Revenge of the Akuma Clan

by Benjamin Martin

  “We will expect you shortly,” he said as he aimed and fired two more shots into Kou’s hind leg. He finished with a blow to the head that, while Kou could hear coming, could do nothing about.

  Kou’s advanced healing powers did their work. He awoke and his vision cleared enough for him to make out the dusty ground just in front of his snout. Kou growled past the pain and lurched to a standing position. The movement sent jolts of ice through his corded muscle. His whiskers twitched in agitation as his tail swept behind him. With a tentative, jerking step, they began following the trail again. Kou yowled in discomfort every time his advanced healing forced a slug back out of his muscle and skin. David tried to hide from the pain he could feel so acutely through Kou’s heightened senses. He knew where each bullet lodged and could trace every painful path they took as Kou’s body disposed of them. Without his own body to focus on, Kou’s pain dominated David’s consciousness.

  ‘We shouldn’t have transformed, my armor is better than yours,’ David thought as the last slug popped out of their leg and clinked against a rock. ‘We really need to avoid getting shot.’ Kou’s nostrils flared at the smell of his own blood.

  “When we catch him, I am going to gnaw off his leg,” Kou growled as they limped on. “I am going to chew slowly.”

  Kou and David struggled on throughout the rest of the healing process. Kou tracked their assailant north and west. The occasional footprints, broken branches, ferns, and other indicators made it easy to find the gunman’s path. The instant Kou healed, they transformed back into a human. While it was still light out, David would be able to see well enough to follow the trail. Together, they decided to give Kou a chance to rest so that when night fell they could rely on his vision in the darkness. Even then, David could tell from the tracks they would not find Rie soon.

  David walked and ran around trees and over swift streams. The forest was familiar, but the tracks led ever onward. As twilight approached, David came upon a clearing in which the man’s tracks disappeared altogether. Before he could let out his yell of frustration, they turned into Kou and it came out as a growl. With Kou’s eyes better suited for the night and his sense of smell, they scoured the area but found only a faint acrid odor lingering in the air.

  The young tiger searched for vehicle tracks, but the clearing was free of obvious marks. With the last light of the day, Kou spotted a small glimmer on the far side of the clearing. There, plain to see was a cheap wristwatch. It had the stink of the gunman, and with its power out and both hands pointing to the north and west. In the dark, Kou moved onward.

  An animalistic intensity drove them forward. It was a new feeling. They had never lost prey while hunting. David had to battle against Kou’s primal side as he tried to keep him on track. The man who had shot them was gone. Whether or not he had been leaving tracks on purpose before was a mystery, but there were none now. All they had was the hope the watch was left to guide them in the correct direction.

  As they stalked, thoughts plagued David. ‘Who else had they taken? Why had it been done?’

  Kou focused on the gunman. If they found him, David knew it would be difficult to restrain Kou. The thought of Rie’s empty room floated out from the depths of his mind, playing out before them as if the darkness of the forest was a mirror for his worst memories. Other visions came soon after. With Kou so focused on trying to find a scent, David was alone and with little control in a very dark world.

  He relived the moment his hand broke when he tried to punch Koji. The memory seemed to taunt him from beneath a pine tree, only to disappear as they ran past. A vision of Grandpa’s mangled body replaced it, followed by the dark orbs of Rie’s eyes when she was a yūrei. The horrible images sped up, and the forest around them appeared ever more unreal.

  At their worst, David’s troubled mind caused Kou to miss a branch and they went tumbling down a hill. The bumps and whirling ground was enough pull them both out of the darkness.

  ‘We are in our element, the forest is our strength. We will find the prey with the gun.’

  “The coward did say his employer wanted to be found,” David mused as Kou shook leaves from his fur. “So be it, we will find him.”

  The sun rose in the sky, so they transformed to let Kou rest. David trod barefoot through the rough terrain as the tiger rested within him.

  “Should have grabbed my armor boots,” he grumbled as stones and branches sliced at his feet. They were forever in pain as the forest floor opened new wounds, even as his Jitsugen Samurai powers healed him. Although David’s body was refreshed from Kou’s long dominance, the steep mountains and rough footing wore on him. His armor was as comfortable as a second skin, but its weight also drained his reserves. By the time the new night came, David was happy to revert to Kou. Kou’s light armor hindered him far less than David’s, and his paws were one with the forest. The young tiger god was made for, made by, and even helped to make the very earth, the root of every forest. With the moon, stars, and Kou’s animalistic awareness to guide them, they moved through the second night, ever north and west.

  ‘There must be a connection between our link to the forest and the fact that my Seikaku is wood,’ David thought as they hunted. Even when in their human form, David felt more awake and alive among the trees than he did in the city. He had never forgotten the feelings of lethargy and distance during the plane ride to Kyushu, or his fear at the waters of the ocean. They were meant to be among the living places of Japan. Kou remained silent, focusing on the input from his senses in the deep of night.

  While they sought after Rie, Kou stopped to sate his hunger with the small animals he could easily catch along the way. If he had the time, he could have found a larger animal that would have kept them comfortable for a day or more, but with speed being a necessity, Kou gave up much of his stealth in their pursuit. As Kou cracked through a bone, David berated himself for leaving in such a hurry. Aside from the trail he had left, there was nothing for anyone else on the Estate to go on. He had no radio, no supplies, and no shoes. David also feared for his own body. Although Kou could sustain them, perhaps even indefinitely, they had never tried going so long without David eating. They had no idea how it would affect them.

  With their shared belly growling again a few hours later, Kou caught the sound of quick scampering feet nearby. Slowing, Kou blended into his surroundings to the greatest extent possible. David withdrew as the tiger took over, his hunting instincts driving all else out. He became a kind of observer, with the most realistic TV in the world, complete with sight, sound, smell, and twitching tail, all seeking after its prey. His large paws moved silently over even the most difficult arrays of branches, leaves, and grass.

  They spotted dinner high in a tree. A tanuki, a type of Japanese raccoon sat with its head in a hole. Its back legs kicking as it tried to reach deeper in. Kou paused to watch it.

  ‘It’s alright, this one we can eat.’

  ‘What you only like certain kinds of raccoons? You’ve never had a raccoon before.’

  ‘Some tanuki are not for eating. This one’s ancestors grew stupid long ago.’ Kou crept up a nearby tree.

  It was over with a speed borne of hunger, even with the slow creep, the steady beat of their heart, the straining of their senses. When Kou sprang, his full weight knocked out the small animal before it ever knew there was a danger. Together they fell to the ground where, growling in pride, Kou began to eat. Though he gorged himself, his senses still sought for danger.

  Just as the tanuki missed the assault from above, so did Kou. He barely had time to roll away from his kill and on to his back, baring his sharp claws as the forest around them turned to fire.

  THE MAN WITH THE GUN

  It took far longer than we expected to leave them. There were all of those probing questions. I reassured my brother that it is in our nature to inquire. Even with the delay, we left far more prepared than we had hoped. We were finally on the last leg of our trip; soon we would be in a position to strike at wil
l…

  “We might have found you sooner, but I couldn’t carry the Eye,” Reimi said once Kou had smothered his singed fur. “Takumi stopped next to a nearby village. It’s got these terraced fields cut into the mountains, and I circled around and around them in case you were playing in the mud. But then I swept out over the trees and spotted a shadow so I glided lower. I worried I might swoop down on a deer again, but hey, it was you. I wish I were bigger. I bet you would have popped right out from the forest at the height I was flying.”

  “What’s an Eye?” Kou asked, curious enough to talk to Reimi instead of just scowling at her for burning some of his fur.

  Kou had been feeding on his tanuki when he heard a rustle from Reimi’s passage through the canopy. Seeing Kou’s fangs turn on her, Reimi had burst into flames just as Kou’s bloody jaws snapped shut in surprise. Kou had rolled in an attempt to avoid the crackling tongues of fire roiling off the dangerous little phoenix, but she had still singed him. As Kou recovered his composure, his fur rippling and large eyes blinking, Reimi settled her wings and began to speak. The occasional spark flew along her wings.

  “Sorry, you startled me,” Reimi said, clawing at the scorch marks on the root. “You aren’t easy to catch up to, let alone find. By the way, I thought cats were supposed to be clean.”

  “What?” Kou asked as he looked around.

  “Your whole muzzle is covered in blood.” Reimi laughed. As she cooled, the darkness returned to the forest around them. Reimi reverted to her usual light gray. She danced a little on the root, fighting back the urge to transform. Somewhere within her, Takumi was impatient. “Look, Takumi could not catch up by foot, but we left some things behind that we need. I’ll let Takumi convince you, but think about how much faster we will find Natsuki if we hunt together.”

  Before Kou could respond to the news that Natsuki was missing too, Takumi appeared on the root in his stylish ash and fire streaked armor. Blinking in the utter darkness, his practiced gaze swept the night as he tried to find Kou. The faint rustle of fur on fur as Kou wiped the remains of his dinner from his jaws, brought Takumi’s attention to him.

  “So then Natsuki was the other one they kidnapped?” Kou asked.

  “Yes, look, we can talk more later. I’ve been trying to find you since you didn’t show at our meeting place,” Takumi said. “I have supplies stashed about ten kilometers away. I’ve been switching with Reimi, but she’s not big enough to carry everything we will need. If you will wait for me I can get them and we can hunt together.”

  David and Kou tried not to be angry at the delay. While they both understood the benefits of going into a potential fight with backup, and had been able to finish off the rest of the raccoon, it was difficult to restrain themselves during the long wait.

  David was pacing when Takumi’s stumbling steps brought him into hearing range. When David got to him, however, his anger died away. Takumi had pushed his body past the breaking point. Even David could see the dark blotchy skin concealing the snapped tendons, bruised muscles, and broken bones his host-brother was sporting. To do the kind of damage he saw, Takumi must have strained the limits of survival, pitting his advanced healing against the damage he did with each overextended step. Only his connection with Reimi, riding the edge between damage to his body and their accelerated rejuvenation had kept him alive.

  Falling to the ground, Takumi fumbled for a radio on his pack. He shivered in obvious pain as the healing process continued, his legs jerking uncontrolled.

  ‘We should be hunting down the coward with the gun, not playing with radios. We can show him what kind of holes our teeth can make.’

  ‘It’s too late. We made the choice to wait for Takumi, so we aren’t going to catch them unless they stop as well, which they will otherwise they’ll hit a major town, and if that was their plan they would have gone east.’

  Kou’s growl made Takumi fumble with the dials on the radio. Even as he worked the controls, Takumi’s body began to relax as it healed. He bit back a growl of his own as a broken toe popped back into place with a jolt of pain. Though the radios were military issue, and encrypted, Takumi failed to raise anyone. Kou backed away as the static from channel after channel hurt his sensitive ears.

  “What’s wrong with it?” he asked, working his jaw a little. As he had grown larger, his voice had grown ever deeper, giving it a far more menacing tone than he intended.

  “I… I don’t know,” Takumi said. His eyelids fluttered as he struggled to stay conscious. “I can’t raise anyone. Someone might be jamming the signal, or none of the radios are on back home. Either way it’s not good.”

  Realizing Takumi was about to pass out, Kou had him strap the gear to his back. Takumi finished adjusting his sword then transformed back into Reimi. The little bird hopped up onto Kou’s shoulders and fell asleep. With a quick look behind him, Kou took off through the woods. Without Takumi awake to guide them toward Natsuki, Kou followed their previous course through the forested mountains.

  Much later, when Kou could go on no further, he stopped and transformed. The pack and Reimi flopped to the ground as his body contorted from lithe and furry to David’s corded muscles and heavy samurai armor. Falling to the ground, Reimi shuffled her wings and tail-feathers languidly. Seconds later, she too disappeared in her customary smoke as Takumi emerged in his armor.

  “How come I don’t get to appear in a swath of smoke too?” David sighed. Takumi’s appearances were always impressive. Materializing, his armor made him even more indistinct and mysterious in the blanketing smoke.

  “You aren’t cool enough,” Takumi said. Behind the mask, his host-brother’s face twisted in pain. Takumi doubled over. David helped him sit. Though he was not tired, his mind recovered during his time in Kou’s body, the lack of rest for both bodies left David’s muscles sore with sympathetic pain. It was as if his muscles’ cells remembered the same strain as Kou’s cells.

  “I guess the whole instant healing thing has limits after all,” David muttered.

  “Yeah, our endurance,” Takumi said. With a free hand, he released his mask and took off his helmet. “It’s going to be a little bit before I can move. I know you want to keep going but you’re shaking too. Sit, eat some jerky, and then we can move on.”

  David frowned, and then saw how much his hands were jerking around. They made it difficult for him to go through Takumi’s bag, but he managed to grab water and meat for both of them.

  “Okay,” David said around a huge gulp of water. “If we have to wait, tell me what happened on the Estate, how do you know they took Natsuki?”

  “Back in Nakano, I waited for you, Rie, and Natsu at the spot. I hadn’t been able to sleep well, so I left early and waited outside. As the time came and went for our meeting, I got annoyed, then nervous. I figured even if you had gone back to your old habits, Natsuki wouldn’t be late without a good reason.”

  David threw a hunk of meat at him in annoyance for his lack of trust, but let him continue without otherwise interrupting.

  “I scrawled a note and left it on the ground for Reimi.”

  “I’ll still get you two back for my fur,” Kou growled from David’s mouth. “I was minding my own business, eating, and then poof, half my fur is singed. If it hadn’t grown back so fast, I would have had phoenix for dessert.”

  “Anyway,” Takumi said in an obvious attempt to change the subject, “my note outlined the situation and asked her to check the area. Just as I can understand some of what she’s doing when we are flying, she already understood the basics of what I had been up to. I think it is hard for her to keep her full attention on me while trapped behind my senses. The note made things faster.

  “I figured her better vision and Reimi’s connection to Natsu would help us meet up faster. It’s like the itch when Reimi really wants to fly. Natsuki feels a growing pressure that can only be satisfied by a proximity to Reimi.”

  David frowned at the reminder he no longer had a partner, but then shrugged the t
hought away. He had friends and they were in danger.

  ‘My hands need to stop shaking.’

  “I know Reimi hates the fact I have to go to school and she can’t participate there,” Takumi said. “I think that’s why she took off so fast, but even as the wind wove over our wings minutes passed without Natsu coming to find us. She caught movement on the Estate so after gaining a bit more altitude, she rotated her wings and we were hurtling toward the ground. You have no idea what it’s like. Even with the muddled senses I get, that is the one thing I feel more clearly than everything else.

  “This is taking too long. Let me try something.” Takumi straightened, then relaxed. His eyes unfocused and David noticed Takumi use one of the breathing techniques Yukiko had taught him. Then Takumi began speaking again, yet it was with a tone David remembered Masato and Masao had used when telling David the story of Ninigi and Amaterasu. Though not as refined as his father, Takumi’s words called images to David’s mind. Where the elder Matsumotos had seemed to transport him to the ancient forests of Japan, Takumi provided more of a standard experience.

  David saw Masao and Yukiko sleeping in their room, as if the fact they had told Takumi about what happened enabled him to relay it to David in perfect clarity. Masao’s eyes jerked open. His body remained still as his hand reached up to touch his lips. Yukiko stirred beside him. A single look passed between them before they moved, throwing open the sliding doors around their room.

  David’s host-parents circled the house in their nightclothes until they found Rie’s door ajar. Yukiko bent down to examine what David recognized as his own foot prints, leading away.