Revenge of the Akuma Clan

by Benjamin Martin

  “As Assessor I…assert that by surviving the test, David Matthews and Kou are indeed a potential Jitsugen Samurai. We will not dispose of Takumi and Rie at this time, though all their statuses are pending a further and continued review. The elder Matsumotos and David are invited,” he said as if the words stuck in his mouth, “to stay in Tokyo this summer to meet the Imperial Family. We will also continue to search for the Jeong brothers and will pass on any information we find.”

  Takeishi stood and stomped out of the Dojo, stopping to slide into his boots before leaving. The wind blew over the pond just enough to create miniature ripples that raced after the man as he passed, as if shooing him away. Masao grunted in satisfaction when he was out of sight.

  “Alright, Takumi go get your mother, then you can all fill us in on what happened and we will tell what we know,” Masao said returning his attention on the students.

  “Actually,” David said before the others could speak, “I need to go take care of one last thing. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Before anyone could protest, David was up and moving toward the door. He changed into Kou over the threshold, landing on big cat paws. Kou loped to the Matsumoto Shrine, his speed quick but measured.

  Kou slowed as he approached the pagoda. Light trickled down through the old trees in greens and yellows. Kou stalked over dead leaves and needles as he searched for Manami with his senses. David still marveled at how weak his own eyes and nose were compared to Kou’s sight and smell. He could see and sense things through Kou that no human ever had.

  The forest around the pagoda was silent. Manami did not seem to be there, yet David was sure she was. Although he did not know her well, he knew she was at least practical. To have come all the way to the Estate to warn him, and then leave before she could explain herself did not make sense. Still, David was unsure what to think of the fact she was an ōkami. He had not grown up amidst Japanese culture, and thus had no personal relationship with the legends. Still, he had met and destroyed three packs of the wolves. Every encounter was fresh in his memory. Chul Moo and Chul Soon were the two ōkami he had known best. They had been different, but he had counted Chul Soon as a friend, right up until he betrayed him. Manami stuck her head above the railing, her eyes locking onto David.

  “Alone?” she asked with a playful smile. Despite himself, Kou smiled, a fearful sight on a tiger, though it made Manami laugh. David exerted control and he emerged, covered in his tiger armor.

  “I figured it would be better to see if you were still here before I told the other Matsumotos about you,” David said.

  “David wanted a chance alone with you,” Kou added, much to David’s displeasure. Manami laughed.

  “Good,” she said jumping down. “You know, I might have kissed you so that I could escape, but now that I’m getting to know you… I do like you. It’s not my fault I’m an ōkami. It wasn’t my choice. I’ve done my best with the life I was given.” She moved closer to him. “Maybe we were meant to meet, you know, so I could teach you more about us.”

  David was very aware of how close she was to him, his mind flicked back to the two times they had kissed as his vision blurred a little with the memory. An indefinable scent seemed to wash through the air that ignited the blood in his fingertips.

  “Ah-hem,” Rie cleared her throat. David whirled, kicking himself as he realized his expression would give away his surprise. Manami smiled, the challenge was not lost on Rie. Embarrassed, but not sure why, David missed the looks the two girls were giving each other.

  “Uh, let’s get back to the Dojo,” David said. He led the way back through the Shrine path with Manami following close behind as Rie watched.

  By the time the trio got back to the Dojo, Tsubasa was there waiting with the Matsumotos. Manami’s confident stride faltered as they approached the old building. With the doors wide, she could see Masao and Yukiko watching her with veiled emotions. Masao leaned a little to the side and whispered to Takumi. The answer was too quiet to hear as David ascended the steps and entered. Tsubasa stared at the newcomer with fixed features as he fumbled with something in his lap. His mouth hung open a little.

  “Ugh, stop drooling,” Rie said as she spotted him.

  “You are the first ōkami to enter here. Your words will determine if you ever leave,” Masao said, ignoring his daughter and even David. No one could doubt his sincerity.

  “You may sit,” Yukiko said with an unusual edge to her voice.

  “Why are you here?” Masao asked. If Manami had expected a different greeting, or introductions, she did not show it. Instead, she kneeled in the difficult seiza position in the indicated spot and kept her eyes downcast.

  “Many years ago a single ōkami came to our small island,” Manami said. “Although there are just over five hundred people on Nanboku, the administrators, teachers, doctor, post office staff, policeman, all change every few years. He was cunning and quiet, and before anyone knew something was wrong, he had changed many of us. Some joined him, but the rest of us turned on him and drove him from the island.

  “We were family. We couldn’t feed on the other islanders, and so we almost starved. Feeding our bodies was easy enough. Fish and meat would sustain us, but our spirit half weakened to the point where a few died. Then we found we could survive off animals. There were no large animals on the island except a few goats and cats. We found by accident that if we went with the boats we could take the essence of the fish before they died, sustaining the spirit part, while the flesh kept our human forms alive. I’m sure other ōkami have done the same, but humans are so much easier, so few choose to fight their nature.”

  “Was it the warm fuzzy family feeling, or the fact they would have hunted you down if you had started feeding on such a small population?” Rie asked, not buying her story.

  “Maybe a few were kept from feeding for that reason, but the majority of us had lived our whole lives on Nanboku,” she said. “We were family, and we found a way to live together. Things might have stayed well enough, except that the ōkami we drove out never forgot us. Okinawa has become the focal point for our kind in Japan. With so many foreigners already there, it is easier for those returning, or changed elsewhere to hide and operate. The free ōkami, as we call ourselves, don’t hear much but we couldn’t help but sense the change over the last two years. There have been many whisperings. Then I met David.”

  “Why should we believe you,” Rie said from the corner of the Dojo. She had refused to sit, instead watching as if expecting Manami to run for it.

  “Yeah, explain what happened last January,” Takumi said. Unlike Rie, he was sitting near Masao, looking at Manami with an intensity that earned him a reproachful look from Natsuki.

  “Well, like I said, the ōkami that turned us and his pack remembered us. He caught my scent in the airport. They have runts stationed in most of them now. There were enough people around that they couldn’t attack me. They sent a pack after me. They aren’t too appreciative of our… abnormalities. Might make others realize they don’t have to stay bound to the clans. Anyway, I was scared they might attack me or the other students; I was the only one my age they got. Then I saw David. I don’t know why, but he was so cute. I hoped I could play on his western chivalry to get him to distract the pack long enough to get through the trip.”

  David felt his cheeks start to burn, and hoped the others would miss the color rising on his face. Rie’s glance and Takumi smirk gave him his answer.

  ‘Easy. I hate it when you get embarrassed. It’s too… weird.’

  ‘I’m human, get over it.’

  “So you didn’t know what he was,” Yukiko asked.

  “No! I mean of course he stood out, aside from being very tempting, at most I thought maybe he was a shifter,” Manami said.

  “Tempting?” Masao asked, his face clouding in anger.

  “I am an ōkami. My pack chooses not to attack humans, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have… attractions. I didn’t ask to be turned but I won’t a
pologize for something that was not my fault. So yes, David was, is, a temptation, and I admit I used some of my abilities on him. But I’d never feed on a human.”

  As Manami spoke, Rie moved closer, her stance aggressive. Natsuki remained silent throughout the entire exchange. David’s raised eyebrow did not even get a reaction from her.

  “Continue,” Masao commanded with a frown.

  “Okay, so I told him I needed his help, and then he saw me at the ski resort,” she continued. “He got there just as the clan’s pack got to me. I though he was a goner, then all of a sudden he had a sword and turned them all to wood. I was scared out of my fur, so I turned up the pheromones, and distracted him long enough to get away. He was so sweet, too. I didn’t realize it was his first kiss until later.”

  David turned bright red as Kou growled within and Takumi let out an explosive laugh. Tsubasa closed his eyes as if reliving the event in his mind.

  “And the statue you took?” Natsuki asked, joining the conversation for the first time.

  “Well, that was a friend of mine. He had wanted to stay with us, but his twin brother forced him to go with the clan. He didn’t even try to fight David, so I decided to take him home. Maybe he can give us more information on what’s going on around the mainland. Plus, I was scared. I mean this cute boy turned out to be way more than I had bargained for. It wasn’t until I got back that I found out there were samurai more powerful than those in the history books. The Jitsugen Samurai are a whispered legend of a painful death among our kind.”

  ‘That is the third time she’s mentioned a clan. We need to know more about them and what is going on in Okinawa.’

  ‘I know. A pack is bad enough. I’d hate to think what a clan is…what did she say? The Acura clan?’

  ‘The Akuma Clan.’

  Manami spoke until night fell over the Estate. In the midst of her warnings about the Jeong brothers and the Akuma Clan, Ryohei returned. A pair of ghosts loyal to the Emperor and his guard had lured him away. After hearing her entire story, Masao agreed to let Manami leave the Estate, though after all that had happened they stopped short of trusting her with any more of their secrets. For her part, Manami seemed reluctant to say goodbye, and Tsubasa asked Masao to let her stay so he could perfect and test the Eye.

  “I think she has been here long enough,” Rie said. David looked to her, surprised she was still so abrasive.

  ‘It must be because of her time as a yūrei,’ he told himself.

  “Golden Week is almost up and I still have school too,” she said. “Anyway, it’s the digital age, hit me up on Facebook.”

  THIRD YEAR

  The road south was monotonous, yet faster and far easier than the paths through China or Russia. Here there were no checkpoints or security. As long as we did not succumb to boredom and break the speed limit, we were virtually undetectable along the wide-open highways…

  With Manami away, the Matsumotos locked down the rest of the Estate. Their usual security measures were back up and working, but the kidnapping had rattled Masao and Yukiko. When they were finished, they all sat down for what should have been the end of Golden Week celebratory feast. Instead, they settled for take-out from one of the local restaurants. It was the first time David had eaten food on the Estate that was not from the kitchen.

  Though there was still much they had to cover about the events of the preceding days, they were all starving. Takumi, Natsuki, and Tsubasa prepared the tables in the main room while David and Rie helped Yukiko get the food from the car.

  The dishes were set out so that everyone could take what they wanted. David went straight for the fried noodles. Across from him, Takumi grabbed a strip of raw tuna over sushi rice, but before he could get it to his mouth, Natsuki lashed out with a wicked backhand that sent the fish, rice, and wood flying across the table to hit David square in the face.

  “Thanks Natsu, I forgot to check,” Takumi said with the sappiest face David had ever seen on him. David checked the others at the table to ensure he was not the only one that found Takumi thanking Natsuki for knocking about his food strange.

  “You have fish in your hair,” Tsubasa said as he turned back to his own plate. Masao did not even look up, while Yukiko had the same air of relaxation she got after the rare instances David had managed to surprise her during their morning practices.

  “Idiot,” Rie mumbled to Takumi around a soup bowl.

  “Umm,” David muttered, “did I miss something?”

  “Sorry David,” Natsuki said with a giggle at his hair. “Takun is allergic to wasabi. You know. The spicy green stuff.”

  “I usually don’t have to worry at home,” Takumi said. “Maybe now that Reimi is with me I can eat it!”

  “Best not to risk it,” Masao said. “You almost died the last time you had any.”

  Once everyone’s initial hunger had been sated, their attention turned to the kidnapping. Masao began by reviewing the historical precedents for his children and the others. In the ancient past, the Emperors would often send a personal representative to the Matsumoto Estate to supervise and test a new Jitsugen Samurai. In those days, people communicated and traveled by foot. The Emperor would not travel to observe the Estate, thus a retainer performed the Right of Assessment. The practice had fallen off as the Emperors lost their political powers and the Shogunates rose. The Matsumoto’s role had grown ever more secretive as they worked to keep the Jitsugen Samurai from becoming political tools.

  “Takaeishi-kun and his company are from the Imperial Guard,” Masao said. “You met some of them in Kyoto when we visited the Crown Prince. Their goal was clear. They wanted to see the extent of your powers and your willingness to save others. Unfortunately, it appears Takaeishi had a free hand. I have a feeling the Emperor designed this stunt to get me to go to Tokyo.”

  “I thought you were friends with the Crown Prince,” David asked.

  “The Crown Prince, yes,” he said. “We grew up and trained together. The Emperor is another matter.” Masao’s eyes unfocused as he looked into his past with dissatisfaction. Unnerved by the silence in the room, David bit into a cold piece of tempura. Registering the stillness of the room, Masao roused himself. “Never mind. It will have to wait. The Emperor summons you to Tokyo as well. I have a feeling your summer is going to be… interesting.”

  “Tell us what happened while you were gone,” Yukiko said. “We know the girls were taken, and that you were shot, David, but that is all.”

  “Did the Eye work out alright?” Tsubasa added, his full focus hanging on the answer. “How did you escape, Rie? Natsuki?”

  “David why don’t you go first,” Yukiko said. David went through his whole story, including the incident with the gunman and meeting Takumi. Masao seemed most interested in his encounter with the doe kami. When he got to the reunion with the girls, Rie took over and told them about their escape.

  “Is there really a giant bear running around in the forest?” Tsubasa asked, leaning forward in interest.

  “It’s not like I did it on purpose,” Rie said with a tear sliding along her cheek. “I woke up bound and panicked. Before I could do anything, there was a giant bear crashing through the camp. Natsuki woke up and then the boys were there.”

  “Manami showed up not long after,” Natsuki added. “You’ve heard her story.”

  The discussions continued late into the evening. While the invitations were intriguing, neither was immediate. The warning from Manami about the Jeong brothers gave them little to work on. It was also clear that Masao was as angry as David and Kou were about the method Takaeishi had chosen for the assessment. Rie and Natsuki both grumbled about being bait. Tsubasa just seemed excited to be included in such interesting events for his Golden Week.

  “At most I just end up playing around in the computer lab,” he said. “This is way better. I got to see Yukiko-sensei smack the hell out of Takaeishi!”

  When David left for school on Friday, it was with the expectation that the principal wo
uld be announcing the mysterious transfer of their homeroom teacher. Instead, Takaeishi caught David, Takumi, Natsuki, Rie, and Tsubasa in the forest just before the main road between Nakano and Himeji. He was no less intimidating without his black combat fatigues. Takaeishi looked quite capable of ambushing them in his tracksuit.

  “You all get surprised far too easily,” he said. “I wanted to assure the five of you that I will remain your teacher for the duration of this school year. If any of you so much as hint to anyone about my past career I will find a very unpleasant way to return the favor. I would just as soon fail you all and return to Tokyo, but those are not my orders.” The corners of his mouth pulled in disgust as he stared down the teenagers.

  “I don’t like it when my friends are threatened,” David said, his eyes narrowing as he stepped forward. His tone was as cold as he could make it. “I’m holding you responsible for that coward under your command.”

  ‘I am having a hard time deciding if he is always this repellant, or if he is acting this way as a test. He makes me want to bite him.’

  ‘You’re supposed to be the one telling me not to attack him.’

  ‘How about a scratch?’ Kou brought up an image of his right paw with a claw popping out.

  Takaeishi’s eyes flashed at David. Rie smiled, none of them missed the anger course through his features before he was able to clamp down on them.

  “I bet the jerk with the gun will never think of bears the same way at least,” Rie said.

  “You’re all very lucky the Emperor has given me such strict orders,” Takaeishi spit. “The Jitsugen Samurai are where they should be. Long Forgotten in the past. We don’t need a gaijin like you or old historians like the Matsumoto to protect Japan.”