Besarki: So guess what I found out this week? There is absolutely no place for miles by my college that sells manga. That means: no new manga. No new SK graphic novel until I go home for Thanksgiving break. D: However, there is this kick ass comic store which made my jaw drop when I walked in. I won't deny it. I look like a total nerd walking in there. I'm always the only girl, BUT I DON'T CARE! *Grasps Titans and Teen Titans defensively* :D

Speaking of which, congrats to those who guessed that the two mystery characters were Beast Boy and Raven in the previous round of the picture game. :) I was sure that would stump you. I'll have a new one out probably later tonight, so, by the time you read this, it'll probably be ready. It's going to be something dumb like Bambi XD Kidding, kidding. I don't know what it'll be, though I'm writing this days before this will probably be posted. (/Off Topic) (can't use actual tags here cause ffnet will be like, noooooooo! DELETE DELETE DELETE! I've always wondered why it does that...)

Ah, sorry. I will always be a Shamanite (only one person will get this reference ;) ) but I absolutely LOVE comic books. Gar/Raven is my favorite pairing. Has been for years. Yoh/Anna is definitely a close second though. Extremely close. And they're so much fun to write! I luv them! Don't hate me TT_TT . But anyway, back to SK related stuff. Like this chapter. And Jumbor instead of Hana's Epoch chapter 2. I'm still fuming over that.

How obvious is it that I haven't been editing at all? I usually work on flow a little after the chapter ends, but lately, I just haven't had time. Hum...

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Whoa, I feel just like we're taking
Control
Of the night, of the night
Whoa, I feel just like we're losing
Control
But if you let go, I'll let go tonight

~Control, Metro Station


There were two sounds to be heard in the forest at that very moment. First, was the hushed breathing of our little group of three. Second, was the over-exaggerated panting of our demonic company.

Leaving home was beginning to seem like a worse and worse idea with every moment that passed.

"Holy...shit..." I whispered.

Beside me, Anna flinched, then swiftly drew her sword from its sheath. "I don't think there's much holy about this thing. Oversoul!"

I followed her lead. "Amidamaru! Oversoul!" The Oni Kabuto materialized instantly, and without a moment's hesitation, I rushed toward the monster.

"Hana!" Anna yelled after me, her voice full of panic. I couldn't exactly blame her. It's not like I'd explained myself. To be honest, it's not like I had all that great a plan either.

"I'll keep four eyes busy! Get Men out of there!" I called over my shoulder. She seemed to stare for a moment before she, albeit reluctantly, nodded and headed into a bend where she would ultimately curve around and grab Men. I was glad she didn't argue with me. Being the so-called leader of our little bunch had its perks.

Ahead of me, the dog demon seemed to be losing interest in our beaten friend. It still stood over him, like it was daring us to try to take its catch away, but at this point, it didn't appear to care about keeping him if letting him go meant acquiring two more. But then, unfortunately for this guy, that wasn't our way.

As I barreled toward the beast, I took a moment to observe my target.

The inugami wasn't normal, that much was obvious. While I'd never seen one in real life and had always assumed them to be at least partially legend, I'd always known for sure that these dog spirits were peaceful and kind. This one, this huge, ten foot inugami with blood and saliva dripping from its oversized jaws was definitely nothing of the sorts. As I'd mentioned earlier, the inugami had four, glowing red eyes, similar to those of a European or American demon--when you're a shaman, you know the difference (AN: Between European/American and Asian)--though that little detail wasn't the only thing utterly wrong about it. The beast's fur was pitch black and its fangs too long, lengthier even than elephant tusks while its claws were like crescent scythes--curved and terribly sharp.

A machine. That's all it was now. The beast was a machine, a tool to someone with more power than anyone else on Earth, and the way the inugami's face was so horribly deranged and crazy left me without the slightest shadow of doubt as to who it was controlling this tainted soul.

"Hao!" I shrieked as I dove at the monster, releasing a fury of blows and causing it to rear up and howl in tortured pain.

I jumped back, out of its way as it came crashing back to the earth. The creature's eyes locked on me, full of hatred and rage, and it lunged forward, Men completely forgotten where he lay.

"Anna, now!" I yelled as I lured the creature farther and farther away. "Come on you oversized rat!"

The inugami's eyes raged as it dove at me. It landed just where I had been seconds after I moved rightward. Amidamaru's agility made me too agile to be hit by such an unfocused target, but it's not like it knew that.

"Isn't that right, big guy?" I taunted, my weapon ready.

The creature snarled, ghostly saliva flying from its opened mouth. It threw its head forward and roared, its mind completely focused on me now as Anna snuck in from behind and rescued Men. Good. One less thing for me to worry about.

The creature dove at me, only to be evaded and struck with a sweeping blade. It screamed in pain, backing away from me.

I didn't give it the chance to recover. In a single swoop, I jumped forward and ran my sword across the demon's face, leaving a long and gaping crescent shaped wound. It's howling ripped the sky in halves.

For an instant, its glaring red eyes flickered, turning a light gold in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance, before the blood red overtook them again.

Startled by the momentary shift, I let my guard down, and though I was open for only brief seconds, the creature took its chance and swiped its massive paw across my chest.

To my utter shock, the hit glanced right off, not even breaking the skin and phasing right through the fabric of my shirt. The creature stumbled backward in disbelief and shock, though the reason was as clear as day to me.

I'd been wrong before. I wasn't fighting a demon, I was fighting an influence, an evil influence which was forcing the actual owner of this form to react in such a way. Hao hadn't sent a demon after us, he'd possessed a soul of goodwill and corrupted it. Because he was a piece of crap who couldn't fight his own battles. But this cowardly jerk had another thing coming. By using only influence, Hao spread his power too thin and now he was facing resistance on two sides. He would lose this battle.

The inugami roared. It knew that this was a losing battle as much as I did. Unfortunately, the evil spirit within it--part of Hao--was driving it to madness with the fear and rage warring within it. In a frenzied panic, began throwing its body every which way, catching my ankle in one of its attacks and knocking me off balance.

I fell to the floor, and immediately noticed, to my horror, that the inugami was about to collapse right on top of me. I braced myself, hoping it would phase right through like it had earlier, but realistic enough to know that the likelihood of that happening twice was virtually non-existent.

I flipped the Oni Kabuto into a fully defensive armor and held it over myself, ready to withstand the attack even if only a little bit as the creature came closer and closer to the ground.

KRSHHHHH!

The sound of armor plating colliding with a body of flesh pulled me from my reverie. I disengaged the armor of my oversoul to search for whatever had produced such a sound.

And found it in Tao Men--going head-on against the inugami, his spear extended and piercing into the ghoul's haunted flesh. The monster shrieked at the top of its lungs.

Men dropped back to the earth, landing in a graceful fashion. The inugami fell before him, a cloud of dust being kicked up in its wake.

The monster lifted its head once more, roared, and then dropped dead--the evil spiritual influence possessing it screaming as it was thrust from its body. A gold lining suddenly formed around the beast and slowly, gradually, it began to shrink. Its fur turned from black to light brown and its eyes from crimson to a brilliant gold. Its claws retracted and its ears flopped over, giving it the appearance of a plain and ordinary puppy.

A moment passed, and then the little dog grunted and pushed itself to its feet. The now minute inugami puppy yawned and stretched its limbs before barking a few times and wagging its little tail.

My jaw dropped. I figured it wasn't normal before but I wasn't expecting...this.

The puppy beamed and loped over to me. It bent down in front of me and licked my face while Men looked on in shock. He was able to believe this about as much as I could.

The inugami offered me one more smile before it turned and bounded off into the distance, fading into nothingness as it crossed over to the other side.

I shook my head and pushed myself to my own two feet. "Thanks," I said to Men who was standing a bit off to the left.

He snorted. "Yeah, you better be thankful. Without me, you'd be dog chow."

Yeah, totally disregard the fact that I totally saved your ass less than twenty minutes ago. Good ol' Men.

Men stuck his nose up in the air. "The brute deserved what it got. It should have known better than to try its luck against the likes of us." He boasted. "Not that you two would have survived without me."

"I'd say we got lucky," Anna remarked, walking up to join us. "Lucky it was an Inugami, anyhow."

Men stared at her like she had two heads. "Did that thing eat your brain? It tried to kill us!"

She shrugged. "Not of its own choice, as you should have figured out by now." Obviously not. Men gawked at her, uncomprehending. I could almost see the nerves pinching in her face. "Inugami's are peace-loving spirits. It was probably difficult to force it to violence."

"Force it?"

"The creature was cursed, Men," I interjected. Cursed by someone who may suddenly be viewing us as a threat to his tyranny.

Men couldn't find the words to reply to that--perhaps because my sudden seriousness caught him off guard, unnerved him.

"We only won that fight because the real spirit was good and it was on our side. It fought alongside us and allowed us victory. We have that little dog to thank for what happened today."

The others remained quiet, fully aware that, had the inugami truly been a demon, we probably wouldn't have gotten away unscathed. And yet, it was pointless to dwell on something so maudlin and depressing. The truth was, it didn't make a difference. It didn't mean a thing.

We had won the day, and, for now, that was all that mattered.


Besarki: You wanted Men? You got him. Savin' the day. Shish boom bah.

Meh. The top author's note was really long (sort of) and I am feeling maudlin right now, so rather than bore you all to death or make you want to go all emo, I'm going to cut out here.

So...that's all for now. I'll have the next challenge up within the hour. Review.

Oh...and happy Thanksgiving. Sorry these chapters take so long to post. :(