. Yamantaka is not of the Kingdom of Decay, he would not seek it out."
"It's easy enough for you to say that," Konekomaru said. "After all, it's all but unheard of for a human to become the predominant influence in a merger." Egyn looked ready to argue, Konekomaru held up a hand to stall him. "I know, demons who practice frequent mergers tend to be much more friendly to Assiah, I'm not saying their human-halves don't influence them, particularly for the first few decades after a new merger, but the demon's personality almost always emerges as the stronger influence."
"What you say has some truth to it and I don't know if Yamantaka wanted the boy as a vessel or not, but if he did he would have welcomed the influence," Egyn declared. "I don't know what the abominations created by Lucifer's Illuminati were, but they were not mergers."
"Demon powers but human souls," Mike agreed from his place at Izumo's side.
"The inverse of possession," Uke added.
Egyn scowled, mulling over Uke and Mike's words. "Humans, possessing demons," he said to himself. "I don't know that I like that."
Several minutes later Yaozo stepped out of Renzo's room. "Yamantaka's fatal verse had no effect," he said.
Before Izumo could say 'I told you so' Hsu stepped forward, "While the girl's explanation is one possibility, you know that it is not only one or even the most likely one."
Yaozo nodded. "Renzo's soul could be so exhausted that he couldn't push Yamantaka out even with the demon's fatal verse loosening it's hold on his body. Or they may have already merged to the point where there is effectively only one soul remaining."
"Beyond that these demon-eaters are a new phenomenon," Dr. Hsu added. "The traditional means of fighting demons may not be effective against them. That is why it is so important that we study this case."
"You may not understand what Lady Shiemi's knight has become," Egyn gestured to himself and the two byakko, "but we all sense it. You are simply too fearful to listen to us."
Hsu caught Yaozo's elbow, turning him slightly away from the group at the other end of the hall. "There still are other means we can attempt to remove the demonic influence."
After a moment Yaozo nodded.
"At least get a Myo'o Dhari doctor to look at Renzo," Bon demanded of Yaozo. "Have someone who gives a damn about him give us a second opinion."
Once Hsu and the Myo'o Dhari doctor finished going over the proposed treatment plan Yaozo ushered the exwires, Juuzo and Kinzo into an empty room leaving Egyn in the hallway still staring at Renzo's door with a dark look on his face.
"I need to start preparations," Hsu excused himself. He bowed slightly to Yaozo, "And it seems my presence will only add to the tensions."
"Go ahead," Yaozo said sounding completely worn down. Then he turned to the others. "Normally this wouldn't be any of your business; Renzo is comatosed, my child and a minor; I am trying to make the best decisions I can for him and you really have no say in the matter."
"Except Renzo renounced his family. I thought he was just being an idiot," Bon said thinking of Rin preventing him from saying something similar to his own father, "But you're going to let that guy poison him."
"I am not poisoning Renzo!" Yaozo said harshly. "Yes, it's dangerous. Yes, it could kill him. But it's the only way we have left to save him from becoming a demon.
"Are you familiar with the underlying principle of chemotherapy?" the doctor interjected. "In essence this is the same, we're trying to kill the disease, the demon, faster than we kill the patient. While attempting to drive the demonic influence out of Renzo's body we're going to make him very sick, but our intent is to save him."
"If it's going to hurt Ren shouldn't we wait until he's stronger? Give him a chance to recover from everything else that's happened?" Kinzo asked.
The doctor shook his head. "You're an exorcist yourself, Kinzo. You know there's only a limited window of opportunity. The longer we wait the more likely it will be that his transformation will be irreversible."
Izumo turned to Yaozo with a sneer, "So basically given a choice between having your son turn into a demon or die, you'd rather he died." Izumo slid off her chair to kneel between Uke and Mike. "Remember what Suguro asked of me?" she whispered to her familiars.
Yaozo met Izumo's accusing glare tiredly. "I don't know that when he wakes up he'll even be my son anymore but I will do whatever I can to make sure that he is, even at the risk of Renzo not waking up at all. The deal Yamantaka gave us was a classical demon's deal: securing your future with the sacrifice of a child not yet conceived. When I became the clan head I told myself there was a good chance it wouldn't even happen within my life-time. But like most who make that deal I found it's only when it's too late, when it's no longer a possibility but a child laying in your arms that you realize truly realize what you've sacrificed. I will not lose Renzo's soul to Yamantaka without a fight. In case you've all forgotten we are exorcists."
"Maybe that's how you see yourself, but first and foremost I'm a miko," Izumo said. "I'm an intercessor between Gehenna and Assiah, if it goes to a fight I've already failed in my primary role."
"Shima-san, two years ago I wouldn't have doubted that your course was the right one," Konekomaru added quietly. "I would have said that it was better to risk Renzo's life than to risk him becoming a demon. But I didn't know Rin two years ago. Rin was born a half-demon, the son of Satan himself, last winter he effectively became a full demon when his human half died, and none of that stops him from being a good person. Renzo might be different because of what's been done to him, but he won't be dead."
"He won't be Renzo either, it will be Yamantaka in Renzo's body," Yaozo insisted.
"It will be Renzo, but he will be a demon," Izumo snapped. "How many times do Mike and Uke have to tell you that?"
"I don't believe them!" Yaozo exclaimed.
"You were there when Rin swore to fealty," Bon said. "You saw the same thing I did: Our familiars and demons like Ucchusma are as much Myo'o Dhari as you and I, it's long overdue for us to start acting like that."
"How can we when their help comes at such a cost?" Yaozo demanded.
"Well maybe it'd help if we would stop making promises we don't want to keep," Bon snapped. "You wouldn't have to be afraid for Renzo if you hadn't promised Yamantaka someone's body as a host in the first place. Those 'classic deals with a demon' you mentioned, yeah the cost sucks but we agreed to them and all our stories make us out to be the victor, the hero when we get what we want from the demon without paying the cost we agreed on. Negotiation should be about coming to an agreement not about trying to set-up loopholes to cheat the other guy. We're as responsible as the demons for making Demon Oaths into nothing more than an effort to swindle each other; someone's gotta step up and start dealing honorably."
"Dad," Juuzo interjected. "Don't just dismiss what Bon's saying out of hand. From everything I've put together, Ren dealt with Yamantaka as a friend not as a tamer and, if Izumo's familiars can be believed, Yamantaka died to keep Renzo safe from Lucifer. After spending a couple of days with Yamantaka I honestly don't believe he'd do anything to hurt Renzo." Then he grimaced, "that said, I'm not sure a demon would count merging with a human as 'doing harm'."
Before Yaozo could respond they were interrupted by sounds of a scuffle from the hall.
Outside the door Egyn bellowed, "You dare accuse me of subterfuge!" The whole group rushed out to find the Water King and Dr. Hsu, backed by a team of exorcists including Chen-long, confronting each other. "If I'd taken the boy I would have simply walked out the door with him."
"What is going on here?" Yaozo demanded.
"The demon-eater, I mean your kid just went missing," Chen-long replied sardonically. "We're apparently both accusing the other of being the kidnapper."
Hsu glared at the Exwires filing out of the room behind Yaozo, "Or it could be them, you suspected they'd try something like this!"
"Right, we kidnapped him while we were all sitting in a room with Shima-san," Izumo replied sarcastically.
"Shouldn't we be trying to find him instead of casting blame?" Konekomaru asked. "He is hurt and possibly confused. Renzo might have woken up on his own and tried to get away."
Bon glared at Hsu, "Who'd blame him with all your damn tests? He probably thinks he's still being tortured."