Teen Titans New Gen Presents; Tokyo Knights-

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Chapter 29: Sisters and Heavenly Brothers – Gang Way!

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Up top the stone steps he climbed.

Forever would the silent fox carry his bound word to her – the sun and his sibling, may she rest.

The other attendees at the shrine, solemnly bowed, as they lit torches of fox - fire and blue to red lights flickered in either direction. Like an Obon night spectacle, demons would not walk among this sacred space as two faces emerged at the top of those stone steps to greet their honored guest.

"Inari – dono." Bowing, was Miss. Kotori and one other elder, of the line of the Abe clan long ago. Iyori's true Grandfather was cast out of the circle, one rudely paved by Kohaku – san as he stuffed down his fears for his grandchildren.

"Kotori – San." Inari, the god of harvest and seasonal rice's rise and abundance was no stranger to the sacred shrine of the children of the sun.

In his robes of a navy blue and white, Kotori was dressed in red and white as a head miko to her country. She'd left them in the care of other staff with just as high qualifications and knowledge of the law. While her students were back safe and sound in their own homes for a forced break, the school was evacuated until further notice, claiming it to be repairs due to a gas leak. Easily fixable. "The ceremony to awaken my sister." Inari started, as he followed the second beside Kotori. Seiji- san of the Goddess's shrine in Kyoto, a gentleman who was related to Abe no Seimei's line, and a balding elder with very stern but caring eyes, he dd not stray. "The spread of darkness has kept her. Even now. We are intending to awaken her through the vessel." He told the God as Inari let his thoughts connect the dots.

"Amelia – chan is not ready yet."

"There is no time, brother Inari – dono." The head priest told the fox god. "The evil that is coming is only growing stronger. It hides in plain view. Just last week I had to destroy a spider's nest on the grounds. Any insects were cleansed yet she keeps coming to search for a way through the gates of hell."

"Jorogumo desires vengeance, and to have that, she must become strong enough to break the seal put on her by Abe no Seimei." Kotori told the fox. "This, I recall. The foreign demon known as Ageha is a Shinchu of ancient origins. The heavenly insect of lore." Inari told the two. "With her fallen oath to free Lady Jorogumo from her prison, we have been foolish to will her arrival as well." Iyori's grandfather nodded.

"I sense you are aware of their presence. Why the school was shut down to eradicate all of the evil emanating from its walls. The creature stole the soul of a transferring educator and found their way past the barrier in human form."

"Though you said, the human was released, then taken into custody in case she was still as you say 'a puppet," has anything changed since your organization took charge of the students' wellbeing?" Inari asked his old partner.

Kotori sighed and tried to calm her nerves with an inward sutra. "Inari. She could be devoured as the Shun was abd then used as a corpse to do a demon's bidding. I feel terrible in all of this to put her inside a container as a human, yet she us cursed. So, to was that boy."

Inari raised his silver brow to the headmistress. "Whichever do you speak of, Kotori – san? The Golden Child, or –

"Reizo. The boy that is the greatest threat and easiest target." Kotori replied, rather concerned as she walked ahead of the two men.

"Might I ask, when you saw my granddaughter, did she seem alright in her own way? Or, was she still –

Inari shook his head to the side and kept walking. "Right now, Abe no Seimei kept the spell intact until now. If Jorogumo is planning to work against our forces of the Solar Balance's Order, I will not be able to answer the question, Seiji , oji – san."

The older man threw his fists up to nearly swear to the heavens while Inari smiled as a fox past his old fan of the sect. This man, Kotori, they had all known what was going to happen once the last head of the shrine had been killed, her child left unguarded until Kohaku took action to change the pace of this state of being for them all. "Ami - chan will find a way to face the demons early on as I saw." Inari decided or rather believed was too likely. These girls were as sun and moon. In the child's life, Ami had already helped Reia's self-called Ava, to find her crown upon the throne of a frozen paradise. Like the solar and lunar differences, their had to be something to come between their peace. Even if these children did not realize how bound their lives might not be once the godless spider had been cast out, there could be a chance that patterns all the more would arise.

Such as the guardian dogs. They were younger and younger than before. The Ethereal Tsani would birth a universe someday and with it, her heir. Hakuro would need to choose to co exist or simply exist as a guide from afar to humanity and spirit. If so he never did, there was the consequence of Raku's power becoming more stable, yet unpredictable without order to his chaotic magic.

Hakuro bound or erased, as Pluto did to capture those and take them to the Underworld, the same was of the gate keeper and his throne in another void. He'd left it, had nothing to do but watch out for the magi's pupil, and that child…

"The true red lord might –

"No." Inari shook his head to the idea of erasing this time as before. The shift had been in a blink. That childlike form of Raku's combined essence with Hakuro had set time unto a new path, and Anna Grayson's fire bird oath had allowed the wish to be stable then too. Raku was without a master. A djinn did not require one, yet it kept him far more humidible. For that sake, this was why Azag chose to bear the pain of dying many times by humans' own suffering as he swallowed it without their wishes having to say what that something was.

A plague, a near death experience. Torture, abuse, rape and a violent war time that ruined and buried good people for the sake of grain and potential progression. Azag devoured pain, while his son only knew how to cause it by his own intense traumas and emotions. John was tasked in playing the tutor here, yet the gods would not have it if half the universe had to go through the rinse cycle all over again.

"By the gods, we've arrived. She should be meeting us soon, inside." Seiji walked on with a bit of a step to his gait. Even olden as he was becoming, this was not just family to him, yet a serious matter that needed to be remedied in all and any way – a spider hated the light, so to have Amaterasu appear near the end of summer was indeed close to nothing, better.

The door to an elaborate shrine with gold and red, to the detail of bamboo shutters of wood to keep it well, the temple was much smaller; to compare to others, Inari's may have been larger at one time or another.

After all, didn't most siblings share in the glory together?

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As the doors were pushed away, the alter was layered in white sheets that had the scent of something meant to deter pests. "Out of the spring, she is let to rest. As you all recgonize by this display, Amaterasu has been resting quietly…" Seiji adjusted the alter while Inari looked upon it, hoping to see the person he had left at her sick bed for far too long. "The sun rises higher, yet it becomes a virus, not a cure to the people. This is why she suffers…" Kotori clapped together her hands in thanks and her prayers made a wish on their own. "Great Goddess of the sun, of emperors and lords…"

"Of the past, present, and future of this nation." Seiji began to chant soon after, the sutra rising as Inari made sure to raise his own voice and join in. Kotori started the incantation along as her hair blew to her sides and back. ~ Great Goddess, we call for you in this time…. the wicked are punished only by ye. The child of the sun is in longing and we come to thee as thus…. Ye (making it up post autoimmune here right now) hath privilege to return, even in any form ye might desire. Lady of the shining sun!! We call unto thee!!~

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Up in the Palace of luck and balance; well away from the brighter western heavens, the serene landscape shifted only a slight. By her room's small table, the lying there, small woman with a face dry of tears at all, looked to her nurse. Her caregiver while she felt so ill due to the riots back on earth.

~ They call to me, my children, one other with the aura of green…~ She, the goddess of all light in the darkness and of great kings before, spoke so small. So depressing as she was in her state, that the nurse helped her with a teary expression of her very own.

~ You are not yet released from the court's care…returning to earth might weaken you further, I-

The young, long robed ally played her role only as need be. She had taken care of wounded and dying gods of this present an afterlife that mocked all but the dead.

~ Amaterasu…. you, you will most certainly-

~ My people were…born of might and malice, their hearts were once as snow and light. They can never be, for…~ She held a cough back by her long sick garment sleeve. Her time. Had she told Amelia of this…

~ Allow the gate for my return Astral. Astrally.~ She gasped again as another staff came through the doors, a deity called Baptist Shi Lan as she looked gravely at her ally and sighed. ~ Should ye, my queen? ~

~ Lady Ba –

~ I wish to speak to Amaterasu. Please.~

She had requested audience and time, so the nervous maid then listened and left on that order. They stated outside the door by the hall, hoping that Amaterasu…was not going to be sent away.

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~ Ye cannot spake in a royal God's language. ~ Tutted Bao Shi as the maiden of wind and wood removed from her long-robed sleeve a small paper packet of herbs. ~ Dreamweaver sends these in hope of your recovery. You are trying to die, then? Is that as I hath heard it? ~

~ I am predicting that Ami will not have this gift, it…~

~ You are good of heart, too kind. ~ Bao Shi told the sun goddess as her tears finally came to life, shipping them to another plane by Amaterasu losing her emotional grounding ability. Bao Shi clutched the hands of her ally as Amaterasu could not flinch. She was far too weak, dying. ~ Yet that good in your heart will erase all that is, or what will be. I too have sensed this change. It is a transformation. The gift you seek to have the child inherit will not be lost. Yet, split. ~

/

Out her window, the night was busy farther from the gates of her home. Tokyo, not the country. Her father had her inside a rather yakuza – boss style fashioned home with two floors. Below, her father's goons were taking a smoke break as Iyori searched for something to cut her freed of this oppressive feeling. She'd missed for the first time…a chance to not be a prefect with a future. She wanted to see why the feeling was so painful as she swiftly went to her antique sewing box her mother had held onto. Her only possession she truly cherished in it was an elegant set of scissors with a crane as the handle part. She put her fingers through it and let down her long dark hair as the girl took in a sharp breath, and cut off the rest with the rather sharp sheers. Her mother had told her that a yokai she'd befriended as a priestess had gifted her with this blade, that it could cut more than cloth, yet life from a living body, a shadow from it to sew elsewhere. How the woman had come across this relic was preposterous. Ami would…

As Iyori let her other hand fall, she walked up to a standing mirror as it shone back. Her short bob and her eyes, more and more afraid as she stripped in front of the image to don a cap - a hat, a pair of fitted jeans she still had from her days of being normal, and of course…a jacket she'd taken from her betrothed. This surreal experience had Iyori's heart unnecessarily beating louder. Her top was replaced with something she'd taken from his room. It had one logo over the breast of a band called "Violet Retribution." (Nod to older arcs I did where Aluehainyu from the Eternal Realm or Nether realm and now the vassal and replacement of Erishkigal, she was in a London hard rock metal band when she came to earth to survey Robin and the others. To the Future arc.)

Why that had been picked at all, she remembered that Ami was waiting. She…she couldn't. The girl paced and found that the scissors had the ability to cut a small sliver into glass as she cradled the metallic memento even closer to her chest. "Mother…there must be more to the curse. I will find…out on my own." She hopped by her art to keep the thugs below off her back. Saturday! She recalled. He wasn't there. Was –

~I should let you fall; you know. ~

She swirled round to have him reach out his arm. To right her before the fall came true. ~Terrible demon, what are you doing, helping? You sold –

~I'm not on the side of gods or monsters…Only winners and losers. ~ Grinned the ancient djinn as it made sure to keep them both invisible by its craft. ~If you want to fly high, I shall not stop you, princess. But be careful; the night is dangerous today. I have seen things lurking far below…Shall I have an –

"I'm alone in this, I must find a way to see him. You…you understand, right?"

~Who? ~ The djinn scratched its skull and asked. ~Who is your target tonight? ~

"My….my, ancestor." Iyori told the little spy coyly. "You are not to have anyone escort me back. Keep that tyrant busy…and, I wish to be swept to the next roof. Please…" She added.

He cocked his head with a grin, satisfied that she still wanted him to grant her wishes, when the greatest one was yet to be led unto this reality. ~As you so wish it, my lady. ~

His glowing eyes had her shut her own as the cold wind had her lifted, taken far from her cell. In a new mind, with a new mission. The problem wasn't that she had stayed, she did make sure that the demon would not track her. She might have just put a ward over her back to have it stay silent.

For, she did.

The Djinn clicked his tongue and saw on another rooftop, Kokkuri in its more androgenous state.

~You let the little flutter - by out of its cage, so soon? ~

~It can be traced, but we have a way to trace her if she succeeds, either way. ~ Sniffed the djinn. ~Anything of that boy, the brat in the service of our new master? ~

~Not yet. ~ Replied the hybrid being. ~By the way….I heard that a few threads were connected to that girl. The sun maiden's new bonded? ~

Saturday hummed as he wondered the same, pacing slowly in mid air while almost thinking out loud, ~ She will try to run, but the one to free the spider is my true master. I serve only lords and winners. Not depressed mad men.~

~How cold. Terrible, where did that loyalty ever go? ~ Teased the bi – gendered spirit. ~Shun – kun does as I ask and his madness lets me stay in this interesting…world. I rather enjoy making men wet themselves over a little extra praise that they didn't have to earn. ~

~Before it is taken, you are a kindred spirit, if not ever a spiteful one. ~ Snickered the djinn. ~We grant wishes that are double edged as a monkey's severed hand. ~

~ Ow, how devious you are, red eyed serpent! ~ Gasped the youkai. ~ How ever can you tell she's meant to gather a crowd, that star and the sun – they are inseparable, aren't they just? Too bad, Kohaku - dono thinks ill of that girl.~ Pouted the spirit as they spoke little after. Kokurri was restless if not mischievous. ~ Take care of that girl. I know, it's never fun haunting someone so fragile.~

They took off as Saturday wondered where that had come from. Kokkuri was once a fallen lesser god in his lifetime, now he was simply helping daemons to get what they wanted for a sake of freedom he'd missed out on.

Saturday was here to find out two things. The birth and life to come of that child, Iyori. And of course, his true leader's ….

Saturday shook his head and whined. ~ I must not think so negatively!~ He said to himself. ~ That djinn rejects his heritage, yet that won't be why I've stayed…~

He remembered Iyori's mother, her father and when the child was young…right before receiving that mark, that could save her life someday. Saturday knew that a smidge of Iyori's bloodline was kitsune, yet did she care?

Same as ever. Humans. He shook his head and vanished to search some more. Oh, how Kohaku would call to the gravestone! If only, if only his shackles weren't being prepared as they sat and did nothing.

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Kohaku took to his great grandfather's katana and sliced up an image of their family portrait. "You let her out, under your watch??" His anger was because it was determined; Jorogumo would come to collect, and there would be no chrysalis.

"Kohaku – dono….we are….the child didn't-

",She'snkt the reason for my rage." Hissed the CEO as he set down his blade. "Come up here." He crooked his head to become the bodyguard. The male was between his college years and after. A tattoo on the side of his face and sunglasses to seal his identity. "Here. Housuke."

"Go, man." Whispered his comrades. Both were not exactly peer pressure, yet the fear that sunk in by Kohaku's calm expression was a fearsome thing to tolerate. Ever since he'd set down this path to reclaim his ancestors' blessing, the yakuza at his feet that were lent out, had no choice but to stay or…

"The widiw spider is never caring. Never without care, yet to allow that fly the means of escape without knowing." Kohaku in a split, picked up.jis blade. The thing hitting the artery of the member as blood spurted all over the cold steel. "Then you've failed in keeping her fed, and so have you!" He pulled the blade back as more blood leaked onto the rug. "Fix this. I want those stains eradicated. Or you'll be adding to the pool of bodies I'll feed to my queen spider."

The two left over disposed of the body and dragged themselves on hands and knees to erase what Kohaku has committed. "The body. Take it to the shed. Prepare it for her feast."

The cold eyes in that moonlit backdrop had the body guards tremble as they hurried off with their dead companion. Not a drop of blood left while Kohaku turned to see a web woven in place above the window behind him. "You'll have her back. I promise-

~ Promises are best kept, yet you seem to be missing the point of this exchange, my descendent.~

Jorogumo's voice came from that orb weaver telepathically as he bowed to it, kow towing at the miserable thing he was to her. A goddess!

"She will not get far. I have youkai at my call to see to her –

~ If you rile the butterfly up too much, she will taste so bitter. Let her roam, for a time.~

"I…" Kohaku raised his head as she allowed it. "I do not understand. You wanted her, she is able to be –

~ My servant, you forget what that curse means to us. And what you should know, is that she is not the only piece to my plans. The boy, Raku. That student beside Constantine. The demon summoner.~ She said, ~ They are hers, and I have the main body. The powersource of creation. Your child will amplify that magic. To bring back what I hath promised to give.~

"Sayaka…" He breathed. "I never wanted her to be with children. She's not going to. She won't die…and that girl…" His heart closed off to what had happened. "Sayaka is more important. If I can see her again, you may have my only born. I'll never stand for that woman to be kept by your law for long. As promised."

~ Then, we shall speak, when the next is revealed to us.~ The spider crawled away, the voice gone as Kohaku took in a breath, his eyes watering and ears ringing. She had the priestess he'd fallen for. He…he wanted to see her, to tell her to be rid of her wild fantasy for good. To build a new home, in Jorogumo's kingdom. Of the gods.

To the goddess, he was to witness how wrong this tribute was. Iyori was young, and here he was, trying to erase her ever having been born. This was decided, the day her life left her body, and the day that Jorogumo had appeared to steal that life away.

"Sayaka…." He moaned into his hands; regret washed away by a pining want. "Sayaka…"

/

So, what? Is Iyori a human sacrifice to a demon disguised as a goddess, promising to resurrect a victim she's killed – even when she is responsible for the reason the curse was left up to Sayaka to pass onto her own child?? Or that Ami is being chased by a big youkai that wants to eat her. Or, that Saturday is only sticking around because he has business with somewhere else….

Find out!