Kohamei Sect, Head Temple

"There's no way the Oyakume could be wrong! If she and her family are in danger, enough to call the entire sect, it truly has to be a big deal!" One monk said, as they were heading out.

"Tch! She's just been introduced to us earlier and Ushio is her son, of course she wouldn't want us to kill him," Another monk said, with a subtle air of wickedness, subtle enough for the other monks to not catch on.

"A mother is willing to fabricate lies like this to protect her pup, even if it is a powerful DaiYoukai, a newborn who can't control his powers at that, teaming up with Naga-" He stuttered a bit, realizing his facade was slipping up, before correcting himself, with a faked cough. "A mistake on my part, the Yokai her son calls Tora"


Aotsuki Shrine

It was late in the evening, the sun was about to set, but it was completely obscured by the clouds above, giving the sky an ominous greenish blue tone. Back in his house, Ushio looked closely at the TV, squinting his eyes and leaning closer, the images reflected off his white, pupiless eyes. He bit his lip, holding back his feelings of anger and worry as he gripped the remote, which was tiny in his large furry hands, careful as to not break it with his claws, before changing the channel to a breaking news report on TV.

"Damn you! I wanted to watch that!" Tora yelled, shaking his fist in thin air.

An action movie was playing at the time, two guys were fighting in a museum and Tora was already getting invested in the American export when Ushio switched the channel

"Shut up," Ushio said in an annoyed, and rather, cold tone paying more attention to the report over Tora's whining.

"Yesterday, several people mysteriously disappeared at the outskirts of Tokyo, only their clothes were found, but little else." The news reporter said in a formal tone, "According to a report from the only survivor left, a police officer claims to have seen a giant monster, with resemblance to a spider."

Ushio ground his sharp teeth together, emitting a low, silent growl of anger. The young Azafuse stared at the TV attently, gripping the tiny remote controller tightly as to prevent him from snatching it, completely ignoring Tora's desperate begging.

"Here's some of the remaining audio from the attack, sent to us from the Police Agency," The reporter formally announced as the screen shifted to black, only showcasing green audio-waves.

Tora's eyes widened, resembling two saucers as he looked at the TV mesmerized. "Oi Ushio! What are those trippy lines?"

"Shut up and let me listen!" Ushio whispered, as he placed his hand on Tora's mouth.

"Yesss… food!"

"Did you hear that?"

Right after that, the sounds of scream echoed through the room, sounds of slashing and bodies being ripped apart. Sounds so horrifying that Ushio couldn't even dare to imagine what was going on back then. Even if he was a monster right now, he was still a human at heart, and he couldn't stand hearing the sounds of human suffering.

Tora on the other hand, could not have cared less. "Even with the Hakumen dead and a majority of the country's Yokai gone, you still drag me into stupid crap like this!" Tora yelled, strangling the boy, "And It's not my fault I'm a terrible mentor. All Yokai know their powers from day one! You should've known how to fly since much earlier!"

"Jeez, Tora! what's with the sudden venting!?" Tora let go and Ushio crossed his arms, before noticing the pictures of the victims displaying on TV, "Besides I think this was your fault, remember the biker gang you scared off? Something tells me they've freed him."

"(When will I take a break?)" Tora huffed and turned back, facing away from Ushio, he laid his hand on his chin to take it all in, before changing topic. "Tch! I thought your father was one of the best monks from his entire sect anyways, how come he can't handle this by himself?"

"Well… It could be The Tsuchigumo's a very powerful DaiYoukai, maybe not as powerful as something like The Hakumen, but rather, something that's on your level, if not higher."

Tora grabbed Ushio by the ear, screaming at him "Implying I'd lose to some bug like him!? Listen up you little shit-head and let me teach you something! Your great grandfather's grandfather wasn't even in his father's ballsack when I was at my prime!"

Tora leapt highly, passing through the roof. Ushio followed him and pulled Tora down by the tail so he wouldn't take off. "Stop grabbing me from the tail like a ball-goon! The Beast Spear is gone and I had enough of your shit! I'm going to drag everyone into hell like I planned from the start!"

"There he is!" The monk whose body was taken by The Tsuchigumo yelled, "We won't let those two be on their own, stealing the lives of many!"

"Tora! Look what you caused!" Ushio yelled

"What do you guys want now!?" Tora yelled, before telling Ushio, "They were such a pain in the ass last time."

"Your jobs in this world are done! Such dangerous beasts like you have no right to exist anymore!" The lead Hourikisou said, "Begone Beasts!"

Ushio couldn't believe this. With his father being highly respected and his mom being the Oyakume successor, he trusted them enough to know they wouldn't send the Sect after him. Even as a beast, his parents still supported him and loved him, there was no way they would betray them like this. There had to be something else going on...

"Tch! Bring it on!" Tora yelled. Their stupid motives didn't mean anything to him, it was in his very nature to mess with those who picked a fight with him, regardless of their strength.

First thing Tora did was, naturally, shooting lightning, which the priest's quickly reflected, using their collars. "Katsu!" The lightning was dispersed all over the neighborhood.

"Tora! Be more careful!" Ushio yelled, fearing they'd accidentally harm someone during the fight, but Tora only ignored him. 'Carefulness' meant nothing to a beast like him. He tried again, this time breathing a large gust of fire, but it wasn't any different.

"Tch! Of course they know how to deflect my fire and lightning well, I'll still show them!" Tora thought aloud.

As soon as he leapt high into the air, ready to claw the priest. The priest threw a red collar at him in order to restrict his movements. It was wrapped around his entire body; arms, legs, snout. Tora struggled to breathe, drowning with the same blood he was coughing up…

"Enjoy your last moments of life, beast." The man's eyes, glowing red like a ruby, locked up on the Azafuse, complemented with a wicked smile. "There's no use in trying to escape! It's a new Buhougu we made with a woman's hair… Not something you can squeeze out of so easily."

Ushio wasn't having it easier, he kept kicking and punching the priests, afraid to cause any unintentional harm to what he knew were innocent people being tricked by an evil being. Until he got caught by a collar, with a marble of sorts in each end.

"Are you the same Ushio who killed The Hakumen? You're not putting up that big of a fight," The priest said as a smile formed in his face, he chuckled, "I guess adapting must be hard for a newly born Yokai like you."

"Ack! I'm… only… Hrrr-holding… back!" Ushio said, "I… don't… like harming… people who… didn't do… anything wrong."

Why would he protect the same person who tried killing him before? The priest looked at him confused, leaning back slightly with the two Thousand Treasure Rings in grasp. There wasn't anything wrong with killing a powerful Yokai like him, so he agreed with him in a way. The grinning on his face returned as he held the Buhogu, ready to execute him.

Ushio couldn't stand the very idea of Tora dying again, when he'd sacrificed his humanity to save his life. Ushio had to think of something, fast. He didn't have the Beast Spear anymore and, being a Yokai, Houriki was deadly to him now, so he needed to cut off the energy with something else

Tora was so strong, he could manage to survive any situation that would normally kill any living being. He always took hits for him, acting like a living shield to protect his comparatively weak human self. His limbs could be cut off, and yet he'd be able to put it back on like it's nothing.

Ushio just got an idea… He drew the claws of his left hand and, swallowing his own fear at what he was about to do, reached closer to his right arm. Then, the priest stared down at him with confusion before it turned to shock upon realizing what the Azafuse was doing..

"That's the suffering I like to hear from you…" The priest chuckled, "Katsu!" A large blast of Houriki traveled through the rope like a cable conducting electricity.

Out of the blue, right as it was about to hit Tora, a disembodied white arm flew towards them and grabbed the collar tightly, the energy clashing on it instead. The arm, which was now burned by the intense force, belonged to Ushio.

"What the… did you just…" Tora muttered, but never finished the sentence from pure shock, something he rarely felt.

Ushio, was also surprised, his arm flew on its own, and returned to him, punching the petrified priest in the process. Without a second thought, he put it back on and moved his fingers, then closed and opened it, testing if they could move properly. Despite the burns, they properly responded to the commands he gave them.

Tora broke the rope and kicked the priest in the balls (Something he learned was a human weak point from TV) with enough strength to send him flying to the other side, slamming into the nearest wall.

"I underestimated both of you…" He chuckled, "You two were able to break out from a Buhougu made specifically to kill you…"

"Tch! This guy is very persistent!" Tora yelled, and Ushio nodded.

The priest dashed forward, ready to hit Tora with his staff, which got wrapped up by the older Azafuse''s hair before he had the chance to. He was holding the staff with both of his hands, so he couldn't use the collar to deflect anything.

It was his turn to be the captive and with that in mind, Tora sent the electricity through his mane as a conductor, electrocuting the priest. He should've killed him by now, and he wasn't afraid to do so anymore, yet he stood there, alive and kicking.

At the same time, Ushio was in the middle of a fist-fight against the other priests, he couldn't use his hands, otherwise, the right one would keep falling off, so he resorted to using kicks. Kicks which kept getting blocked by their staff.

Eventually one of the priests managed to successfully shove it into Ushio's mouth, piercing him through and nailed him to the wall. They leapt in front of him and started chanting an indecipherable spell.

Ushio couldn't use his fists, nor had enough strength to kick. Coughing up blood, he looked upwards. It was Tora, trying to tell him something. "You may not be able to use your limbs now but you have something else you can use in their place!"

"Tora!? What do you mean!?" Ushio yelled, as The Hourikisou were too concentrated on the spell to notice the older Azafuse's presence.

Tora didn't say anything else and kept fighting, so he could only think. Now if he recalled correctly, Tora was able to control his hair. Considering what he just said, maybe he could use it to pull the staff out with it, but the question was how? The answer lied in his Yoki…

"(Once you master it, it will be as easy as breathing, just distribute it to different body parts for different effects)" That's what Tora once said… If he assumed correctly, he just had to distribute it to his hair.

"Crescent Formation!" Three large beams of light shaped like a crescent moon shot out the group of priests' staffs. Ushio quickly removed the stuff out of his mouth, threw it away and dodged. Only his tail was caught by their Crescent Formation.

The priests jumped towards him, ready to attack, but Ushio only grinned. Soon, several hair strands hit the priests like a whip. He disarmed and hit them with his hair faster than the human eye can see, making them all fall unconscious.

Meanwhile, Tora and the lead Hourikisou were practically wrestling, with the latter using his staff to push the orange beast away. As they were in the middle of the surprisingly quiet street, a passerby was simultaneously startled and excited as he stumbled upon a priest fighting a monster of sorts in the middle of the street.

They weren't too sure of what was going on, but the monster was seemingly struggling for a long while before eventually getting the upper hand "You have to very good priest if you manage to make me sweat… but," Tora said as he grabbed him by the neck of his robes, "I'VE FOUGHT MUCH BETTER BEFORE!"

Tora punched him in the face so hard he finally, finally managed to knock him out cold. Tora looked at the passerby, just noticing them. "Tch! Making this place into hell on earth can wait just a little longer." Tora leapt back to the shrine's roof with the knocked out priest in hand, as the passerby ran away in fear.

Ushio also leapt back to the shrine's rooftop, huffing some air in relief that this fight was over. The younger Azafuse could only hope they've learned their lesson. "His smell…" Tora thought, "Oi, Ushio! This guy stinks, like badly. He smells worse than any human I've smelled before… Or anything…"

Ushio's ears twitched as Tora caught his attention. He turned around and sniffed to absorb the smell, "Yuck! It smells like someone who hasn't showered in years."

"No dumbass, it's just that… something about this guy…" Tora interrupted himself and growled. It was the scent of a Yokai, and it wasn't just any Yokai, but rather, one they've fought before.

They heard the sound of a helicopter, floating lowly in the backyard, feeling the strong winds it caused by pulling at their manes. The helicopter's door was open, and from it fell a rope ladder. Coming out from the helicopter were Ushio's parents, who noticed the passed out Hourikisou lying on the ground, and the Azafuse duo's wounds.

"By the gods… What the hell happened here?" Shigure asked, trying to keep his usual calm demeanor as Ushio and Tora jumped down from the roof, with the lead priest still in Tora's clutches.

The married couple climbed down and stepped off the helicopter, touching the grass before the Helicopter flew away. Tora abruptly threw the priest away, allowing him to lie among his partners and quickly grasped Shigure's robes.

"You… You were the one trying to kill us, weren't you!?" Tora brought out one of his claws and placed it softly on Shigure's neck "You traitor! Of course the brat's old man had to be as much of a nuisance as his son! I will slit your throat"

"Wait! Stop it!" Sumako stepped forward and tried to push Tora away, despite knowing his dangerous nature, "Ushio… Please explain what happened!"

And gladly, Ushio did so. "Well, I was watching the news with Tora, catching a report of a Yokai related murder, probably something The Tsuchigumo did," Ushio said, "Then Tora and I argued and he tried to get away and cause a rampage, but I stopped him, when the Hourikisou caught us."

"Tora… I'm sure we told this to them already, that they shouldn't go after you two, yet they went anyway," Shigure said, "I swear we didn't send them ourselves,"

"Maybe someone manipulated them to do so. It's really weird, Tora has been unusually restless today, he just lashed out four times now, and the priest he was holding smelled horrible, like the smell of rotten flesh." Ushio's eyes widened in realization, "Does this mean?... Oh no… is he… here?"

The lead priest slowly turned around, with a chuckle which quickly escalated into maniacal laughter. "Yes, I am! Two low-rate Yokai and a horde of prey right in front of me! It must be my lucky day!" The silhouette of a gigantic spider burst out of his host, covered in blood and surrounded by mist, spreading his 6 dagger-like feet, "I've been waiting for 200 years… I won't stop until that priest is dead!"

"Tch! You're more stupid than I thought, nothing but a show off! You say you're such a smart, deceiving master of illusion? If that was the case, you would've realized this by now but… THE AVERAGE HUMAN CAN'T LIVE THAT LONG!"

Ushio looked at the corpse, its chest was open, but there was no sign of any internal organs, as if he was being controlled like an undead puppet. He was sweating as his fears came to fruition. He wasn't ready for this… he barely had enough training, and it's all because Tora insisted with his stupid flying idea, but he had to try…

"Leave my family alone!" Ushio charged at the spider Yokai without a real strategy in mind. The Tsuchigumo didn't do much yet, but Ushio didn't care. He always did what was right, and It was wrong to let someone like him go.

"Well bring it on! I'm sure you'll flee like the pitiful flea you are!" Tora followed suit. Like the hare, he was overly confident in his victory, thinking he was going to escape after a single thunderbolt like last time, but the tortoise knew his confidence was only going to hold him back.

The Tsuchigumo was a master of illusion after all, he still had tricks up his sleeve, and the two Azafuse will find out the bad way.

Ushio and Tora belongs to Kazuhiro Fujita and Shonen Sunday