Call of the Moon
Chapter 13 – The Fury Subsides
Okami felt cold, even as the warm blood seeped out from her wounds. The pain was excruciating and Okami coughed up some more blood. Kamiko locked eyes with Okami, and twisted the blade.
"AGH!" Okami wailed, blood spurting from her wound. "No… I won't let you win…!"
Gathering her strength, Okami gripped Kamiko's shoulder and charged her energy to her hand. She fired a beam of moonlight point blank at Kamiko. The blast was strong enough to knock her backwards several feet, making her let go of the blade, leaving it embedded in Okami's stomach.
"What do you think you can do by separating that blade from me?" Kamiko taunted with a smirk.
Okami gripped the hilt of the blade and pulled it out of her abdomen with a shout of pain. Blood flew everywhere as Okami's free hand clutched the wound in her stomach. 'It hurts… I've never felt a pain so intense before… curses… My vision's going fuzzy…' Okami thought, as she squinted at the silver figure of Kamiko. 'I'm feeling dizzy…'
"No. I won't… lose… to you!" Okami shouted, willing herself to remain conscious. She gripped the blade in her hands and steadied herself.
"Sure, sure. You can keep telling yourself that," Kamiko remarked. "But what good will it do you? I'm still very powerful even without that blade."
"You forget something important," Okami muttered. "I've been stuck with you for hundreds of years. I think I know a couple of things about you. I wonder what would happen to you if I bash you with this sword."
Kamiko's eyes widened and a scowl spread upon her face. "You wouldn't dare try," she hissed, her hands glowing as she charged up power.
Okami dispelled the aura of protection that was around the sword, and glanced sideways at Kamiko. She forces a weak smirk on her face. "You revealed to me your weakness the instant you brought that blade out!" Okami muttered.
She summoned her energy and flew towards Kamiko. The moonlight youkai fired off several lasers. Okami swerved to graze the lasers and slashed at Kamiko with her blade. The blade shattered upon contact with the moonlight youkai, and only the hilt remained. Kamiko stared into space looking more and more horrified. She let out a strangled cry and Okami stared with wide eyes as fragments of Kamiko's being fell apart and finally, in an explosion of bright light, the moonlight youkai was no more.
Remnants of the essence of Kamiko's power drifted through the air and were drawn towards Okami. Weakly, the wolf reached forward towards the essence, and the moonlight was absorbed.
Okami flew back down to the ground and rested against a tree, clutching her stomach wound with one hand and the hilt of the blade in the other.
"What do I do now?" Okami muttered her eyes half closed. "I first came to the Myouren Temple to learn more about my weapon, but… now that it is gone I've nowhere left to go. I can try to head back down to the Palace of the Earth Spirits and live with my mother and Satori… but can I really make it there in my condition?"
The young wolf youkai looked down at the sword hilt she held in her hand. She felt no aura, no power, and no energy from it. Kamiko really was gone. "The least I can do is show Byakuren-sama and everyone at the temple what happened. I owe it to them, after all that I've done," Okami spoke as she stood to her feet. She stumbled as pain pulsed through her body once more. Slowly, the wolf youkai trudged through the forest, following the path that led ahead to the Myouren Temple. She did her best to ignore her wounds, but the pain was clouding her mind.
Okami eventually saw the cobblestone path that led to the temple gates. A sense of relief washed over her as she realized that the temple was untouched. Her nightmare had not come true. Kyouko wasn't at the gate, so she must have gone inside for dinner. Okami approached the door and opened it, but that was the last of her strength. Okami tumbled into the temple face down surprising everyone in the room. A pool of blood started to form underneath her, and she felt the world fade away around her. She shut her eyes and let the darkness take over.
"Is that Okami?"
"What happened?!"
"Oh no, Okami!"
"What the hell?!"
"No! Okami! No! Are you okay! Talk to me, please!" Kyouko shouted, tears pouring out of her eyes, rushing to Okami's side and shaking her shoulder.
"Kyouko, calm down! Don't move her, she's hurt!" Mamizou said, restraining Kyouko.
"But she left a few days ago, and she comes back like this? Why'd she leave? What did this?!" Kyouko demanded, clutching Mamizou's arm.
"She… left because of me," Nue muttered, her eyes fixed on the blade hilt still in Okami's hand. "I blamed her for all the awful things that Kamiko has done to us, and she left to fix it all."
"Nue! Why would you do that! Look what Kamiko has done to her! She's bleeding all over the place!" Kyouko cried. Byakuren pressed a finger to Okami's neck and let out a soft sigh.
"Kyouko, please calm down. She's hurt, but she's a youkai so she'll live. She'll heal in a few days, all she needs to do is rest," Byakuren spoke.
"That sword hilt she's holding," Nue muttered. "That's her sword, isn't it?"
Shou glanced at the hilt. "She must have defeated Kamiko, then."
"So… she really did fix it. I can't believe I said that to her," Nue spoke softly.
"I'm sure she'll forgive you, Nue. She came back to us, didn't she?" Mamizou stated.
