Chapter 18

Inugami

In the Heian Period, the emperor was the most powerful person in the island country of Japan. The longest reigning emperor of this time was Emperor Konoe, who, as far as the people knew, acted as emperor for over a hundred years. Not many thought anything about the emperor's age, as they believed that the emperor received blessings from the gods to live a long life. What they didn't know was that, though not a god, a very powerful spirit was behind the reign of Emperor Konoe.

"Konoe, you will not believe this: I believe I have found the perfect vessel for me."

Emperor Konoe, who was lying motionlessly in his bed, gradually opened his eyes. The most beautiful and enchanting woman hovered over him. While the woman seldomly smiled, she couldn't hold back her delight this time with this news that she was giving him. It brought warmth to Konoe's slow-beating heart.

"I'm glad, Tamamo…" said Konoe, barely above a whisper. "Who is it?"

"A young girl apprentice of Asakura Hao. He brought her with him to the palace today," said Tamamo no Mae. "If I can get her body, Konoe, then I can finish everything we've started. You can finally rest."

"Asakura Hao…" Konoe muttered, reaching for Tamamo's hands with his own. "Be careful with that man."

"I know," Tamamo grasped Konoe's shaky hand. "I just need a moment alone with that young girl… I'm going to need your help…"

Konoe tried to smile, but he could barely muster enough strength to talk. Instead, all he could do was look lovingly into Tamamo's eyes.

"Use me however you need to, my love."


"We are deeply sorry for the bland breakfast. Business has been scarce lately, and we aren't able to afford better ingredients like fish and meat…"

Otake, the innkeeper's wife, a frail but kind looking woman, said as she placed bowls of plain rice porridge, pickled vegetables, and stewed legumes in front of Hao and Ushio the morning after their stay. It was many inns' tradition to serve breakfast to their patrons back in olden days. Ushio had been looking forward to eating the moment she sat down in the inn's dining area, and she slumped in her seat when she saw the minimal offerings in front of her. On the other hand, Hao smiled reassuringly at the woman.

"Not to worry, madam. I am an Onmyouji and I like to keep to a vegetarian diet. It doesn't feel right to be eating animals when I'm supposed to be an advocate for the spirits of nature."

Ushio's heart tightened in guilt as she thought about her love for meat.

"Ah, you're an Onmyouji?" Otake's eyes lit up momentarily at Hao, then she looked down again as if to push away some thoughts.

Hao looked deeply at Otake, then asked, "Where are the other guests? I saw the lights coming from further down into the hall of our room last night."

"Ah, that's…" Otake shifted with unease. "I really shouldn't bother you with this… but that is the room where my son stays in. He's been sick for weeks… and the doctors can't seem to treat him. We… we-"

"You were hoping to have an Onmyouji take a look."

Otake nodded and kept her head down in shame. "But after all the doctor visits and the taxes and the bad business, we can't afford to hire an Onmyouji."

Ushio looked at the old woman with a bit of sympathy, and looked towards Hao. She seemed to have a clue on what Hao was going to say.

"I can take a look, if you'd like," said Hao. "As a form of gratitude for taking us in."

"Really?" the woman looks up at him, tears circling the edges of her eyes.

"Of course."

Otake, now along with her innkeeper husband, Genichirou, led Hao and Ushio towards the innermost room of the inn. Hao and Ushio kept a short distance from the couple and Ushio looked up at Hao's unchanged smile. She tried to think of some crooked reason why Hao would offer help for free.

"Hey, what are we doing?" Ushio whispered only loud enough for Hao to hear. "Aren't we supposed to be investigating those murders?"

"This couple is kindhearted and needs our help," Hao said as if that was an obvious thing. "Besides, the truth might be closer than you think."

Ushio raised her eyebrows at him but did not argue further. She was sure that Hao knew something that she didn't, maybe something he found out by reading the innkeeper's wife's mind. She felt a little annoyed that he wouldn't just tell her clearly; adult or not, Hao loved to keep things mysterious.

They arrived at the door of the ill son's room and his parents knocked.

"Juzou, can we come in?" his mother called out nervously.

"Don't!" a growl was what answered the woman. "Do not come in!"

"Please, son, an Onmyouji is here to take a look at you," pleaded Genichirou.

"No! I don't want to see anybody!"

"Otake-san, Genichirou-san, allow me," Hao stepped forward and put a hand out in front of the elderly couple. "Juzou-san, I understand that you are embarrassed to be seen in your current predicament."

"..."

"I assure you that I am able to help you, but I will have to physically see you."

"... I don't know what you're talking about! I don't need your help!"

"Your actions are a disrespect to your parents. If you would like to redeem yourself, you'd start by letting us inside."

Everyone present besides Hao and Juzou seemed to know what their conversation was about. Ushio, getting impatient with Hao's method, stepped up as well. She touched the old wooden door with her hands, earning a questioning look from Hao. She looked up at him as well.

"Hao, you have money, right?" she asked.

"I do," Hao answered quizzically.

Ushio looked back at the elderly couple and pointed at Hao. "Please charge the repair fee to this guy."

Before the couple or Hao could react, Ushio stepped her right foot back, grounded her left, then swung her right leg up at the wooden door. The wood planks that used to be a door bursted into pieces at contact with Ushio's foot. The elderly couple watched the shards of wood fly in front of their eyes in slow motion while their jaws dropped. Even Hao's eyes widened a little.

Anna's lower body training was hellish, but she really did know how to condition a teenager's body into steel.

"Sometimes you have to use force with introverts," said Ushio.

"That's…" Hao could not think of any words to say, but a movement in his peripheral vision diverted his attention.

A clump of blankets in one corner of the room was shaking violently. An opening at the top of the clump showed a pair of eyes. Ushio and Hao assumed that they belonged to the man named Juzou. There were no windows to the room, so it was dark inside, but Juzou's eyes had an alarmingly red glow.

"Juzou-san, reveal yourself!" Hao ordered.

"Leave me alone! Or I will hurt you!" Juzou barked back from inside his blankets.

"Please, Juzou!" Otake approached her son and attempted to remove the blankets from his body. "Let us help you."

Ushio quickly ran up to Otake and pushed her aside as one of Juzou's arms reached out from under the blankets and swiped at Otake. Juzou retrieved his arm immediately, but within that second, Ushio and Hao noticed the state of the arm. It was hairy-so hairy that it was basically fur-and his nails were sharp.

"Step back, lady," Ushio said to Otake without taking her eyes off of Juzou. "He is hardly your son anymore."

Otake gasped and put her hands over her mouth, while her husband pulled her back to the doorway hastily.

"You knew he was like this," Ushio questioned Hao.

"Yes, but not without the idea you put out there last night," Hao stepped forward to be next to Ushio, looking down at the clump of blankets coldly. "Juzou-san, give up. There's nowhere for you to run."

"I just said, Hao, you have to use force!" Ushio said as she tackled the blankets. As soon as Juzou's arms shot out, Ushio grabbed both of them and pinned them to the ground with talismans she had hid in her palms.

Hao didn't waste a second this time to step in. He grabbed hold of the blankets and pulled them off Juzou. Ushio widened her eyes at what was in front of her and Otake let out a soft cry.

Juzou, who was supposed to be a young man in his twenties, was covered in animal-like fur. His nails and teeth were sharp, and his eyes showed a kind of rage that would scare away even bears. His muscles twitched hard as he tried to break out of the binding talismans. He barked and growled as he struggled, and thick drools spewed from the corners of his mouth.

"This… this guy is…" Hinode muttered.

"Inugami," Hao stated.

Inugami, a dog-like spirit, is a spirit to be feared even within the spiritual world. The most horrifying part about them is not their killing strength, but it is the way they come to being. A human is able to summon an Inugami by burying a dog and leaving only the head above ground, while placing food a few feet away from the dog. An Inugami will then be summoned when the dog dies of starvation. What humans often neglect is that, like many other spirits, an angry spirit is prone to possessing a human body.

"Juzou!" Genichirou exclaimed. "Who did this to you?!"

Juzou strained to look at his father. "That… that tax-collecting bastard… he took… he took…"

Otake and Genichirou jumped when Juzou howled. The young man was on the brink of no return. If the Inugami consumed him, there would be no trace of humanity left in him.

"The tax collector took away your daughter, am I correct, Mr. Innkeeper?" Hao asked.

"Ah… Okiku… yes," Genichirou sputtered in fear. "Because we don't have money to give to the tax collector, Okiku went to work for them to pay off our debt…"

"It seems that the kind of work the tax collector has made your daughter do is quite unspeakable."

Otake was audibly weeping now. The truth revealed about her children was too much to bear.

"And so," Hao turned back to address Juzou. "You thought you'd take care of this tax collector for the sake of your family, and performed the ritual to summon an Inugami."

Ushio shuddered at the coldness in Hao's voice. He was angry. While she also thought that Juzou's decision to kill a dog to get his revenge was despicable, but if they do not extract the Inugami from him soon, he was going to be consumed entirely.

"I only wanted to kill the tax collector," said Juzou in a hoarse voice. "But the Inugami… it went on a rampage every night, killing random people…"

"Of course, you didn't think a mere human could control the will of an Inugami," said Hao.

"This… this is not not what I wanted…"

Hao's eyes narrowed. "That doesn't bring back the lives that were lost, does it?"

"Hao!" Ushio called out to Hao with urgency.

Hao twitched slightly, and casted out 1080 prayer beads around Juzou's body. Ushio watched as an intense aura seeped out from Hao's body and along with his chanting, his aura drew out the Inugami from Juzou. As the Inugami left his body, Juzou's muscles shrank down so much that he was just skin and bones. His cheeks sunk in and his lips and eyes became so dry and bloodshot.

He collapsed onto the floor, barely breathing.

Ushio knelt down next to him and checked his pulse, then turned to his parents. "Go get him some warm water to drink."

At Ushio's command, the elderly couple stumbled out of the room and ran down the hall.

Back inside the room, Hao stared down at the Inugami, who was writhing inside the emission of Hao's aura. Hao raised his 1080 beads again, and his facial expression softened at the canine spirit.

"Go in peace, Inugami…" said Hao as he began to

"Not so fast."

Ushio and Hao turned around at the voice of a new presence in the room, who had entered by smashing through the window. They were shocked to see a gigantic-it must have been ten feet tall-black Inugami standing before them with bright red eyes. And behind the giant Inugami, several other smaller Inugami followed.

"There's a whole pack of them in this town?" Ushio said as she stood beside Hao, taking out her own prayer beads from her sleeve's pocket.

"That explains why the spiritual energy was so strong when we arrived," said Hao.

The large Inugami, presumably the pack's leader, stepped up in front of the two Onmyouji. The weakened Inugami that was inside of Juzou made a dash to join the pack.

"So that sly demon fox has finally sent you to deal with us," the large Inugami said, baring its fangs. "Asakura Hao."

"Should I feel honored that you know my name?" Hao commented lightly. Ushio watched him in awe; the man was more alert but still relaxed while facing a whole pack of Inugami. "Now it feels disrespectful of me not to know yours."

"My name is Kokuiri, leader of this family."

"One of your family has killed many innocent humans," said Hao.

"Ha! And one of your humans killed an innocent animal for his own gain," Kokuiri cackled, saliva pooling inside its lips. "Don't tell me that you believe it's fair to punish the spirit of that innocent animal."

"I believe that the innocent you talk about is a blurred line," Hao responded. "Otherwise, how do you explain the fact that the spirit has turned evil?"

Kokuiri growled at Hao's response. "I find it funny that you think you can decide what's evil and what's innocent, while you're taking orders from a demon. Albeit, it's a demon that betrayed us."

"The ones who deserve it will be punished soon enough."

Ushio didn't realize how much she was sweating. Not only was she surrounded by more demons than she could possibly handle on her own. She didn't know exactly how powerful Hao was, but she also didn't know if she could completely rely on him. From their conversation, she could deduce that Hao knew about Tamamo's true form as a demon all along. What was Tamamo planning to do and what was Hao planning to do?

"I think I've heard enough out of you," said Kokuiri. "Kill them, my children!"

At Kokuiri's command, the pack of Inugami behind him leapt out towards Ushio and Hao. Ushio cursed inside her head as several Inugami filled her field of vision. She had a handful of talismans and was able to restrain some of the dog demons, but there were too many still. She was too busy fighting them off physically and avoiding their bites to begin exorcising them.

"Get behind me, Ushio!"

Ushio saw a wave of Hao's large sleeves and his 1080 beads spread out into a large circle. She zipped towards the back of the man and saw him mumbling something under his breath. Then, two giant spirits that were even bigger than Kokuiri appeared within the circle, bursting through the ceiling.

Ushio knew those spirits well. They were Zenki and Kouki.

"Zenki! Kouki!" She exclaimed in delight. She had never been so happy to see those Shikigami.

The little Inugami were no match for Zenki and Kouki, who just swatted them away easily like flies. Kokuiri, the leader, stepped up at that point. While Kokuiri was just one demon and not as big as Zenki and Kouki, it was surprisingly agile and was able to fight against them. Now that Kokuiri was pushing back on the two Shikigami, its army was able to freely attack Zenki and Kouki.

Ushio looked back at Juzou while the Inugami were preoccupied with Zenki and Kouki. The man was hanging on by a thread.

Knowing what Ushio was looking at, Hao said, "Take him away from here. I can handle this."

Ushio nodded and went to Juzou's side. She lugged the man's arm over her shoulder and held on to his waist. The man was much bigger than her teenage body, so his legs dragged behind them as she made her way out of the room. However, she had to stop right at the hallway.

"...Shit," Ushio said shakily as she stood with Juzou in the hallway.

Noticing that Ushio had stopped, Hao looked over at her. Ushio's sudden stop alarmed him, but he couldn't pull away from fighting the Inugami. Ushio slowly turned her head back towards Hao. He took a sharp breath at her bleak expression.

"Don't panic, but," Ushio uttered, "there are hundreds of demons out there. Not just Inugami. They've killed the old couple."

Shock flashed through Hao's eyes.

"How did you get other demons to work for you?" he turned to Kokuiri and demanded.

Kokuiri cackled. "You and that fox had it coming. Demons are not just going to sit quietly while you roam around killing them!"

"What are you planning?"

"I suppose it won't hurt to tell you, since you're going to die here tonight," said Kokuiri. "During this month's full moon. I will lead the Parade of One Hundred Demons and storm through Japan all the way to the Imperial Palace."

"Hyakki Yakou…" Hao muttered.

Ushio backed into the room slowly, the demons pushing her back. Within minutes, Ushio's back bumped into Hao's side. The two of them were surrounded by demons. Zenki and Kouki were using all their strengths to protect Ushio and Hao from Kokuiri.

Hao whipped up a troubled smile.

"How embarrassing. Our first mission together and we're trapped with no way out."

Ushio gazed up at Hao, whipping up a smile herself.

"I have an idea."

Hao turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

"There's no time to explain, but…" Ushio said shakily. "I need you to save my body and soul when they're at their limit."

Hao remained silent, but looked at the girl intently.

Ushio let out a deep breath and leapt towards Kokuiri.

"I hope I can trust you."

Hao watched in shock as Ushio reached a hand out at the huge Inugami. Defenseless while fighting with Zenki and Kouki, Kokuiri turned into a ball of a spirit at Ushio's touch. A great light engulfed Ushio as she pushed Kokuiri's spirit into her chest.

When the light faded, a fully grown Ushio with dog ears and tail stood where Kokuiri was before.

"Foolish girl…"

A mix of Kokuiri and Ushio's voice came out of Ushio's vicious smile.


To be continued.