Blue Seed Fan Fiction ❯ Dreamer Awakened ❯ Troubled Waters Rising ( Chapter 12 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 12: Troubled Waters Rising









Dreamer Awakened

CHAPTER TWELVE


"Momiji!"
To Kusinagi's ears, it sounded like the whole room spoke in
unison when everyone saw her standing next to Ms. Matsudaira. There was the loud
sound of chairs scraping against linoleum as Mr. Kunikida, Ryoko, Kome, Yaegashi
and Sugishita made a mad dash in her direction. Only Sakura and Kusanagi hung
back, Sakura because she didn't see what the big deal was, and Kusanagi
because it was just too many people for him.
Momiji's eyes widened and she took an involuntary step back
as they approached her, although her smile widened at their friendly faces.
"Hi, everybody!" she chirped, and then her green
eyes slid past them to find Kusanagi. "Look!" she grinned happily
waving her arm at him, "I finally got my arm back!"
"Well that's one less weapon for me to have to worry
about," he mouthed sardonically, crossing his arms and ignoring the puzzled
expressions of everyone else, his attention focused on Momiji's disconcerted
look and then her giggle.
"Don't worry," she told him, waving her hand in
his direction, "I'm sure that I'll come up with something just as
effective."
"Well, I'm hoping that you'll prove less resourceful
as long I keep you out of kitchen when you decide to launch an assault!" he
muttered under his breath to himself.
"What was that? She asked, putting her hand to her ear,
and giving him an inquiring look.
He looked away from her then and pushed away from the wall to
stroll restlessly towards the empty table. "Nothing," he replied
dismissively.
"Momiji," Mr. Kunikida finally broke in, "how
are you feeling? You look marvelous!"
Everyone murmured their agreement, and Momiji looked away
from Kusanagi to the faces of the circle of friends surrounding her.
"I am feeling better," she confirmed, her teeth
flashing brightly as she grinned happily.
"Hey, people," Sakura called peevishly from the
window, "let's not forget why we're here. I don't know about you
guys, but I have better things to do with my day than sit here and marvel at
Momiji's amazing comeback!"
Sakura's crimson eyes burned resentfully, as she looked at
Momiji. Why was it that Momiji always managed to steal the spotlight? Well, not
today, Sakura thought determinedly. If she wasn't going to shine, then neither
was Momiji.
"Sakura's right," Mr. Kunikida said, clearing his
throat gravely, "we have quite a few important things to discuss today. And
now that everyone is here, it's time we get down to business."
Everyone shuffled quietly to the table and Momiji made sure
that she slid into the seat next to Kusanagi's, her hands folded on top of the
table as she waited for the meeting to start.
"As you all are aware, we have discovered the existence
of what appears to be a new race of Aragami," Mr. Kunikida began as he went
around the table and put a manila folder in front of each person before taking a
seat at the top of the table. "Ms. Mastusdaira has compiled some general
information that she was able to learn from studying the Aragami, and we have
added that information to what we already know.
"So far, we have been able to determine that each of
these creatures have at least one black mitama, maybe more. They are carnivorous
to a certain degree, have the ability to restructure their physical shape,
travel underground to hide their tracks and they prefer the dark, although have
been known to attack during the daylight hours.
"The two full Aragami bodies that were recovered in the
iwattos had similar characteristics such as the black mitamas, red, cat-like
eyes, and the color and texture of their skins. Their physical appearance
however, greatly differed in the size of their bodies, their facial structure
and their skeletal structure to a certain extent, but this could be due to the
fact that they can alter their appearance.
So far, we have been able to confirm fifteen attacks and
three more possible deaths, although the last three haven't been confirmed.
"The first attacks began four weeks ago in Hokkaido and
then moved to Wakasa. Twelve attacks in all, in those two areas that yielded no
survivors.
"The cause of the fatalities is known to a certain
extent," Kunikida paused and opened his folder, and everyone else followed
suit, including Momiji.
She stared down at the pictures and her stomach twisted
inside her.
"As you can see," Kunikida went on to say,
"from the first few pictures, the cause of death, it quite obvious; loss of
blood and severe tissue and organ damage. But in the last pictures," here
he paused again and shuffled the pictures and everyone else did the same,
"the cause of death is less certain. Note the odd pallor of the skin and
hair," Kunikida observed, "and the texture of the skin.
"Ms. Matsudaira has concluded that there has been a
cellular breakdown on the most basic level, like the cells' energy has been
tapped and drained. We have been unable to verify how the new Aragami accomplish
this, but believe it has something to do with the their black mitamas, since
each victim has a burn mark on their forehead as a distinct point of contact .
The two Aragami monsters that we recovered here in Izumo and Takachiho both had
a black mitama buried in roughly what would be considered their left palm
beneath several folds of skin that act as a flap to protect it.-"
Momiji reached up and touched her own forehead, remembering
the burning sensation she had felt and the glowing mitama on the monster's
forehead as it drained away her energy.
"Momiji? Are you feeling all right?" Mr. Kunikida
broke off what he was saying, looking at her suddenly white face in concern.
Momiji looked up at him, her emerald eyes standing out
against the whiteness of her cheeks. "It feeds their souls," she said.
"What does?" Mr. Kunikida asked.
"We do."
No one said anything for a moment, but all eyes turned in her
direction as she tried to explain what she meant.
"When it touched me," she began, clenching her
fingers together to keep them from trembling, "I could feel its hunger. It
wasn't hungry for food. It was hungry for energy, like its soul only had a
limited supply and to support itself it was feeding off of my soul."
"Old and new souls together," Sakura broke in at
this point, her crimson eyes focused briefly on Momiji and then she glanced
around the table. "What Momiji says would explain why I felt old and new
souls mingling together in Wakasa. Whatever these things are, they use human
life energy to maintain their own existence."
"But what about the organ and tissue damage," Kome
pointed out, "why in some cases was it so widespread and in others, hardly
any at all?"
"Perhaps to supply their bodies with energy. Maybe they
need both to survive," Kusanagi speculated.
"If that is the case then they are true, parasitic
creatures," Ms. Matsudaira observed, and then went on to add,
"structurally speaking, they are a unique race. On the surface, their
mitamas are more like the red ones that have been genetically altered, and less
like the purer blue mitamas. But looking at them on a microscopic level, even
their mitamas are completely different; the higher neurological centers have
been severely damaged and what is left has been restructured in an unusual way,
almost as if the mitama has been manipulated to accommodate its host.
It's not just the mitamas that set these new Aragami apart
either. The creatures themselves are neither plant nor animal like the old
Aragami. Their blood is hemoglobin and protein based, containing the genetic DNA
components of their victims, but their bodies are composed mainly of
silicates."
"Silicates?" Kome's face screwed up into a
confused look. "What? Do you mean, like a computer chip?"
Matsu shook her head, "No, silicates are not the same
thing as pure silicon. They are silicon oxygen compounds, though and they
constitute ninety-five percent of the Earth's crust and mantle."
"You mean like a rock?" Now Kome was looking more
confused than ever.
"Certain rocks are silicates," Matsu affirmed,
"but silicates are complex structures. Their basic structure is the silicon
tetrahedron which lends itself well to bonding with other compounds in a variety
of ways to create different structures."
"But you're saying that ninety-five percent are in the
Earth's crust and mantle - like rocks," Kome persisted.
"Not just rocks, but clay, soil, sand - they all can
be silicate based," Matsu clarified.
"Maybe that's why these things like to travel
underground so much," Kusanagi inserted, "because they come from
underground, or are made from the earth itself."
"Kind of like a golem," Momiji blurted out, feeling
silly for saying it and then squirming when everyone shifted their attention to
her.
"A golem," Ms. Matsudaira said thoughtfully,
"that's an interesting correlation. Golems were effigies or idols created
from some type of material, such as clay, stone or iron, for instance, and then
were animated by a source of magic. That has a certain relevance here."
"So, what are you saying?" Mr. Kunikida asked Ms.
Matsudaira.
"I'm saying that perhaps what we're dealing with
here isn't an Aragami at all," Ms. Matsudaira replied slowly, thinking
out loud, "but a force that is inhabiting the damaged souls of genetically
altered Aragami, and manipulating them for some other reason. - Although that
still wouldn't explain the abnormal amount of particle ionization at the
iwattos."
A silence fell around the room which Kunikida finally broke.
"What abnormal amount of particle ionization, and just what the hell does
that mean anyway?"
"Momiji first brought it to my attention," Ms.
Matsudaira explained, "that there was an abnormally large amount of
particle ionization happening at the iwatto here in Izumo, like some huge
electrochemical reaction is occurring or is about to occur. The results that
Kome and Yaegashi brought back from Takachiho showed the same results, only to a
greater degree, like the reaction had already occurred. And the second batch of
samples taken here in Izumo the day that Momiji was attacked, resulted in an
even higher level of ionization."
"Is it being caused by these creatures, do you
think?" Ryoko asked looking at Matsu.
"That, I don't know," Matsu responded with a
frustrated sigh, "it could be that they are causing it, or it could be that
they are drawn to it and that's why Momiji was attacked here in Izumo and why
Kome and Yaegashi were attacked in Takachiho."
"What about Midori, in Ise/" Momiji asked, feeling
suddenly apprehensive.
Matsu paged through her research and then looked up, a look
of dismay on her face.
"With all the research I've been doing, I just now
realized that I don't have anything on the iwatto in Ise ,which means that I
haven't heard from Midori, either" Matsu responded.
"What?" How long ago was this?" Kunikida
asked, alarmed.
"Four days ago," came Matsu's aggrieved response.
"Kome, Ryoko, I want you to drive out to Ise and check
out the iwatto," Kunikida ordered immediately, "and see if you can
track Midori down as well."
"Let me go with you," Momiji said to Ryoko, but
Kunikida cut across their exchange.
"No, Momiji. I want you and Kusanagi to go to Takachiho
with Sakura and see if any of you can sense anything out of the ordinary since
the ionization levels are so high there. Yaegashi, you and Matsu try to work on
a method of tracking these creatures before they strike. If we can see them
coming, maybe we can stop them before they strike. Sugishita, you'll come back
to Tokyo with me. I have a meeting with the Chief Cabinet Secretary to the Prime
Minister. You can help me brief him on where we currently stand."

By mid-afternoon, Ryoko and Kome arrived at the iwatto in
Ise. They climbed the stone stairs leading to the entrance, a bitterly sharp,
cold wind biting into their faces and whipping their hair around. Neither woman
said anything, each looking sharply around, trying to remain alert for the
presence of Aragami. They paused at the top of the stairs, and listened. There
was nothing but silence.
Kome drew her firearm and Ryoko followed suit, and together
they entered the iwatto, following the passage to the end where it opened out
into the main chamber where the pool of water was. Ryoko came out into the
chamber first, shock stopping her dead in her tracks.
"What?" Kome hissed from behind her, "what is
it?"
She stepped around Ryoko and her blue eyes widened too.
"Well, I think it's pretty safe to say that it's
dead," Kome said, looking at the truncated head and body. "But I
wonder who killed it?"
"Kome, look," Ryoko said grimly, picking up the
discarded satchel and opening it.
Inside were Midori's tools, her cell phone and her lab ID
card. Ryoko handed the satchel to Kome and started looking around the chamber
for any other clues as to what might have happened to Midori, noticing Midori's
hammer embedded near the spine of the dead creature.
Kome looked in the satchel and then looked around at Ryoko,
"Well she's not here, now, which means that that monster didn't get
her. That's a good sign, right?" she asked, trying to sound optimistic.
"Maybe she was able to flee and went back to her parents, or maybe she's
back in Tokyo, now."
"Or maybe," Ryoko hypothesized, crouching down and
squinting at something on the floor, "the Aragami that killed this monster
took her with it."
"What?" Kome gasped, hurrying over to where Ryoko
was, in order to see what she was looking at. "Oh, my god," she
breathed, "green blood."
"Green blood," Ryoko confirmed heavily, putting her
fingers to her temples and closing her eyes as if to try and shut out the truth.
"What does it mean?"
"It means that we're in more trouble than we thought
we were," Ryoko predicted grimly.

Sakura heaved an impatient sigh as she bounced along,
Kusanagi separating her and Momiji as they walked to Momiji's car. Neither
Kusanagi nor Momiji spoke as they walked, each keeping their gaze straight
ahead, Kusanagi because he found Sakura irritating and Momiji because her
thoughts were occupied with Midori and Susano-oh.
Sakura glanced up at Kusanagi's stony profile and then
looked around at Momiji's preoccupied one and rolled her eyes. Geez, she
thought grimacing, was she going to have to spend her entire day with these two
cardboard cutouts? She looked at her watch and heaved another sigh, this time of
disgust, a pout settling across her freckled face.
"Are you having trouble breathing, Faith Healer?"
Kusanagi asked sarcastically, keeping his gaze straight ahead, "you know,
if you're finding respiration difficult, you might try wearing something that
has a little more breathing room to it, that way you won't
hyperventilate."
"What? You mean something bland, like what Momiji's
wearing?" Sakura sneered, and Momiji, hearing her name turned her startled
eyes to Sakura and heard her say, "you can't expect me, the lovely
Sakura, to dress like that! I want men to look at me with admiration, not pity,
Kusanagi. And you can't honestly tell me that you get turned on by the boring
way she dresses! I just won't believe it" She stopped as a thought struck
her and she tossed back her head and laughed, "well really, I just can't
see you getting all hot and bothered over her, no matter how she dresses,"
she remarked, her eyes sliding from Kusanagi, to Momiji and then back to
Kusanagi again. "I mean, let's face it, you're a very…macho, sexy
kind of guy and Momiji's - well - the word virginal comes to mind."
Momiji gasped in outrage at her comment.
Sakura ignored her and went on to add, "I guess you
could use the word chaste, as well, but either way, it's hardly what you would
call a good match."
Momiji's face flooded with color and she looked down at
herself. Virginal? Chaste? Is that how she really looked? And was that a bad
thing? Kusanagi didn't think that was a bad thing, did he? But his next
comment did nothing to dispel that possibility in the least.
"How I see Momiji is none of your business,
Sakura," Kusanagi replied scathingly, "in fact I would appreciate it
if you would keep your freckled, pointy nose out of my business
altogether," he scowled down at her, recalling that she was the direct
instigator of his conversation with Sugishita that morning.
"My, my, my, we are in a nasty temper today, aren't
we," she said in a deceptively sweet voice, "what is it, Kusanagi? Don't
you like sharing your toys with the other boys?" she asked, giving him a
feline smile, and watching his color rise as her barb hit home.
Sakura let her eyes slide to Momiji who just looked perplexed
now, not understanding what she was talking about, and her smile widened. She
gave Momiji a playful wink and feeling that she had stirred up enough trouble
for the time being subsided into silence.
Momiji's bewildered gaze went from Sakura to Kusanagi, and
she blinked in confusion. Kusanagi continued to stare straight ahead, but Momiji
knew that something that Sakura said had really riled him because his brows were
drawn together and his jaw was clenched tight.
Silence prevailed as they all climbed into the car, Momiji
and Sakura in the front seat and Kusanagi, sitting sullenly, arms crossed, in
the back. As Momiji drove the silence lengthened and became uncomfortable, but
Momiji was afraid to say anything, given the thunderous expression on Kusanagi's
face, so she concentrated instead on what she learned this morning.
As she mulled over the information, she couldn't help but
think back to the day that she was attacked, remembering the creature and the
vision that she had had right before it attacked her, and she pictured in her
mind again, the infant with cat-like eyes.

He comes… you must be prepared…

And then it hit her. Prepare for him, the child. She was
supposed to prepare for the child! Momiji's mind began to flit in different
directions and she slowed the car down at a traffic light in Takachiho.
She looked around at the shops waiting for the light to
change and suddenly said, "Do you mind if we make a quick stop before
heading to the iwatto?"
She waited for Sakura to answer, but all she heard was a
snuffling sound followed by a whoosh of air. Momiji looked over at her, and her
mouth fell open. Sakura's head was tilted sideways against the window, her
eyes closed, and her mouth hanging open, as she snored.
"She's been asleep since we left Izumo," Kusanagi
told Momiji when he saw her surprise.
"How could she possibly fall asleep that quickly?"
Momiji wondered aloud.
"Probably the lack of oxygen to the brain,"
Kusanagi told her sourly from the back seat.
"Do you think she would mind if I made a quick
stop?" Momiji asked him, looking at him through the rearview mirror.
Kusanagi shrugged his shoulders indifferently and replied,
"Who cares if she does or not? She's never going to know anyway. She's
been rattling the car windows with her snores all the way here." He
informed her acidly.
"Okay, then," Momiji said, pulling the car over in
front of the store and climbing out. "I won't be but a minute," she
leaned down and told Kusanagi before she closed the door.
Kusanagi leaned his head against the back seat and waited for
Momiji to return. True to her word, she wasn't gone that long, but his head
snapped up in amazement at the number of bags she was carrying with her when she
did come back.
He sat up straight and watched her circle around the car to
put them in the trunk and then when she climbed back in the front seat couldn't
help but ask. "What the heck did you buy?" and then before she could
answer, he demanded suspiciously, "you didn't take what Sakura said about
your clothes seriously, and end up buying a bunch of new clothes, did you?"
He suddenly pictured Momiji dressed in a tight mini-skirt and
garters, her cleavage exposed by a low cut midriff shirt and felt himself
getting turned on. God help him, he thought, he didn't think he would be able
to stand it if she dressed like that.
"What? No!" Momiji declared defensively and then
asked uncertainly, "are you saying that I need to change the way that I
dress?"
"No," Kusanagi said emphatically, "even you're
flannel nightgowns are one hundred times better than what Sakura wears."
And a lot more virginal too, he thought picturing Momiji in
pink teddy bears and blue bunnies, trying to get his raging hormones back under
control. It wasn't working, because all he could think of was the way Momiji's
skin had felt underneath the blue bunnies the morning he had woken up next to
her.
"You don't think they're too…" Momiji
hesitated, not wanting to ask, but found she couldn't help herself, "you
don't think they're too virginal?"
"Why are you asking me that?" he asked, suddenly
panicked, not liking where this conversation was headed.
"Well, you did tell me that I needed to wear something
more adult," Momiji replied diffidently as color washed through her face.
Kusanagi clearly recalled that conversation, and now images
of Momiji dressed in a pink teddy were dancing through his head. Dear god, he
mentally groaned, shifting uncomfortably, his pants becoming too tight, what did
he ever do to deserve this?
"Adult?" Sakura suddenly snickered from her seat,
having woken up within the last few minutes and being thoroughly entertained by
Kusanagi and Momiji's verbal interchange. "You actually told her she
needed to dress more adult?" Sakura was guffawing now, "Kusanagi, you
bad, bad boy! Trying to lead Momiji away from the straight and narrow with your
suggestive ideas! How horrible of you!" she sputtered, and both Momiji and
Kusanagi were left silently embarrassed while she continued to rib them as they
drove on.
"You were much more agreeable while you were snoring,
Sakura," Kusanagi seethed, and her laughter abruptly ceased.
"I do NOT snore!" she bristled indignantly.
"You most certainly DO!" Kusanagi shot back smugly,
wanting to get back at her, "and let me tell you it is most
unattractive. There's nothing sexy at all about snoring, Cherry Blossom,"
he informed her condescendingly, "and it doesn't matter what you're
wearing when you start sawing logs, because nobody's going to be looking while
they're running the other way with their hands over their ears, slipping and
sliding on that nice puddle of drool that you've got going there."
Sakura gritted her teeth and shot Kusanagi a nasty look,
which he met with a nasty smile of his own.
"You bas -" she snarled to be interrupted by
Momiji.
"We're here!" Momiji fairly shouted in a loud and
urgent way, wanting to get out of the car before either Kusanagi or Sakura
exploded in rage.
Momiji pulled the car over, put it in park and quickly zipped
out before the other two had even unbuckled their seatbelts. She had only
managed to get about ten steps from the car before Kusanagi exploded, but at her
and not Sakura.
"Where the hell do you think you're gonig by yourself,
you little fool?" He yelled, flitting quickly over to her and grabbing her
by the arm. "Have you forgotten that this is where they found one of the
Aragami? What if they're still hanging around here, Momiji?"
Momiji stopped and looked around, glancing at the barren
trees surrounding the iwatto.
"I haven't forgotten," she told him quietly,
removing her arm from his hard grasp and moving forward slowly as she murmured,
"don't you feel it?"
"Feel what?" Kusanagi asked exasperated, reaching
out and hooking his fingers around her elbow to stopping her forward motion.
"The sadness," Momiji replied after a minute
looking up into his face, a faraway expression in her eyes.
Kusanagi looked startled and shook his head. "I don't
feel anything," he replied looking towards the entrance of the iwatto.
Well, that wasn't exactly true, he thought. He was feeling
quite a few things at the moment, his memories of this place stirring up a lot
of old emotions. In his mind he could clearly picture Kaede protecting the boy,
Lord Susano-oh, standing right at the entrance, Murakumo by their side. It was
here, that he realized that the Kaede he had once loved and protected was gone
forever. Even now, after three years, he could still taste the bitterness.
"Whoa," Kusanagi heard Sakura say from behind him,
"this place is swimming in despair."
"You feel it too?" Momiji asked, her green eyes
watching Sakura as she gazed around the same way Momiji had just a few moments
earlier.
"Yeah, it's impossible not to feel it," Sakura
replied, moving purposely forward toward the entrance.
Momiji made to follow her, but Kusanagi stopped her, pulling
her back to walk next to him.
"Stay close, Momiji," he told her.
Inside the main chamber of the iwatto all was quiet, but
here, even Kusanagi was able sense a heaviness in the air disturbing the natural
serenity of the pool. It pressed in on him, and he suddenly felt very depressed.
Then, suddenly through the stillness, they heard the hollow
rasp of a laugh and turned as one to stare into the darkness where the sound was
coming from.
"I had not expected to find you here, Kusanagi,"
came a voice that Kusanagi recognized.
It was the voice of the Aragami whose arm he had severed.
What the hell was it doing here? Kusanagi immediately jerked Momiji behind his
body to shield her, unsheathing the blades in his arms and taking a defensive
stance, staring into the darkness and waiting for the Aragami to show itself.
"How the hell do you know my name?" he demanded,
his voice hard.
The creature laughed again and finally stepped into the
light, its slitted, red eyes focused on Kusanagi, noting the blades and the
feral sneer on his face.
"I know more than just your name, little man," the
creature assured him shrewdly, his eyes flitting to the small girl peeking from
behind Kusanagi's back.
"Look," she whispered, pointing wide-eyed,
"its arm grew back."
Tamanasu laughed, again, his mouth stretching into a horrible
smile that showed his long fangs and he said, "You must be the Kushinada.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tamanasu of the Tengugaki."
"Tengugaki?" Sakura repeated, her eyebrows shooting
up over her crimson eyes, as she stared at the black mitama. "not
Aragami?"
"Pitiful humans, you do not deserve to hold the Over
World when your power and knowledge is so pathetically weak. We are the
Tengugaki, the children of Kakeru Kuni; the Withered Kingdom." Tamanasu
informed her, his slitted eyes staring scornfully at her.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Sakura
lashed out, "what Withered Kingdom?"
"Below the Over World and the Kingdom of the Roots, and
along the Road of the Death lies the Withered Kingdom," Tamanasu's
replied, "it is unlike your Over World in every way imaginable. Here your
earth is in constant change, brown to green, green to gold, and then gold to
brown again. But below, there is only stillness, the blackness of shadows the
only color in a landscape of infinite grey.
"Here your heavens are in constant flux; mercurial
changes altering your skies as the gods of the moon and the sun vie for
supremacy, and the god of storms, Susano-oh, shakes the heavens with his rage at
the fickleness of his brother and sister. But below, time is unending, the
darkness unbroken by the light of your gods who have long forsaken such a
wretched place.
"Here, souls are in constant motion; the promise of life
achieved in birth, and growth to a new beginning in a journey beyond death for
those fulfilling life's promises and keeping the covenant of the gods. But
below are the souls of the damned, those who have broken life's promises and
shattered the covenant of the gods and are destined to journey the Road of Death
for eternity.
"Here, sleep the dreamers with dreams, giving birth to
the shining hopes of your humanity in a world of infinite possibilities. Below
are the sinners and their nightmares, giving birth to a greater darkness, a
greater power whose goal is domination and immortality.
"This is the world of the Tengugaki. We are born from
the shadows, living to destroy those that revile us and reviling those that gave
us life. Our covenant is the domination of humans and Aragami, our promise, the
fulfillment of evolution through human and Aragami blood.
"Through evolution, we will attain perfection and
finally break free from the shackles of the Under World to become immortal and
invincible. We will lay waste to your worlds, the worlds of the humans and the
Aragami, and we will destroy your gods in revenge for forsaking us, the
forgotten children."
"We-he-he-ll," Sakura replied caustically, her
hands fisted by her sides as she leaned forward and spat, "those are some
awfully big goals for a race of demons that are so weak that they rely on their
enemy to give them strength. But one thing I've learned is demons are always
good at lies and deception. Except this time, I think the only ones you've
deceived have been yourselves, Mr. Tamanasu. What makes you think that the we'll
just quietly lay down and die and let you have our world."
"Try and stop us, if you want," Tamanasu laughed,
"but your demise is inevitable. It is just a matter of time, now -"
"You won't find what you're looking for,"
Momiji declared vehemently, interrupting him as she stepped from behind
Kusanagi, her green eyes staring unwavering into the surprised face of Tamanasu.
She took an unhindered step forward, Kusanagi too surprised
by her action to stop her.
"You won't succeed in your plan," she told
Tamanasu with sudden ferocity, "I won't let you! I'll find him before
you do!"
She stood with her legs braced apart, staring defiantly at
the Tengugaki, and watched the rage kindle in his red eyes. He stretched, his
limbs and body becoming even bigger, and his horns elongating to curl like giant
spikes toward his back. His transformation complete, he began moving
purposefully towards Momiji.
"How did you know!?" Tamanasu demanded, "Tell
me, Kushinada, how did you know what I was looking for!?"
"Momiji!" Kusanagi called urgently, flitted forward
then, and snatching Momiji up to carry her away from the long reach of Tamanasu,
"what the hell are you doing!?" he snarled at her before setting her
down.
Sakura had stepped up to face Tamanasu in the meantime, her
crimson eyes hard and full of purpose and Tamanasu stopped, his eyes moving from
Momiji to where Sakura stood as a blockade between them
"Your spirit is strong, human. I see your energy
spiraling around you in long silver waves." He took a step toward her, but
stopped when Kusanagi suddenly flitted between him and Sakura, his fisted hand
raised to his face, turning his blade outwards into an attacking position.
"Hold it right there, you freak," Kusanagi spat
through gritted teeth.
"Move, Kusanagi!" Sakura blared, "you're
getting in my way!"
She stepped around the other side of Kusanagi and began
chanting, pulling out a talisman and holding it between her forefinger and
middle finger. She finished her chant and flipped it over transforming it into a
high - energy sphere.
"If you're hungry, you clay bastard, try a taste of
this!" she hissed and heaved the ball of light at him.
Tamanasu stepped aside, and the sphere exploded against the
stone wall behind him. It shattered into a mass of light that illuminated the
entire iwatto in brilliant white for all of two seconds before it abruptly died
out, shaking the walls and the floor just from the impact. Huge chunks of rubble
began to fall, creating an entirely new problem.
"Damn, Sakura!" Kusanagi ranted at her, as he was
forced to shield his face and head from the sharp stones scraping past him on
the way to the ground, "what are you trying to do, kill us all?"
"Shut up, Kusanagi!" she flashed back, shooting him
a dirty look before ducking her head beneath her own arms, "I'll do
whatever it takes to kill this bastard!"
Tamanasu shielded his face as well, not just from the falling
debris, but because his eyes, unused to the light, had been momentarily blinded.
He must get away. He was not strong enough to fight them both, right now. Even
if he were strong enough to fight them now, it would be quite pointless since he
could not engage in a battle with the ultimate goal of killing Kusanagi. The
shower of debris began to subside, and Tamanasu dropped his clawed hand away
from his face, his eyes sliding to Momiji's huddled form.
"You will not win, Kushinada," he promised her,
" and when we find him, your life will be forfeit as well."
He turned and fled back down the passage of the iwatto.
"Don't let him get away!" Sakura shrieked and
started running after him, closely followed by Kusanagi, the clicking of their
footsteps retreating into the sudden silence.
Momiji watched them leave the chamber and collapsed to her
knees. She began shaking violently all over in delayed shock, as she pictured in
her mind, the infant of her vision being attacked, his life drained away by the
foul Tengugaki, the same way hers had been. Momiji's chin dropped to her
chest, and her breathing became rapid as she closed her eyes, feeling a sheen of
perspiration break out on her forehead. She leaned forward, her palms flat
against the cold stone of the floor, and her arms shook violently, threatening
to give way and leave her lying face down and the floor. She was suddenly
freezing, her hands and feet icy cold, and she could feel her breath coming out
in long shudders but couldn't seem to get it back under control. She was about
to be sick, she realized, and doubled over as she retched out the contents of
her stomach.
As soon as she was finished, she felt a hand touch her
shoulder and she let out a terrified shriek, shrinking away from the contact.
"It's me, Momiji," Kusanagi reassured her, when
she tried to pull away from him, her face stark white and her eyes dark with
fear.
She didn't seem to hear him and he grabbed her by both
arms, pulling her stiff body up close to him and calling her name.
"It's over, Momiji. He's gone," he kept telling
her over and over until he felt her body begin to relax, aware that Sakura was
hovering anxiously by his side, staring at Momiji.
Momiji clung to Kusanagi. Her hands fisted in his shirt and
she leaned her face against his chest, feeling her body begin to gradually warm
as he continued to hold her close, his arms wrapped protectively around her.
After some minutes, Sakura finally spoke, unable to hold her
silence any longer. "Momiji, what did you mean when you said 'you won't
find what you're looking for'? What is it that Tamanasu is looking
for?"
Momiji hesitated briefly and then stuttered, "A - a
child - I think he's looking for a child."
"A child!?" Sakura asked incredulously, "whose
child? What for?"
Momiji shook her head, and laughed hysterically into Kusanagi's
chest, "I don't know!"