Ushio and Tora belongs to Kazuhiro Fujita and Shonen Sunday

Inside a dimly lit ramen shop, a beast was feasting on the warm, sweet blood and juicy meat of his victim. The lights flickered as its needle-sharp fangs dug into her body, with other corpses laying around as nothing but bones. The body he was eating… It was a girl… with short, black hair… he was eating Asako…

The beast let out an agonized cry, tears filling its eyes, feeling immense pain and hunger. He walked down, the sound of blood splashing as his paws hit the floor, he laid his paw on the wall thinking about what he just did…

"You can't help it can't you? You hate being a beast… you hate yourself… you regret your sacrifice and you hate yourself for it… that's fine… don't feel bad about it… that's just part of being a beast." Six red eyes appeared in the distance and quickly dashed towards it.


Ushio's eyes snapped wide open. As he sat up abruptly, he felt his breath going away as cold sweat dropped from his forehead and down his snout, wrinkling with a predatory grimace ready to attack whatever was after him.

He grasped his chest, feeling his heart pounding quickly as he looked around the rooftop only to see Tora awakening slowly. "Brat… what happened? You look very on edge." He mumbled, seemingly annoyed at his interrupted dreams.

"I had a nightmare," Ushio was still breathing harshly and refused to elaborate further, he felt like someone or something was talking to him through it.

Being now fully used to his body by this point, he jumped off the rooftop and elegantly landed on his four feet. It was a very hot morning and he only had one thing in mind, breakfast. His senses have changed a lot, much to the former human's annoyance, so logically, his taste was bound to have changed as well.

He looked to the fridge for anything good to eat, but didn't expect to see much, knowing the lazy nature of his father. Thankfully, his mother was now here to redeem that, but there were seemingly no signs of her either, only a note stuck in the fridge that read;

"I went on a date with Sumako, make sure to clean the roof or I'll seal you in the cellar. (Being a beast is no excuse, Ushio!)" With a crude drawing of himself giving a peace sign.

Ushio grabbed the note and made it into a ball, throwing it on the garbage and opening the fridge. His nose was bombarded with all kinds of smells, there were frozen vegetables, fresh meat, some eggs, everything you'd expect to see in a fridge.

He looked at his palm, huge and coated in fur with sharp retractable claws pondering. He was now a predator made to prey on those weaker than him. As Hyou, the exorcist from China, liked to put it, he was 'an animal that is not an animal'... Wonder what he would've thought of his situation.

His rows of spiked teeth could tear flesh off, it was only natural for him to enjoy the taste of blood, but he couldn't just go off and eat the neighbor's dog, let alone a human being when he was one himself, it was more than wrong and he hated it. Ushio sighed, he didn't want to start his day in this mood. Naturally, he let go of those thoughts and grabbed the fresh meat, heading to the table nearby. It smelled far more appetizing than ever before, juicy, fresh and best of all, he didn't even have to cook it.

It was perfect for such a hot day, but he still craved something a bit warmer to complement it, that could truly wake him up… That's when he felt a rich, intense smell reach him.

Tora was grabbing a full bowl of coffee, which to them was the size of a regular cup, and drank it down. Ushio carefully took another bowl, some of the other dishes were about to fall but he managed to catch them all with superhuman reflexes.

With a sigh of relief, he put the bowl below the dispenser and curiously pressed the switch on the old coffee machine that Mayuko's parents gave them for last year's christmas. They haven't used it a lot since then, but Tora was always the one who'd have some every morning, a strange sight to behold from an ancient Daiyoukai.

It took three sips for the Younger Azafuse to dig into the flavor. Ushio hated coffee, it was too bitter for him before, so he couldn't believe that he was liking it as his new sense of taste seemingly favored strong flavors.

Tora took notice, ticked off by the younger beast's stupidly indepth thoughts over extremely mundane crap, "Is the coffee good?" Ushio nodded affirmatively, "I thought you hated the damn stuff," He continued as he took another sip.

Ushio carefully stepped outside, passing through the temple gates. They were such a mess, he caught Tora using it several times as a scratching pole, something that was put by his ancestors centuries ago and has been in their family shrine for generations made into a mess of sawdust and splinters by that shameless Yokai.

He felt like apologizing to them as he pulled out a claw and scratched a bit of the pole that wasn't made to splinters already. It felt nice, like scratching an itch or getting a massage, but not in the same way. He could feel it in his bones, an indescribable sensation as he made a little design resembling a crescent moon. He didn't have a reason to do this, it just felt nice.

He went back inside only to see Tora was eating the raw meat he took out of the fridge. "Tora! That's my food you moron!" Ushio yelled as the older Yokai ran away and flew off, the portion of meat still in his mouth. "You jerk, come back here!"


Brightness filtered through the forest's leaves, in stark contrast to the heat back in the shrine, everything smelled fresh with a hint of 'green', a scent that only intensified after he became a beast. This was Ushio's favorite place to clear his thoughts, a place where nobody, not even Tora, could bother him, or at least that's what he thought.

"So… This is the place you like, eh," said a familiar voice, Ushio let out a yell and instinctively swung a claw at the air behind him.

"TORA! What the fuck are you doing here!?" Ushio asked aggressively as Tora floated down softly, like he's sitting on an invisible chair.

Tora dismissed the younger azafuse's question with a whistle, "Even humans like forests for a reason, they're nature's restaurant, like a buffet waiting to happen, you know what I mean?"

"I don't want to hunt, never did. How the hell did you find me?" Ushio asked

"Your scent is unmistakable," The brat's smell reeked of Beast Spear, much like the other Azafuse that came to the shrine, all but that wacko Guren smelled the same and even after it's destruction, that scent will stick with him forever.

Ushio sighed in annoyance, Tora just had the special power to get on his nerves. Not only did he lose his humanity, but also his privacy. He was already sick and tired of Tora peeking into him taking a shower, now he couldn't even clear his mind in peace.

Amidst their current smack talking, a squirrel ran past them. It jumped and squeaked, before staring at the duo with a curious look. The animal gained Tora's attention, as he directed Ushio's stare toward it with his two hands.

"Tchk! Boy! I think I've seen your first prey, looks tasty doesn't it?" Tora whispered cheekily.

"No, and I'm not hungry since you took away my breakfast," Ushio said as he turned around, heading back to the temple, before Tora grabbed him by the tail.

"You killed the Hakumen no Mono, but you can't even hunt a forest critter?" Tora questioned with a big smirk, trying to contain his laughter.

"Well, I'd only kill stuff that tried to kill me before!" Ushio shouted.

"You're such an embarrassment to Yokai."

"Why should I care about what any of them think?" Ushio yelled, slowly growing more and more desperate at Tora's usual idiocy.

As the smack-talking continued, the squirrel froze in place, noticing 6 glowing eyes staring at them from the shadows. Frightened, it Instinctively ran away. "You scared it!" Tora yelled at Ushio, who had gone quiet.

"Whatever you say," Ushio muttered before walking off again, except this time, Tora didn't try to stop him. As Ushio ventured deeper into the forest instead, he couldn't help but feel a strange tingling sensation down his back, something that signaled danger.


Elsewhere in the same forest, a group of police officers came to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a group of teenagers, all of which belonged to an infamous biker gang known as the 'Earthly Temptations'.

They tightly held flashlights as they entered the forest, pointing it at everything that may or not seem suspicious. As they went deeper, they began feeling an indescribable presence staring at them from the very depths of the 'Forbidden Woods'

One of the cops suddenly recalled a legend, one that told of this place being haunted with everyone who explored its depths never coming back which of course, his teammates shrugged it off as non-sense.

"Calm down Satou-kun! We're police officers, not the Ghostbusters!"

Everyone but him chuckled as they neared a cave, dark as one could be. Down the rocky path they saw dried up blood everywhere, crushed up bones with some still fresh meat hanging on them and clothes made into rags.

"Man, this murder must've been very brutal, seems the killer ate them to the bone!"

Six glowing pairs of eyes shone from the pitch-black depths of the cavern, they all turned their flashlights towards them, only for an arachnid figure to rush by. Their final screams of horror alerted the wild life, before it turned them into spider food.


Ushio tried to clear his mind again, to forget about Tora and the fact he was a beast, the latter being a very hard task. So instead, he took advantage of his new senses to dig in the lush, peaceful environment around him as he went deeper than he's ever been before.

He listened to the relaxing sounds of birds chirping and squirrels chattering miles away from him, and sniffed the wetness of the leaves and dirt. He felt he truly belonged here in nature, a place he didn't want to leave.

A peaceful mood that was cut short by the sound of a voice he recognized. Thankful it wasn't Tora's voice, he dug around the trees for a while, tracking the source of those familiar voices until he eventually ended up in a hot spring, much like the one back in Toono.

Right there, enjoying its warmness were his parents. He felt a bit embarrassed as he saw his mom naked, having some alone time with her husband, but it thankfully wasn't anything as steamy as the water they were on.

Ushio considered leaving them alone, but by the time he was about to go back, Shigure jumped up and slammed him in the head with his staff, which he left nearby just in case. "Begone, Monster!"

The pain ringed through his body and his head. Tora would be glad, now he knew a thwack in the head truly felt like. "Dad!? What the hell's wrong with you!? It's me Ushio!"

"Ushio!? Sorry about that! I forgot you became a beast." Shigure chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Feel free to join us, we didn't intend for it, but we could turn this into some quality time as a family." Sumako added.

Ushio slowly dipped himself into the hot spring, recalling the nice feeling he had last time. His tail wrapped around his dad in an elegant manner, the way his fur soaked in was pleasantly strange, a feeling he got used to as his body relaxed.

"Ushio, this place reminds me of a story from my youth," Ushio looked around intrigued by his words, "I was younger than you, and was never allowed to be here, of course that made me very curious, so one day I managed to sneak in and explore it."

Shigure continued as Ushio listened more than carefully, considering his enhanced hearing. "I got deep inside, and of course, got lost for a couple minutes. I was scared, but my parents managed to find me." he smirked, "Then they told me a story that stuck with me."

1000 Years ago, a series of mysterious disappearances happened in this very forest. Those who came back alive were found dead after several nights of intense nightmares.

The blue sky was growing cloudy, as a large shadow figured crawled between the trees behind him. Ushio sat up soon after, his pupil-less eyes wide-open like two glimmering pearls. He didn't know what it was but he began to feel uneasy as Shigure continued.

More and more people began disappearing, other exorcists and priests were called in, only for each to suffer the same fate as the last. One day, a farmer's son entered that forest out of pure curiosity, only to go missing.

A shiver ran through his back as soon as his father finished that sentence, Ushio something staring at him with malice, he began getting worried. He looked behind him, briefly noticing 3 pairs of red eyes as his father continued the story.

His family looked around for any traces of the poor child, his mother following suit. Knowing they're in danger and full of determination to protect them, that farmer looked around the area, stumbling upon none other than the Beast Spear near a lake.

Ushio tensed up, completely ignoring the story by this point as he took in a rotten smell, swearing to have seen purple smoke beginning to creep up from behind them. He couldn't pin-point the smell but it was definitely a bad omen, and it gave him the same level of adrenaline he had when the Beast Spear detected a Yokai… could it be?

The farmer entered the forest, and was never seen again. So many years have passed since then. Now, whoever enters the forbidden forest at night may hear the sounds of babies and young children from its depths, because of this, the forest was dubbed…

Ushio got up and took some steps towards the forest, his snout wrinkling with needle-sharp teeth in full show letting out a low growl. There was something praying after them and he was ready to attack whatever it was.

"The Forbidden Forest," Shigure concluded the story, looking at Ushio expecting some reaction from him only to see he was growling like a dog at seemingly nothing, outside the hot springs.

A normal person would find this weird, but with their experience in constantly battling Yokai, he knew exactly what was going on. "Sumako, put on your clothes and go look for Tora's aid! We'll be here fighting!"

He quickly put his robes on and snatched his golden staff, collar, seals and some Buhougu, standing up behind Ushio as the wind began to blow stronger. They stood right in front of the purple mist in a fighting stance, only to be propelled to the ground by a stream of purple smoke coming from those trees.

"I finally found you…" A voice came from the smoke as Shigure opened his eyes to behold a giant spider Yokai standing right in front of him, his eyes focusing on Ushio. "Spear Wielder…" The spider muttered.

The priest leapt highly with a backflip, avoiding its mandibles snapping shut and landing on the ground soon after. "Ushio! You distract him, I'll look for a weak point."

He learned some things from his previous sparring with Tora, but this was his first real fight as a beast, not to mention, against an opponent that was almost three times his size. He wasn't sure if he could even stand a chance against it.

With his spirit drawn thin, he felt his body reacting on its own, driven by pure instincts as one spider foot after the other left a trail of holes in the dirt.

"Come after me if you want, but leave my son alone!" Shigure yelled as he grabbed two spiked chakrams from his pocket and threw them at the Spider Yokai, only for it to become a ball of smoke and charge at him like a bullet.

His words enraged him more than before, reminding him of that Spear wielder… he could see him… long hair, his eyes fragmented like broken glass looking at him directly… paying every last piece of his soul to seal him…

Right as Ushio thought it was about to hit him, he ran up a tree right as it materialized again and with a backflip, Shigure nailed his staff on its abdomen, its blood spraying like a fountain. "There is no Beast Spear, it was destroyed."

Shigure mumbled an undecipherable spell, concentrating all of his Yang into the staff hoping it would exterminate him, or at least incapacitate him… but the spider wasn't foolish.

From the purple smoke emerged what looked like a decomposed body with inhumanly sharp teeth, long green hair and pearly white eyes. With its sharp claws, it slashed him in the shoulder from behind, letting out a small shockwave of Ki that cleared out the smoke, the spider managing to avoid it by turning into a cloud of smoke.

Shigure was launched into a nearby tree, but Ushio thankfully managed to find cover, feeling his skin burn briefly from the sacred energy.

Everything seemed quiet for a while soon after, being a Yokai, the shockwave could've been deadly to him, but the worry about his father's well-being distracted him from the threat at hand. He was laying face down in the grass, smoke steaming out of his damaged robes as he wavered towards him.

"Dad! Are you OK?" He didn't expect an answer, he didn't expect a movement at all, he could've been dead, and he prayed for that to be false.

After a short while he was about to cry, believing he had truly lost him, but much to his surprise and relief, he slowly stood up and looked at him with a confident smile.

"Don't underestimate your old man, Ushio." He remarked, "I managed to survive the shockwave by quickly using some of that Ki to set a barrier."

Ushio sighed in relief but Shigure frowned as a shadow lurked over. "Ushio! Watch out!"

He rolled over as the spider was about to stab his newly-turned Yokai son once more, he was more concentrated on the fact that he was OK than his own safety. Once he noticed, it was too late, as the spider had pierced through his waist, making him spit out blood as it pinned him tightly to the ground.


It was the first time Sumako ran like this after centuries of keeping The Hakumen away, she was tired, worried about her family's safety. She didn't want to run away, she wanted to help them against that thing, whatever they were fighting, but she just didn't have the power to.

Tora, that was the name of Ushio's Yokai friend, right? She was just introduced to him yesterday and seemed like a bit of a jerk, but if her husband was asking for his aid, he must be of help. She had to find him.

She was running out of breath, but kept on going anyway, pushing her frail body to its limits before tripping on a branch and falling to her knees to catch a break. She looked up and screamed as she saw a corpse-like ghoul about to claw her.

Lightning struck right in front of her, disintegrating that monster into ashes. She kneeled back scared and unsure of what just happened. Right in front of him was the large orange tiger demon she was looking for.

"Tora? Thank goodness you're here, Ushio needs your help!" She exclaimed.

"That brat always needs my help." Another monster like the last materialized behind her, and then another. Tora took care of them with his claws, one swipe after the other, they kept appearing.

He quickly grabbed her by the robes and put her on his back, "Hold on!"

Tora began running, the fog was so thick he could barely see anything, not even with his superhuman sight, he had to track him down by smell. But his smell was just faint enough, hidden behind that spider's sharp smell.

"That fucking brat…" His claws tore into more and more apparitions. He didn't know where he was at this point, all he could smell was that spider, all through-out the forest it was nothing but his scent. "He's out of my bloody league… "

The sharp smell of rotten flesh flashed through the clearing again. He lost all track of where he was going, where he had to go. Ushio could've been dead by this point, he wouldn't care if that was the case but he'd feel responsible for it…

He couldn't let him die like this, every second counted. "Need to move faster… "

The spider's smell combined with the smoke was suffocating for Sumako, she felt she would pass out at any moment, her worry bigger than ever before. She couldn't lose her son, he just met her. Tora simply wrinkled his nose, they were running around for a while, running around in circles… haven't they?

Tora was about to jump high above the trees, swearing to himself for not thinking about this earlier, but just as he was about to leap, a hand of yet another ghoul grabbed him by his left foot. He looked down just to see an entire mountain of them pulling him down, like he'd be impressed by cheap tricks like these.

"Eat this!" Tora yelled as lightning emerged from his hand, but one lighting wasn't enough to deal with the creatures, as they continued pulling them down. "Shit…" Tora then resorted to breathing a stream of fire, yet again, to no effect as they regenerate soon after. "FUCK!"

Sumako was expecting a miracle, hoping for one to happen. For Tora, it was something pathetic for a beast to rely on, when he was the miracle that always saved Ushio's life at the last moment.

It was time that fate itself paid him for that, as something unexpected happened deep within the forest that made the ghouls screech as a shockwave blew the mist away, making them disappear with it. He could see it, a large beam of light… that's where Ushio was!

With a victorious grin on his face, he didn't hesitate and leapt away before the mist accumulated again, Sumako holding tightly as he flew to where the light came from. Tora reached the area, only to see something… no, someone who made him lose words.

It was him, that spider he fought countless times before getting sealed by the Beast Spear, the one who was a pain in the ass during the first great war against the Hakumen. He stabbed Ushio too, the younger azafuse struggling as the spider's feet pierced his waist. He grinned, he couldn't wait but to see the look on his face when he found out he came back.

"Yo! Ushio! I see this asshole is being a burden to you! CLOUDS COME!" Tora yelled from above as a pocket of clouds formed around him.

"TORA!" Ushio and Shigure yelled in unison.

"Nagatobimaru… Long time no see." The spider Yokai hissed as Tora shot a huge thunderbolt, hitting him as he let out a screech before turning into a ball of smoke and leaving, running away like a coward. "I'll get you all next time!"

"To-Tora!" Ushio muttered in relief, "Y-you came!"

"Tch! Not for nothing, I only wanted to… eat…" He was about to say his usual excuse before remembering Ushio was an azafuse now, "Shit! Nevermind," He whispered.

The sky cleared up again, as the mist faded away, returning the forest back to its fresh glory. Animals came out of their hiding places, the sun shone brightly onto the flowers and greenery below, like if nothing had happened.

"Ushio!" Sumako ran to her son, worriedly checking the gaping hole in his stomach. "Are you OK?"

"Of course he is, he's an azafuse, he'll be fine in no time!" Tora spoke in a confident tone before he did, "I'm sure Ushio knows I handled worse things."

"W-Will he come back?" Ushio asked worriedly, clenching his fangs in pain.

"I've fought him before, I'm sure the bastard will return soon enough," Tora grinned warmly, despite worrying Ushio more, "Let's go back to the shrine and take care of these injuries. It's time for you to take our training seriously."