It is said in the tales and myths of Japan that one should never go to a festival alone, for demons lurk about.  It is also said that these demons have but one wish: to capture a soul and spirit it away to the very depths of hell, where the person will never be heard from again.  Is it a true occurrence, or is it nothing but an ancient kaidan, a legend, something to scare the children by when the moon is full?

It was a sunny day in the small farm community of Miura, nestled in the Kanto plain on the island of Honshu in the archipelago empire known as Japan.  The sun splashed down on vegetable fields, the nearby horse stables, the few houses in the quiet community, and on the slightly raised concrete roads that separated the fields of one farm estate from another.  It was a beautiful place and centrally located; in a matter of minutes, a person could arrive at the seaside cliffs where the westerners’ black ships came over a century past; an hour or so worth of travel to the northeast would point to the hustle and bustle of the world’s largest metropolis, Tokyo.  Even ancient and venerable Fujisan, the dormant volcano that symbolized Japan, was a mere couple of hours away in the opposite direction.  Miura-shi, in and of itself was a slice of heaven, a symbol of the serenity that made up the wa of Japan.

None of that, however, was on the mind of young Amanogawa Koketsu.  A young man at the age of 16, he had much more imperative things on his mind than the fields and grasslands around him.  At the moment, he rode through the backroads on his bicycle, the wind blowing through his brown hair and the sunlight glinting off his expressive brown eyes, the average and everyday young man might have been just enjoying the ride, appreciating the scenery for what it was, a vast landscape of oriental beauty.  However, one only had to look behind him to get a clearer picture of where his mind truly was.

“So, will you go with me to the festival tonight, Koketsu-kun?” Seijitsu Hikari, seated behind him with her arms around his waist, asked.  “It’s the first time in years that they’re having a festival at the old Kaihin-no-mori temple, and from what my friends tell me, it’s supposed to be the best festival ever!”  Whether intentional or not, her joyous giggle at the thought of going to a festival translated into her hugging herself closer to Koketsu’s back, allowing him to feel every contour of her shapely, attractive figure.

“Oh, I dunno, Hikari-chan,” he answered in what he hoped was his best attempt at an uninterested voice.  “Festivals aren’t always as good as they say they are.  And I was thinking that maybe we could take a train up to Yokohama and do something there.”  In truth, he had no such intention.  Like her, he too had heard from his friends that this festival was going to be an event to remember, and he was very interested in attending, for a number of reasons.

The shrine had sat in its sentinel location, in the forest overlooking the seaside cliffs, for as long as history had been recorded.  In an area of the seaside that was dotted with torii gates and miniatures shrines and such, local mythology had it that the temple was one of the gateways that kept heaven and earth separated from the nine hells.  How true that rang, was of course the stuff of legends, but the known history of it was that many of Japan’s bloodiest battles of bygone times had occurred in the vicinity of the temple.  With a history such as that, it was little wonder why there were never any festivals at the old place; likely the fact that the usually dour priests that had served there didn’t do much to help things, either.

But all that had changed three months ago.  When the old, surly priest had passed away, the replacement priest decided to make the place more accessible to the public, and that almost always meant a festival; this was no exception.  Considering the relatively isolated nature of the temple, it would give the public a wonderful chance to see this historic landmark and to partake in not only the fun of the festival, but the breathtaking view of the forest that overlooked the sea escarpment.

“Can we stop here, please?” Hikari asked, to which Koketsu willingly complied.  As they got off the bicycle, Koketsu looked around at their surroundings and at nothing really in particular, until she pointed at the building in the distance.  The edge of the temple could barely be seen poking out of the forest, and over the din of the seagulls flying to and fro you could also hear the beginning of the festivities.  From the sounds already coming from the site, it would appear that the early word of it being the best festival ever seemed to hold fast.

Koketsu knew that he’d attend, and that he’d escort her, with pleasure.  But it was best not to look too interested; let her think that she talked him into it, he decided.

The girl tugged at his sleeve.  “Koketsu-kun?  Will you please go with me?”  She looked at him with her soft grass-green eyes, her naturally tea-colored hair streaming down her back like an endless cascade.  To him, she had always been the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid his eyes on; in the time he had spent in life, he was completely sure that opinion would never change.  He and Hikari were so balanced for each other that their parents were considering an arranged marriage, but decided on letting them figure out their course together.  He loved her as a friend, and since puberty had begun to have certain sorts of dreams about her, but time would tell if they would end up together in that fashion.

Of course he knew that, Hikari, being a girl, could strike him at his weakest point.  And as she favored him with her most kawaii look, he knew that she was about to manipulate him once more, something he’d give in as he had a few times before.   A distant part of his mind told him that there was more to it than just that, that this girl that he’d known all his life was beginning to love him more than just a friend, and she wanted him to know that.  “Koketsu-kun,” she said, in a soft voice, “If you do, I’ll give you something special.”

Trying to fight off a visible interest with minor success, he said with the most disinterested voice he could muster at the moment, his attempt at feigning disinterest flagging, “Oh, all right.”  Though his face was stoic, there was no stopping the onslaught of lecherous thoughts that raged through the hormone-driven brain cells of the young man.

“Arigato, Koketsu-kun.”  Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his, the softness of her mouth like a feather against his own.  At first, it seemed a sloppy, unpracticed attempt, but that attempt was filled with the promise of possibly more to come, a symbol that there was someday to be a unity between them that would last a lifetime.

Koketsu wasn’t worried about that, though.  He was just glad to be getting a chance to be with someone that was becoming more and more important to him as the days went by.

Unnoticed save for the presence of the occasional seabird, the two shared their first kiss in the solitary spread of the fields of Miura, under the canopy of a bright blue sky and the music of workers setting up what might be the best festival ever.

Nightfall came on the town, bringing with it the music and velvety sheen of night.  The stars glistened in the sky as glimmers in an endless pond.  The full moon hung in the sky like a festival lantern itself, the size of it much larger than normal, as though it drew closer to the Earth in order to see the goings-on at this time.  Though the majority of the cliffside area and adjoining forest were drenched in the nocturne colors of the moment, festive torches and lanterns blazed their glorious light into the air, lining the main road towards the temple site, fiery escorts for the festivalgoers.

Koketsu sat on a park bench outside the grounds of the festival, waiting for Hikari.  Having changed out of his uniform quite some time ago and swapping it out for a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, something inside him stirred.  Maybe it was just the feeling of the festivities – maybe I should’ve wore a yukata for the night – or perhaps the chance to spend a night of fun with Hikari.  It would be their first official date – sort of; after all, she asked him out, not he, so it was more of an outing than a date, per se.  No matter; that was all rhetoric and technicalities; call a rose a rose and it would still smell as sweet and perfect, an ideal image for a night such as thus.  Indeed, after looking to the plump, glowing moon above, the young man felt that something magical was about to commence, and the memories after this would etch themselves into his being forever.

Koketsu….

The sound of his name was sweet, cheery, and pleasant. He turned around, looking to see if Hikari had called him, but no one was there.  He sat back down, thinking himself foolish for imagining that he’d been called, as no one was there yet.

Koketsu-kun….

This time he was sure he heard it.  Not only that, but the voice wasn’t Hikari’s.  Getting off the bench, he looked around quietly, wondering who could have called him.  A quick look in the direction of the forest indicated nothing, and of the few people strolling in his general vicinity, he knew none of them.  A confused look momentarily flitted across his features.  He was sure that he heard someone, and though the voice was female, it wasn’t familiar.  Shrugging his head and chuckling, he thought to himself, Man, maybe it’s just nerves or something.  Yeah, that had to be it, he decided, just a touch of jitters.

“There you are!” Spinning around as though he’d been attacked, Koketsu faced the person who spoke.  “I was worried that the old wives’ tales were true!”  There, standing in a beautiful momji-printed kimono, her light brown hair cascading down her back, giving her an angelic, ephemeral cast.  She looked absolutely graceful in the traditional garb, and combined with the traditional festival lamp that she was carrying on a stick, she appeared to be very much like a woman who stepped out of ancient legends.

“Utsukushi….”  Koketsu’s jaw went slack, his every iota of being worshipping her beauty.  “I…Hikari-chan…you look beautiful.”

The young woman blushed, the crimson coloring rising to her cheek.  “Thank you, Koketsu-kun.  I don’t deserve such kindness.”  She sighed in contented embarrassment, though somehow he thought that she was loving the attention.

“But it’s the truth, Hikari-chan,” he answered.  “You’re absolutely gorgeous!”

Her cheeks still flush, she merely favored him with a smile.  Moving slightly away from him, she asked, “Shall we go?”  He in turn offered his arm, and away the pair went, making their way to the temple grounds.

However, one thing she said did manage to penetrate his jumble of emotions at the moment.  “So, what did you mean by your earlier comment?  About that old myth?”

Hikari gave a cheerful smile.  “Oh, it’s just an old kaidan my grandmother used to tell me.  She always said that you should never go to a festival alone, because the demons will get you.  Mostly they go after young girls, she said, but once in a while a female demon will get a young man.  Oba-sama went so far as to say that when she was my age, her best friend’s sister was taken by one, but I think she was just joking.”

Koketsu nodded, though something in the back of his head made every one of Hikari’s words stick there like a soft, cool touch.

Koketsu-kun….

He shivered involuntarily, as though someone had just walked over his grave, to use the odd Western aphorism he’d heard in English class the other day.  There was that voice at the back of his mind again, that sweet and strange siren’s voice that was clearly the product of an overactive imagination and hearing the kaidan that Hikari had just told him.

Then again, he admitted to himself, I’ve never heard of it before….

For quite some time, the pair enjoyed themselves amongst the gaieties and entertainments that the festival had to offer.  Koketsu caught a few goldfish for Hikari, his hands skillfully using the paper net until it could take no more.  They also shared some hot chestnuts, played a few games of chance, and attended a few of the attractions present.  However, the largest draw, the chance to go inside the temple itself, had been cancelled by a visibly nervous priest, citing fears that “the old building might be too unsafe for such large crowds as was gathered here.”  That was odd in itself, since the centuries-old temple looked like it could survive anything short of a direct hit by a tsunami or a typhoon.

However, that only increased Koketsu’s curiosity all the more.  He wasn’t sure why.  Maybe because the temple sat there, dark and inaccessible, a forbidden fruit that one was to look at, but not to touch.  Maybe it was because of the history and legends that had sprung up around this secluded temple by the sea cliffs.  Maybe it was even because of a childish boyhood desire to go where few, if any people had ever gone.  Regardless of the reasons, Koketsu had decided that he was determined to go into the temple, regardless of the cost.  He might get in trouble with the priest, or worse, the local constabulary, but this might just be a case where it was worth it.  Besides, it wasn’t like he was a troublemaker or anything; he could merely say that his curiosity got the best of him, and they’d likely believe it.

So as the fireworks began, and the crowd began to be lulled by the hypnotic spell of visual delight that the streams of fireflowers wove in the nighttime air, he made his move.  Taking Hikari by the hand, he said, “C’mon.  There’s something I want to see.”

“But Koketsu-kun, the fireworks….” she protested, just as entranced as others were with the show.  However, Koketsu continued to drag her along, headed away from the clearing by the cliffs where everyone else was gathered.  “Koketsu-kun, where are we going?”

“There’s something I want to show you,” he said, his voice carrying an oddly gleeful note.  “I’m sure you’ll find it more interesting than the fireworks.”

With one last, regretful look at the pyrotechnic display, she decided to follow him as he headed towards the direction of the actual temple. Halfway there, he stepped into the shady darkness of the forest, pausing only to turn on the lantern that he’d carried for her during the course of their evening together.  “C’mon, we’re almost there, Hikari-chan.”

A nervous look crossed her face.  “We’re going into the forest?”  When he nodded affirmation, she decided to make her stand.  “Look, I’m not going to go in there with you until you tell me what it is that you want to show me!”

An odd glint shone in his eyes.  “I’m going to show you something that you thought you’d never see before.  I think it might be interesting, personally.”

Her eyes opening wide with realization, a furious blush quickly spread over her face as she retorted, “Koketsu-kun!  You know I’m not that kind of girl!”

The young man was confused by her statement for a few seconds before the meaning of her words hit him.  Laughing at the silliness of it all, he scratched the back of his head, blushing himself as he explained, “That’s not what I meant, Hikari-chan.”

“Oh.”  The lone note carried downwards, and for a second, Koketsu thought he could have heard just the slightest sense of disappointment in her word.  But she perked right back up as she asked, “Okay then, so what are we going to go see?”

“Come with me,” he said, taking her hand, “and you’ll find out.”

A couple of minutes and a shortcut through the forest later, they arrived at their destination.

“Well, Hikari-chan, here we are.”  He motioned his arms out, as if to take in the breadth of the place.  “Isn’t it a sight?”

Hikari glanced at the large structure before her.  It sat there, dark and foreboding, as though it was a wolf crouched and awaiting prey.  The door gleamed with a golden sheen, inviting someone to come open up the Pandora’s box within.  All in all, what Hikari saw, she didn’t like, and it filled her with a silent dread.

On the other hand, Koketsu saw an old wooden temple, dark in color with some golden highlights here and there.  Nothing special, really, as far as looks went; he’d seen much grander, not too far from here at Kamakura.  In any case, he still yearned to go within the temple and plumb its mysteries.

Mostly hidden by the surrounding forest, no one had bothered to venture up here so far, and with the priest down the hill watching the fireworks display, he figured it would be a breeze to get inside.  Emboldening himself, he walked up to the door, Hikari nervously following behind as he pushed the door open and entered.

Once inside, he quickly shut the door, the light of the lantern giving off as much illumination as it could, though it seemed that the light had begun to fade.  Were the batteries in the lantern failing now?

“The batteries are starting to die out,” Hikari noted, wincing at both the pressing darkness and the fact that she used an ominous word such as “die” to describe the flagging light.  “C’mon, Koketsu-kun.  We can come another time.”

“No, the batteries should last long enough for us to explore this place,” he answered.  “On the outside, it didn’t look much bigger than your house, and you know that temples are simply designed, anyway.  Shouldn’t take more than five, maybe ten minutes, tops, and then we can go, okay?”

“You promise?” she said in a voice that indicated she wasn’t really thrilled about the idea.  “I don’t really think we should be here, Koketsu-kun.”

“I promise we’ll leave soon.  What’s there to worry about?” he grinned, hoping that it would make her feel more confident.  Unfortunately, the fading light cast harsh shadows on his face, making his friendly grin appear to be a sinister sneer, producing the opposite effect.  Hikari jumped a bit, but remained at Koketsu’s side.

As they walked down the central hallway of the temple, Hikari asked, “So why did you want to come in here?”  Each step they took made the floorboards creak, but there was something about that noise that didn’t seem like the natural sound of unsettled timber.  There was a reverb to it, an echoing tone that sounded like the chitter of insects…

…or maybe the whispers of lost souls, she thought, her flesh feeling the first effects of chickenskin.

Not noticing her now-visible fear of the place, he answered in a nonchalant tone, “Well, my grandfather once told me a tale about this place.  He said that something fearful is kept at the back of this temple.  No one’s supposed to see it, and frankly, that makes me want to see it even more!”  Stopping for a second, he moved the lantern this way and that, searching for some sort of clue as to where the enigma might be hidden.

However, all Hikari could see were the shadows growing every time he moved the light from their presence.  They seemed to her a group of predators readying for the right moment to strike.  Grabbing his arm and pulling him closer to her for comfort – not to mention safety – she pleaded, “Stop scaring me, Koketsu!  Let’s just go now, please?”

“Relax, Hikari – I’m not going to let anything happen to you, okay?”  Turning a corner into a large empty room, he shone the lantern’s fading light against the far wall, revealing the other side.  “Hey, look.  We found it.”

Hikari looked, and shrieked in fright before Koketsu managed to get her calmed down.  “W-what is that thing?”

Her companion gave it a critical eye.  “Oh, relax – it’s just a wall statue.  Don’t be so afraid.”  That having been said, he looked at it again.  Standing a little under five meters tall, the statue was basically a huge slab of some sort of stone that Koketsu couldn’t identify.  Carved partially out of it in a bas-relief, was the image of an oni of some kind.  With long hair and horns, it stood in its stone armor, holding some sort of smooth red crystal in its hands.  The features on the creature’s face were a combination of striking and wary at the same time; while the image didn’t look to be Amatsu Mikaboshi, there was no chance of it being mistaken for an icon of Binzuru Harada, either.

Still, there was something compelling about the picture, and that one thing was the shining orb in the center.  “Cool, isn’t it, Hikari-chan?”

Hikari, on the other hand, found the experience definitely unnerving.  To her, the statue seemed as though it was alive, a stone Venus flytrap awaiting its prey to make the fatal move.  There was a vitality, a dark vibrancy about that statue, something very cruel and inhuman and willing to destroy everyone and thing for nothing more than its own dark pleasures.  In the every elemental, primal part of Hikari’s brain there was one single, solitary directive: get the hell out of there.  Turning on her heel and trying to prevent every iota of her being from giving into the instinctive flight mechanism, she whispered in a shaky voice, “T-take me home right now, Koketsu-kun.  I want to leave, right now!”

He didn’t answer her, instead, reaching for the orb, wanting to touch it, grab it and take it home as a souvenir of his adventure.  He had no idea of how he was going to get it out of the slab, but that didn’t matter at the moment.

“Koketsu!” she yelped, turning around again.  “Didn’t you hear me?  I said I wanted to go ho….”  Her words trailed off as she suddenly realized that she was alone in the room.

Alone with the statue.

That suddenly seemed to be giving her a knowing, demonic grin.

The ancient primal instinct of fear immediately kicked in as Hikari raced out of the room as fast as she could, terror canvassing her every footfall.  She screamed at the top of her lungs for help from Koketsu, from anyone, all the while certain that she could feel the hands of the demon on her back, reaching around to throttle her from behind, if she was lucky.  And if she wasn’t, well, as her grandmother told her, the festival demons spirited young women away, never to be seen again, and those demons had powerful appetites, both hunger and in other needs.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see vague, flitting shapes.  Butterflies, the souls of the dead, had come to play with her and welcome her to join them in their eternal dance.  She would be one of them soon, they seemed to say on the brush of their wings, and they would be glad to have her join them, even if the reverse wasn’t necessarily true.

“KOKETSU!!!!!!!!!  TASUKETE!!!!!!!!!” she screamed, deathly terrified that she would never see any living thing ever again.

“KOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKETTTTTTTSSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

At the edge of his mind he heard his name called by someone, someone he knew and cared about.  With a great reluctance, he turned his eyes away from the painfully beautiful statue, to face Hikari…

…only to find that she was gone.

Head whipping this way and that, he called out, “Hey, Hikari, where’d you go?  Hikari?”  It was only then that he realized that he was completely alone, save for the light and the demon statue.

In which the orb had begun to pulsate with a bright, bloody red hue.  An eerie sound began to permeate the area, a shrill, keening moan that sounded like nothing that Koketsu had ever heard or even believed originated on earth.  The closest possible sound was that of an ersatz cross between a shakuhachi and a didgeridoo, but neither instrument could ever have produced such alien tones.

Through all this, the orb continued to occult in sanguine shades, its strobing beat more akin to a heart than that of a crystal.  Bringing his hand closer to it, Koketsu could feel the warmth of an organ cascading off it in waves.  This wasn’t just some ordinary item; this thing was completely and utterly alive.

And he was here in front of it.  Not to mention the fact that Hikari was gone.  Missing.

“What the hell is going on?” he spoke aloud, his voice caught between the emotional points of fear, curiosity, and anger.

The answer came as silence immediately crashed down on the room; a complete, total loss of all sound that would have been better suited to a perfect vacuum.  But that soon subsided as a massive roar penetrated the entirety of the room, the onrushing feel of the sound appearing to rip through every cell in his body.  It was powerful enough to make the young man drop to his knees, stunned by what he felt.  During this time, the monolithic stone slab began to rumble and shake for a few seconds as the orb exploded into an aura of energy, waves of ruby force turning the room into a one crimson hue of doom.  Koketsu closed his eyes, the sensorial onslaught too visceral for him to take, but the sound and vision poured in, regardless, ripping away his hearing and scorching away his ability to see anything other than an endless sea of red.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the empty room once more.  It was far darker than it had been previously; the extinguished lantern told the reason.  Checking the power switch, he confirmed that it was still on, and the batteries had given up the ghost – what an uncomfortable way to think that, he admitted to himself.  However, there was still a soft light coming into the room where it hadn’t earlier, and that caught his attention.

Looking up, he discovered that where the slab had been, was now an open space, out of which the vermilion light poured.  The light was partially obscured by dark clouds that flittered across the ocean of red, black mists that partially blocked this new doorway.

Koketsu looked at the gateway to hell, now understanding that this wasn’t just a rumor, some simple fairy tale to scare children at night.  This was truth, and the cold, hard fact was now staring him in the face.  Or rather the lack of a cold hard fact, as the barricade – the demon wall-relief slab – was now nowhere to be found.

The delayed reaction of terror, having taken so long to anchor in Koketsu’s body, erupted into being.   He began to scramble backwards, eyes darting to and fro, questing for the door and the way out of here.  Something had happened to Hikari, but no matter what, he had to tell the priest.  If Hikari was out there and safe, great; if not, he needed help to get her out of the predicament he’d now placed her in.  His mind now being taken over by the gripping malaise of dread, he turned and moved to his feet, determined to see how fast his feet could carry him out of here.

“Wait.  Don’t go.”

At those words, he halted.  That voice was hauntingly familiar, as if he’d heard it in a dream – or just hours before, in his head.

The voice sensed that somehow and said, “Please, won’t you stay?  It will make my job easier, and we don’t have to go through the unpleasantness of my job.  I’d prefer that, wouldn’t you?”  The whole situation was odd, to say the least: here he was, at the gateway to hell, and someone was calmly asking him to stay.  Yet, just because the siren’s voice was dulcet, there was no way to prove the rest of the situation was.

And yet, something inside Koketsu forced him to turn around.

The first thing he saw, silhouetted not only by the gateway, but also by the pair of oni-bi that seemed to ask as escorts, was a flight of butterflies, with black and coral pink on their wings.  The flitted in mid-air, encircling him like the aircraft that fly around Fujiyama, or buzzards hovering over their next meal.  Just from looking, he could count at least twelve butterflies, and they might have even looked like a comforting site if it weren’t for the legend of their post-earthly origins.  Eventually, though, they left their position above him and headed for the original position where they came into this world, upon the shoulders of a new figure.

That figure walked through the gate, as though stepping free of a vertical pool of water.  Like a shadow she came through, a darkly featureless being that could only be discerned by the sickly pale half-light pouring out of what might have been eyes.  Though there were not a clear image of what that she might look like, the fact that she appeared to be no more so far than a moving shade caught Koketsu’s heart in a grip of blackest terror and would not let go.

Strangely enough, though, there was also something ironically comforting in all of this.  Though the majority of Koketsu’s being was caught up in the clutches of despair, there was a part of him, a small shard that found her inky black figure beautiful, the oddly warm gray light of her glowing eyes, and even the ever-dulcet tones of her voice as she reached out towards him and said, “Hello, Koketsu-kun.”

His answer was profound: “Aaa, do you mean me?”

She giggled softly and daintily, raising her hand to cover her mouth in a gesture of refinement.  “Of course, I meant you.  I wasn’t talking to Pierre, you know,” she responded, gesturing to the largest of the butterflies sitting on her shoulder.  “Besides, you know I meant you.  I called to you earlier tonight, when you were still outside of the temple, remember?”

His eyes widened in shock.  So it wasn’t a dream!  On one hand, that was a relief, as it meant that he hadn’t been imaging things; but this also meant that he was now in the classic “out of the frying pan, into the fire” scenario.  “Who – what – are you?” the young man asked, having a sinking feeling and a rising comfort at once, if such a paradox was possible to explain.  “W-what are you going to do to me?”

“Well,” she answered in a thoughtful voice, “my name is Hikage, I’m a hisa-me, and as for what I’m going to do with you….”  The rest of Hikage’s words were faded out as she mumbled the remainder.

At her introduction, Koketsu’s comfort sank even further.  She said her name was Hikage – “shadow” – and that she was a hisa-me, a demon of the netherworlds that was better known by the name Westerners used for their mythological equivalents: succubi.  “What was that?”

“Aaaaa, idontknow,” she mumbled again, slightly clearer but still fairly unintelligible.

“Can you say that again?” he pressed, feeling oddly annoyed with a being from hell, strong enough to probably really, really ruin his day.

“I said, I don’t know!”  Hikage’s voice, despite her frustration, sounded more like an annoyed schoolgirl than a succubus.  “Okay, so I haven’t read the manual yet!  I admit it, I’m a screw-up, are you happy?”  Taking a rather ominous step towards him, the featureless creature looked ready to kill, the silvery light in her eyes brightening with malicious intent.  And she seemed to him every bit to live up to what she claimed to be, right up until the point where she tripped and performed a perfect face plant, with the butterflies taking to the air only a split-second before she impacted.

The shock of Hikage’s accident cleared Koketsu’s mind enough to take a few steps back, wondering how many more seconds he would live before she dealt with him in any manner that would end with his untimely demise. So it came to a complete surprise when the creature sorrowfully moaned, “Oh, it’s just no use,” and sat up, her eyes taking on a sad glow.  “I just can’t do this….”  Hikage snapped her fingers, and shimmering sparks of silver and ochre began to envelop the shadow being.  Koketsu was equally surprised when the swirling, dancing riot of colors disappeared a few seconds later, revealing a beautiful young woman around his age.

She turned to look at him, and he couldn’t help but gaze, enraptured by her beauty.  A delicate exquisiteness, she had short black hair that reminded him of the jet black of a raven’s wing.  In her incredibly cute face were two innocent violet eyes that showed no sign of being the hellish furnaces that they’d been before.  She wore a dark gray kimono that was decorated with black butterflies and the same crimson trim that her pets had, but even that couldn’t hide the fact that she had a trim, cute figure.  She gazed at Koketsu and whispered, “Go.”  She turn turned away from him, and started to sob.

Strangely enough, despite the fact that this was a beast from hell trying to drag him along with her, Koketsu found himself not wanting to leave.  “What’s wrong?”

She looked up at him as though he’d just spoken in tongues.  Her gaze completely confused, she said, “Go, I said!  I…won’t take you down to the underworld with me.  I’m giving up, you win, whatever you want to call it.  Just go.  You don’t want to be around a failure like me, anyway.”  Sobbing, she turned away and began crying in earnest, her peals of sadness sounding, oddly enough, more beautiful than any sound that he’d heard in quite a while.  Was she working her magic on him?  Was this enchantment that he was feeling due to her talents?

He wasn’t sure.  And maybe that in itself, was a clue as to how powerful one of her kind was.

Hikage was suffering the worst humiliation of her life.  She was being rebuffed by a mortal!  Tears rolled down her cheeks, and all she wanted to do was to crawl away, back through the dark gateway back to her home.  But if she did that, her humiliation would be complete.  Every creature of the nether realms, from the mononoke to the jikitori, would laugh at her stupidity and hubris, her daring to think that she could do her job, and the crash and burn that she would suffer instead.  And they would be right.

After all, wasn’t it her older sister Kumori that told her she wasn’t ready for an adult’s task?  After all, Hikage was just a little over 6000 years old, not even an adult yet, so where did she get the idea that she was ready to take on something as challenging and complex as a seduction capture?  She didn’t have the slightest concept of what that meant, Kumori pointed out.  Nevertheless, Hikage knew that she was cute and that counted for a lot.  She was absolutely sure she could do a seduction capture, no doubts at all.  So what if she missed a couple of classes at school that taught techniques and she skipped the day where they tried it out in lab?  She was a smart girl.  It shouldn’t be any problem, no problem at all, if it involved a mortal.

Wrong.

It turned out that was harder than it seemed.   She took one look at that textbook Kumori had provided her with – Kami Satra, or Kama Zutura, or something like that – and was…embarrassed by what she saw.  She was supposed to do what?  He was supposed to put what, WHERE?!?!?!?!  The book was too, too – well, Hikage wasn’t sure how to describe it, but whatever it was, it was something she didn’t want to think about.  So, she thought that simply being nice was going to make that nice mortal guy – and he was cute, even though she would never let him do…whatever it was the book said she should let him do – but it didn’t work.  He wasn’t going to give her his soul, no matter how nice she was.  She could see that she’d wasted both her time and his, and unlike some others she knew, she didn’t have the cruel streak that some of her kind did, that callous rapine nature to forcibly take his soul.

Without his soul to claim as hers, she was a failure, total and complete.  And all she could do was cry about her mistake.  She didn’t deserve to be a hisa-me.  She may as well have been one of those useless bell-ringing ghosts that haunted abandoned temples or something.  She had no value to anyone or anything, it seemed.

So it came to her as a total surprise that she was being handed a tissue by the mortal in question.  “Here,” he said, giving her a small smile.  “I hate to see girls cry.”

She took it, gratefully.  Wiping her eyes, she felt slightly better.  “Thank you.  You’re a very kind man to be nice to someone like me.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said, feeling a bit uncomfortable by her praise.  “So, if you don’t mind me asking, why were you crying?”

She looked at him, her eyes red from tears.  “I don’t know if I can explain it properly.  You see, I’m not very good at what I do, and you’re my first assignment.”

Koketsu whistled in surprise.  “I’m your first?  I thought hisa-me were…well, made for this sort of stuff, y’know?”  As he spoke the words, two things came to mind: one, why the hell was he still here, talking to this girl who a second ago was going to drag him down to eternal damnation?  Secondly, she was cute.  Very cute.  Maybe not as attractive as Hikari, maybe more.  Unbidden, the strangest thing popped into his mind, a fragment from an old movie that he and Hikari had seen a month or two ago: the bee, drawn to the perfect flower.

“No, not really.  We have to go to school for that sort of thing.  We learn that part of the job just before we graduate from middle school.  Normally, we have a lot of other things we have to learn before then.”  Without warning, he broke into laughter, an oddly joyful sound that seemed to warm her otherworldly heart. However, why had he laughed?  She didn’t say anything particularly amusing…

Somehow, he caught onto that and clarified.  “I have to admit, I never thought I’d hear a demoness say that.  You guys have to go to school to learn how to…?”

She blushed furiously, and it seemed to make her all the more attractive for it.  “Um, well, yeah.  But to be honest, I sorta skipped out on class the day they were teaching…well, you know.”  She buried her face in her hands, a massive blush enveloping her.  “To be honest,” she admitted, “I don’t like the idea, once I got the chance to really read up about it.”

“Is that normal?  I mean, you are a hisa-me, right?” Koketsu asked.  “Isn’t your life supposed to revolve around that sort of thing?”

“I guess.  I don’t know.  I’m only 6342 years old – not old enough, or so some people think.  But I told them I could do it, and if I didn’t, I’d be the laughing stock of the netherworld.”  She gazed at him with sad eyes, as she breathed the words that he somehow knew she would say: “And it looks like they were right.”

“I don’t understand,” he admitted.

When he said that, the gloomy look on her face seemed as though her heart would break; a part of him thought that his might as well, to see the pain that she was going through at the moment.  She sat there, silent for a couple of minutes, watching as her butterfly familiars left her shoulder and began to perform aerobatics in the air, trying to cheer their mistress up.  Finally, after torturous minutes, she whispered, “I’m a failure.  In a little while, I’m going to have to go back home through the hellgate, and tell my family the truth: that I couldn’t take your soul.”  She gave him a sort of soft, cute smile and added, “Besides, you’ve been nice to me when I don’t deserve it.  I couldn’t take your soul now.  It feels…too bright for me to take.  It wouldn’t be proper.”

“Bright?” he asked, unsure of what that meant.

“Yes, bright,” she replied. 

Bidding one of her butterfly familiars to land on top of his head, Koketsu began to glow with a faint white light, almost the same color as her eyes had been when he’d seen her initially.  The shimmering light seemed to come from within, and to be honest, it was rather disorienting for him to be looking at her through the aura, as though he was staring through a veil of lapping milk.  A second later, she recalled the butterfly to her side and the glimmer disappeared.

“Ano…” she said, the question present on her lips, “there’s something really odd about your soul.  Do you have an ancestor of supernatural power or something?”  Without waiting for an answer, she snapped her fingers and before her appeared a rather large, dusty, ancient scroll.  There was writing on the outer sheath, and from what he could tell, it bore the odd inscription, HIKAGE’S LAPTOP.

While he was looking at the writing, she’d unscrolled the parchment a bit, turned it on its side then began to move her fingers across one portion.  It seemed rather odd until the sounds of keys being tapped flitted back to the boy.  Paying no attention to him, Hikage continued to look at another part of the scroll, the “screen” feeding her information.

Or rather, not.  “Weird.”  Rolling up her laptop scroll, she banished it to wherever it came from and announced, “Y’know, Koketsu, I think I made a mistake.  A big one, too.”

“How?” he asked.  He was beginning to feel a bit dense for what she was talking about.  Granted, he shouldn’t have any cause or reason to have an idea of what she meant, but the whole situation felt like the one time a nuclear physicist was lecturing at school.  That event had left him completely bewildered and with a headache, despite the scientist’s attempts to simplify his lectures; somehow, he had the feeling this was going to end up the same way.

“According to my readings, you’re – and I wouldn’t believe it if the computer hadn’t confirmed it – way…aaa, that is, your soul is too…bright.  Too pure, I guess you could say.”

“Me?  Too pure?”  He took that comment with a jaundiced eye.  Admittedly, he wasn’t a furyoshonen or anything like that, and if he’d even thought of it Hikari would likely straighten him out in an instant; but he didn’t see himself likely to become the next Buddha, either.  He imagined it was something like getting into a good school after taking the test – anyone who told you might be telling the truth, but it wasn’t really believable until you laid your eyes on the results.

“Wrong analogy, gomen.  A better way to explain would be…how would I say it…ah, I’ve got it!”  There was a cheerful sparkle in her eyes for a second that reminded him of Hikari, somehow.  “The hisa-me find their assignments by searching for the reiki of a person, the soul of everybody who lives.  Once a person’s soul gets to a certain…level, I guess you could say, that person is marked for acquisition.  But your soul seems to have, aaa, ‘flared’ as of recent.  It’s a little stronger than it should be – no, I take that back, it’s a lot stronger than the information I had at the beginning.”

“So, let me see if I understand what you’re saying: this whole business is like looking for a particular battery, like an R6, or something, only to find an R20, right?”

“No, it’s more like searching for an R6, and finding out that it’s a car battery, instead.”  There was an odd look on her face, one akin to respect, maybe?  “That’s why I can’t take you.  You’re too bright for what I can handle.  But, that also means that because you’re my assignment, by our, aaa, ‘hunting’ rules, no one is allowed to take you except for me.  And it could be years before I get strong enough to be able to take you.”

“So, basically, you can’t touch me?” Koketsu asked once more, nonplussed.  This was really, really odd, but he was correct in one thing: that confusion-born headache was certainly kicking in.

Hikage could only nod sheepishly, her cheeks burning red from what was probably shame, embarrassment, and loss of wa.

Somehow, this much Koketsu understood.  Her nature aside, she was a nice enough girl, and to grasp more than you could handle was a common human failing – and apparently, not exclusively a human one, either.  Besides, he couldn’t stand to see a girl cry.  Guess I should try to cheer her up a little.  Standing up a bit to stretch, he helped her to her feet afterwards and said, “Look, Hikage-o-hisa-me….”

“Just Hikage,” she corrected.  “After this, I’ll never earn the proper title of hisa-me.  I’ll probably end up as a nodera-bo, assigned to some lonely abandoned temple in the north.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, Hikage, if all hisa-me were as nice as you are, I wouldn’t mind giving you my soul, if you could handle it, of course.  You might not be a traditional member of your clan, but you do have, aaa, spirit? – yeah, that’s the best word to describe it.  You’ve got your heart in the right place, and you’re doing your best, and that’s what counts in the end.”

Her cheeks flushed once more.  “You do me more honor than I deserve, Koketsu-kun.  You know, it’s a shame I wasn’t born a mortal – it would be nice to have a friend like you.”  A spirit of a different sort moved within her, and leaning up on her tiptoes, she planted a soft, chaste kiss on his cheek.  “Well, I’d better get going.  The sooner I confess to everyone, the sooner I’ll get it over and done.”

He nodded in agreement, slightly reluctant to see her go.  At first part of him felt that she might have woven a spell over him regardless; either that, or he was feeling those typical male urges that could be rather embarrassing in a time like this, despite what Hikage’s “profession” was.  He did find her attractive, but also he found her quite friendly, and he found himself admitting that what she said was true, that it would be nice to have a friend like her.  Assuming, of course, that Hikari would understand that Hikage was just a friend: admittedly, his would-be girlfriend did tend to have a slight jealous streak at times.

It was a shame that he couldn’t hear her thoughts as she could his; he would have found them very, very interesting.  Why is he being so nice to me?  Not only was I going to take his soul, but I’ve proven myself to be a screw-up right in front of him!  But he’s still being nice to me, what did I do to deserve that?  All she could do was gaze at the boy who she had once been her potential victim, a boy she was letting go even though she knew that she would suffer for it.  And yet, it felt so right.  And yet, it felt so wrong.  She didn’t want to let him go, though she wasn’t sure why.

The two stayed like this for quite some time, just looking at one another, unsure of what to say.  Both would have stayed like this for an extended period of time if the sound not entirely unlike onrushing air seemed to pass right by them.  Coming to a normal presence of mind, Hikage noticed that her butterflies were now moving in circular patterns around the pair, acting as sentries of sorts.  But they wouldn’t have had to do that unless….

The sound of rushing air came through again, and at once Hikage knew that her familiars had been correct to assume a battle formation.  “Uh-oh…” she moaned involuntarily.  She turned and looked at the gate.

The still open gate.

The breeze that was blowing in from the gate was in fact the mostly shielded gales of hell, far stronger on the other side, but reduced to a pittance on this end.  But that was immaterial; though the mystic winds couldn’t get through the breached barrier, other demons could.  And even she had to admit, not all of them were as good-natured as she was.

“Uh-oh?” Koketsu inquired.  In the second had occurred, he watched as Hikage’s mood changed from very adorable and cuddly to very worried and concerned.  She’d also turned away from him and was looking at the gate.  That doesn’t exactly make me feel real comfortable, he mused.

Unaware that she was being watched, she focused her attention on the barrier, and the sounds that she could hear coming from the other side.  Taking the time to remember which gate this was, a bad feeling passed over her as she realized the gatekeeper, the demon usually ensorcelled by mortal exorcists to keep the gates sealed, wasn’t present.  “Koketsu-kun,” she said, forcing and not entirely succeeding in keeping her voice calm, “What happened to the gate that used to be here?”

“Gate?”

She nodded.  “Something blocking the pathway, a door of some type?”

“Oh that?  Well, aaa…I don’t know,” he answered, beginning to feel uncomfortable about her actions.  “There was a red orb embedded in the stone, you see, and well, it happened to fast, and for a second, it looked like the statue was looking at me, and…why do you want to know?”

Red orb?  A soultaker stone?  I don’t like the sound of that….  “Koketsu-kun, did the statue have horns or anything like that?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah, it did.  It also had samurai armor, too.”

Kusottare!  Hikage turned around and there was no hiding the nervousness she felt as she said, “Koketsu-kun, you have to get out of here now.  You have to get out of here before he gets here!”

“Ah, Hikage, who’s ‘he’?”

“Something that you, as a mortal, can’t fight.  I’m not strong to deal with him,” she commented, “but I’ll buy you the time to get out of here.  You know the way you came in, go!  Please!”  She brought her hands in front of her and between them a glowing, rippling sphere of soft crimson energies coalesced and came into being.

OH, HOW CUTE.  LOOK WHAT I’VE FOUND.  The rumbling of steps came from behind them and the pair turned around, both feeling a little queasy.  For Koketsu, the voice was the culmination of a thousand nightmares, the deep death knell of something that told him that he was on the edge of the end of his life.  For Hikage, the voice was unpleasantly familiar, and something that she didn’t want to deal with under normal circumstances; certainly not now.

Under her breath, she spoke a single name, spitting the name out like the foul curse that it was.  “Great.  A kisei-denma.  Probably Komibo, with my luck….”  She turned to look in the direction of the oncoming figure, and sure enough from the outline, she was likely right.

“K-Komibo?” Koketsu asked, not familiar with the name – and not entirely sure that he should be, considering the circumstances.

“It’s not his real name,” Hikage explained, waiting for the newcomer to come closer.  “Actually no one knows what his real name is.  What is known is that others call him ‘Komibo’ – ‘Little Amatsu Mikaboshi’ because he thinks he’s such a badass.  In reality, he’s just a typical kisei-denma.”  That was an understatement, she admitted to herself; the kisei-denma were nothing to trifle with.

On cue, the demon arrived, and it turned out to be the mirror image of the one that had been guarding the gate at the beginning.  Looking all too real, now, he stood at its full height, his black lacquered samurai’s armor being a perfect complement for reddish skin and snow-white hair.  Staring at Koketsu with eyes of pure hatred, the creature gave a demonic grin once more, that rictus now even more dangerous.  Nestled underneath a black helmet, two burning embers of cold yellow burned, dying lights that seemed to foretell Koketsu’s fate.  Without speaking, Komibo addressed the boy in a scornful, derisive tone: LITTLE BOY, YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO YOUR ELDERS WHEN THEY SAID NEVER TO COME HERE.  AND NOW YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR FOLLY WITH YOUR LIFE!

Koketsu looked up into the hellborn face of Komibo, watching sections of his life fast forward in front of him.  “Aaaa, couldn’t we just, aaaaa, play shogi or something?  My doctor said I’m not supposed to do anything physical right now, especially the sort of thing that would get me killed!”

At his side, less frightened, but no less aware of the danger, Hikage retorted, “I guess I should point out that that’s not going to help you right now.  He’s a demon of death – once one sees you, they won’t stop until they kill you.  He usually doesn’t kill any of the yomijin, but every once in a while he does.  And he always kills mortals.”

“So you mean he’s going to try to kill you, too?” Koketsu squeaked.

She gave him a helpless look.  “Well, yeah.  It makes it easier for the hunting laws to be changed if the original hunter, shall we say, no longer exists to contest any violations.”

“And you’re okay with this?”

“Are you kidding?  Of course not, baka!  RUN!!!!!” 

In front of them, a towering, imposing and lethal-looking Komibo took the blood-red orb that he had earlier, placing it in-between his palms.  Like a blob from a science fiction movie, the sphere began to stretch and elongate; changing shape and dimensions, becoming more metallic.  Within seconds, the crystal had transfigured into a massive sword, the edge of the demonic tachi glistening with a dangerous sheen.

“You could have told me this earlier!” Koketsu yelped, unsure of what to do in the situation.  He’d been in a couple of fights in his time, but that was just with the occasional school bully, not a bloodthirsty creature from hell wielding a four-and-a-half meter sword.

“What did you think ‘You have to get out of here before he gets here’ means?  It wasn’t an invitation to stick around and redecorate the room, you know!” she shouted.  “It’s too late to run.  Now we’re going to have to beat him if we want to survive!”  Before she could explain, though, she shouted, “LOOK OUT!!!!”

DIE, PUNY INSECTS!!!!!  Raising his sword over his head, Komibo brought it down with an air-splitting crash, the blade slicing through the wooden floor, turning it into so much splinters and aged lacquer flakes.  Laughing all the while with a dark chortle, the kisei-denma raised his blade once more, sideswiping it, cutting through one of the temple’s support poles in the process.  While the rest of the column toppled, the ceiling sagged, spewing centuries of dust on both Koketsu and Hikage.

Having been targets twice already, and now sure that they’d both been targeted for death by Komibo, the young man didn’t waste time at all: he grabbed Hikage’s hand and began running as fast as possible.  However in doing so, the action inadvertently loosed her spell, the spirit ball careening wildly out of control and crashing into one of the temple’s treasures. At one time it had been a slab of rock that had sat by the wall, carved with ancient writing on it; the minute the blast smashed into it, all that was left of the stone tablet were thousands of microscopic shards.  Hikage only had enough time to say, “Ooops,” as the pair of them raced around the corner, with Komibo shortly following behind.

As they ran, Koketsu snarled back, “So explain: what did you mean we have to beat him?!?!”

“It’s like I said,” she gasped.  “He’s a death demon, and he’ll hunt you for the rest of your life, if you don’t beat him!  The fact that I had claim on your soul first is irrelevant to his sort, and now he thinks I’m just omake for his trouble!”

“But I’m your assignment, right?  Why is he hunting both of us?”

“Weren’t you listening?  He’s probably hunting you because of your bright soul.  He’s hunting me because I’m hunting you – how does the old saying go?  ‘Issekinicho’?  The only way we’re going to be able to stop him is to either destroy him, or to force him back into the gate and seal it!”

“Eto, I think he was the seal, originally,” Koketsu confessed.

“Then we’re going to have to beat him together and find a way to seal the gate otherwise.  We have to,” she pointed out while they continued to barrel their way through the cavernous temple, which had somehow managed to become far, far more immense than he had remembered it being at the outset of this nightmarish misadventure.  “It’s our only chance!”

“Okay, you’ve got magic and those familiars of yours.  How am I going to beat him?”

Her lips pursed in a rather cute pout of thought.  “I don’t know,” she conceded, “but we’ll think of something.  If I’m not going to take your soul, then it shouldn’t be fair to allow him to do so.  We’ll get past this, I promise you.”

“Easy for you to say; you’re used to this!”

She turned and looked behind her, and sure enough, the monster was chasing them down, his lumbering body looking almost comical if it wasn’t for the gravity of the situation.

Hikage turned back to Koketsu, giving him a half-puzzled, half-annoyed look.  “What in Jigoku makes you think I’m used to this?!”

The action between the trio continued for quite some time, the three canvassing the oversized dimension of the temple in their battle for survival.  During the conflict, Hikage determined that the expanded size of the temple was due to some sort of magic failsafe, a secondary prison meant to keep escaping demons bottled in until an exorcist could come to dispose of the problem.  Unfortunately for them, “bottled in” also meant that no one was getting out until the exorcist arrived on scene.  And to be honest, there was no way to tell if one knew about what was going on, much less coming to the rescue.  And so the steeplechase continued, with no visible end in sight…

…until they ran into a dead end room, near the third floor of the temple (which was unusual, since by all indications on the exterior, the temple had been a one-floor building).   Although the room had two doors at one time, one of them had been nailed shut and spell-warded for some reason that neither of them knew.  Apparently now used as storage, the span of the room was filled with relics and artifacts of an age long gone by, stuffed nearly to the rafters with armor, swords, and other items that one would usually not correlate with a house of worship.  But right now, it was the best place to hide until they could think of something.  Diving behind the largest pile that they could find, the two tried to shrink into the dark corners as much as possible, alternately gasping for air and desperately trying to stay quiet to avoid detection by the juggernaut that was Komibo.

“How…much longer…is that guy…going to follow…us?” Koketsu managed to sputter between gasps.  After running for his and Hikage’s life for what felt like hours, he was flagging in his strength and resolve, every part in him hurting.  And, it seemed, the worst pain was that somehow he knew that the creature called Komibo was merely playing with them, as a cat would with its prey only to end the sport when it found the game no longer interesting.

Is that all I am to these people?  Just a game, a mere sport? he wondered, the very concept disturbing him to the core.  Then it occurred to him: if it was just a game, why was Hikage still here?   Couldn’t she have just washed her hands of the whole thing?  She could have left long before the kisei-denma had gotten here.  She didn’t have to put herself in harm’s way, so what was she still doing here?

Unaware of his thoughts, even though they both knew she could read them, she gasped, “He’s going to…follow you until…he catches you.  The kisei…denma are like what you…would call…bullies.”  She gulped down a breath of fresh air before finishing with, “You have to beat them at their own game to get them to quit it.  The kisei-denma tend to be bossy in my plane of jigoku a lot, at least until someone cuts one down to size.”  She sighed.  “But they’re so dense, half the time they think they’re the only demons around, and we hisa-me just mortals like you.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”  What does this have to do with any of this? he wondered.

“Hisa-me are what we are, because we’re part mortal, too.  I’m sure you’ve heard the kaidan about festival demons and all that.  Well, it’s true.  My great-grandmother was a mortal, one of the first to be taken down to the underworld.  So to a degree, I’m as mortal as you are, capable of friendship, happiness, sadness, love, and all that comes with.  But nevermind me, I’m just rambling.”

Koketsu nodded in understanding.  Some people dealt with fear in different ways, why should demons be any different?  Of course, had he been asked this question earlier in the day, he would have laughed at the very reality of demons, instead of wishing that he wasn’t being claimed by one and both of them pursued by another.

“Maybe if Kumori or some others from my clan were around, we’d stand a better chance of beating Komibo.  But they’re not around, so I guess we’re not likely to get any help.  I’d probably die of embarrassment if my sister had to save me, anyway.”  Looking around, she didn’t see her butterflies, and a wistful look crossed her face.  “I hope Pierre and the gang are safe.  They’re more than just pets, they’re my friends, too.”

“But aren’t they just butterflies?  Just pets?”

“No, they’re a lot smarter than that.”  For a brief second, there was a smile and a note of pride on her face.  “Pierre and his group were given to me by my mother, and they’ve been with me since I was a child.  They’re not as strong as my mother’s or my sister’s familiars, but I think I got the smartest of the three groups.”

“Shhhh, here he comes!”

Plodding along as though he was on a merry jaunt, the demon Komibo didn’t even bother to hide his presence.  He knew that he would certainly kill his opponents; he may as well have them cower in fear, first, as fresh souls tasted so much better that way.  Even better, it appeared that the girl was a magic user – there weren’t many of them left on the mortal plane anymore, and to take her soul would only add to his power and prestige. 

For a slight minute, Komibo thought that she might be one of those silly little women that thought themselves demons…what was their name?  Hisa…hisa-me, that was it – but laughed off that thought when he found out how weak and useless she was.  A real hisa-me would have stood her ground to defend her quarry, not acting like some simpering mortal girl.  She might wield magic, but in comparison to a hisa-me, this girl was nothing, less than nothing even.

In any case, both of them, with the boy’s unusually potent soul and the girl’s magic skills, would be his, a worthy endeavor of this hunt and one that would make him very powerful amongst his clan.  Maybe then they wouldn’t even call him by that silly name “Komibo”, and his true, fearsome name would shake all beings to their core.

All the nine hells would tremble at the name “Panjii”.

COME OUT, CHILDREN, OR I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATHS AS PAINFUL AS POSSIBLE!!!  COME TO THINK OF IT, Komibo’s voice boomed, I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATHS PAINFUL ANYWAYS, SO JUST KEEP HIDING, I’LL GET TO YOU SOON ENOUGH!  The last, he punctuated with a booming, dark laugh that made the very walls themselves seem to shiver with fear.

A torturous second later, Komibo stepped into the room, his murderous tachi held at the ready and with the intent of spitting two on its lengthy blade, to take two lives and take the souls of the damned victims as his own.

For Hikage, that wasn’t something that she could live with.  In the albeit short time she’d spent with Koketsu, there was something special about him, something that she couldn’t put her finger on, nor could she chalk up to the fact that he had a bright soul.  By all indications, yes, he was an average mortal, with nothing that no other of his kind couldn’t offer her had she chosen one of them vice him.  But that was before she’d seen his potential…and before she’d made a friend.

In truth, the situation was rather new to her.  The fact was, she considered Pierre and his fellow butterfly familiars her friends, because to be honest, she really didn’t have any.  She was the younger sister of the great Kumori, a legend amongst hisa-me.  And what was Hikage?  A girl who couldn’t even get her classes right in school.  Kumori was celebrated, idolized, a legend amongst her kind; Hikage had no other choice but to live in her sister’s shadow – an irony, considering that both of their names meant that.  But being a shadow also meant that she wasn’t noticed, and so that was a truth: in a society where friends were rare and rivalries common, she had neither.

At least, not until Koketsu.  He’d been so kind to her, when in reality most people would likely have run in terror from a demon or would have wanted to do what that book said when they found out she was a hisa-me.  But he did neither.  Was it because she didn’t want to?  Or because he didn’t want to?  It didn’t seem so important now in the grand scheme, for it appeared somewhere along the line that her worldview changed.  She had something that was different than her friendship with her familiars.  She had someone who could be a friend, a peer of sorts – if she discounted the fact that he was a mortal – and she felt that she liked the feeling very much.

Of course, there were a few details that she hadn’t told him.  One, she had hunting rights on him, which meant that she was supposed to capture his soul, or cut him loose.  Then there was the fact that he was more powerful a soul than she was ready for – this was something that was in Kumori’s ballpark, not hers.  Finally, she could get in trouble for just neglecting an assignment.  If her family found out, she would be in trouble – very big trouble, the kind that might just be worse than having a kisei-denma on her tail.  Was she willing to risk all of that over some mortal?

No, not a mortal, not just a mortal.  A friend, maybe her only friend, if he would have her as one.  If he would, then she would take that risk.  Besides, she’d already decided that she couldn’t take his soul – no one had a right to a soul as bright as his was.  And if she couldn’t take it, Komibo had no right to it either, nor for that matter, hers.

But even a decision like that opened up new problems.  Koketsu was, despite his bright soul, a mortal.  Only one of demon birth, or the rare trained mortal, could defeat someone of a kisei-denma’s stature.  Koketsu, barring some unforeseen discovery, fit into neither of those profiles.  Only one person stood even a remote chance of saving them, and that someone was Hikage.  And as Komibo stomped into the room, she realized there was no more time to think about it.

Hikage, the would-be hisa-me that had once decided to take the soul of the young man named Koketsu, would now fight to save it, even if it meant her death.  She would fight to help a friend, even if she didn’t know if he counted her as one.  Rushing out to meet her foe, she called up a spell of magic in her hands and snarled in as forceful a voice as she could muster, “You can’t have him!”

Racing from her hiding spot, she bolted for the far end of the room and towards the blocked door.  It was a ruse, and a stupid one at that, but it was one that she hoped the kisei-denma was too dense to see through.  One good thing about the death-demons was that for the most part, they were all talk and action, with nothing in the way of substance.  Hikage had seen Kumori defeat one by outsmarting him; even though she knew her limits, she also was aware of theirs.

One of these hulking brutes shouldn’t be too hard to beat.  If I can get him to bump into the wards, that should be enough to drop him.  I hope.

Komibo laughed at the mortal’s pitiful attempt at misdirection.  Did she think him so dense as to not see the wards?  How could one not see them?  They were obvious in their power, a glowing neon sign warning spirits away.  LITTLE GIRL, YOUR ATTEMPT TO TRICK ME WILL ONLY END IN FOLLY, Komibo said before going into a derisive, booming laugh.  SOON I WILL KILL YOU, THEN THE OTHER WILL JOIN YOU IN THE PAINFUL PLEASURES OF THE DEATH I BRING TO YOU.

Her answer to that was a desperate ball of magic at him, which missed by a wide margin, the missile blowing through a sidewall, leaving a smoking hole and charred wood in its wake. 

In turn, Komibo thrust his tachi towards her.  The blade exploded into a snarl of serrated bands, all stretching for her like a pack of voracious wolves.  Tired as she was, there was no way Hikage could avoid the assault.  The sawtoothed tentacles slammed into her with enough force to send her flying into the wall with a painful-sounding crunch, even as they worked their way around her.  Sadly, she crashed into the wards, and the jolt of mystic energy tore into her, making her scream with sudden shock and pain, dropping her defenses and allowing the cords to bind her further.  Within seconds, she was firmly caught in the iron grasp of the ribbons, her clothes and skin being shredded off her body as rivers of red began to make their way down her sides.  Screaming in agony, the pain was too unbearable, nothing that she’d ever felt before in her existence.

Hikage looked at her opponent, gleefully laughing at her as he began to pull her towards him.  Despite her frantic efforts, she was still being dragged to Komibo’s side and the bands continued to tighten as she struggled, carving that much more skin away, biting more into her flesh.  Her body growing weak from blood loss and pain, her mind barely able to get above the red haze of miasma that she suffered, she knew that her life was soon to end.  She had failed in her first assignment, and not only had she lost her honor and potential title, but now she would lose her life as well.

I only wish that I could have died successful, she mused, and that….  A tear, likely the last one she would ever shed, was the sole punctuation and ending to a sentence that, in its incompleteness, seemed to perfectly echo the unfulfilled promise and the eminent failure of her existence.  I guess I’ll never know if a demon can have a mortal for a friend.

Sayonara, Koketsu-kun….

No, no, no, no, NO!!!!!!! Koketsu screamed within in the confines of his mind, gnashing his teeth in order to prevent himself from making that loud thought into loud words.  What is she doing?  Why, Hikage, Why?

Because she’s trying to protect you, another part of his conscience answered in challenge.  Because she believes that you’re something that you may not be.  And if a demon can change her mind and protect you against her own kind, what exactly are you that can cause that to happen?

But it’s not like I owe her anything, right? he reasoned.  After all, it wasn’t that long ago that she was the one hunting me.  But even then she knew what the answer would be as his conscious responded with, It was also just now that she began risking her life to protect you.  What does that tell you?  

Koketsu heard Hikage’s scream and ventured a peek over the crate at what was happening.  What he saw chilled his heart to the marrow.  Hikage was being dragged, struggling yet inevitably failing, towards the massive kisei-denma.  He’d apparently turned his orb-sword into some sort of odd cat-o’-nine-tails, and was using it to snare the hisa-me.  He also got a look at Hikage, and discovered that the lashes of the whip had razor edges, those bladelets boring off her clothing and slicing jagged slashes across her skin.

From what remained of her clothing, he could also determine that Hikage, and likely others of her particular calling, were more than capable of performing the jobs demanded by the role of a hisa-me.  Very capable indeed.  So much of her kimono had been torn off, it was more a case of what it didn’t cover than what it did, and what it no longer covered very much indicated that Hikage was a beautiful young woman in every physical aspect of the word.  Feeling a stirring that he usually associated with certain magazines, he tamped it down; this was not the time to think hentai.

And in any case, that pretty young woman would likely be an unpretty lifeless corpse if he didn’t think of something, and soon.  But what could he do?  The creature they were fighting was a relentless juggernaut of a monster, giving no quarter and taking no rest until it completed its quest to slake its thirst on their souls.  It didn’t matter that Koketsu was branded as “special” by Hikage, or that the girl herself was a fellow demon; the beast she’d called Komibo wanted them both very much dead on the most base, primal, and elemental level there was.  And it looked like if Koketsu didn’t do something, that would happen to the young demoness.  But how was he supposed to rescue her, much less defeat a creature such as this?

What do I do now?  This isn’t the movies, where some sort of deus ex machina appears, a mystical sword that can save us all.

And that’s when he heard it.  Or rather, he didn’t.

The room had gone deathly silent, everything stilled to nothingness as the whole filled with a blackness so deep that he felt that it would crush him in an instant.  He could see nothing around him, a huge, vast space that appeared from nowhere, or he’d been sent to in less than the blink of an eye – whatever the case, his surroundings had changed, and somehow he'd lost the ability to see or hear anything around him.

A mote of light flickered into being in front of him, shortly followed by a second, then another, and another.  Within a couple of minutes, handfuls of sparkles danced and swirled around, a Lilliputian version of a galaxy.  Immediately after, all of space in its deepest glory erupted around Koketsu, and the boy went agape in trying to comprehend what had just happened to him.  He didn’t know a single thing about astronomy, but he somehow got the distinct feeling that he was very very far from home.

His attention was drawn to the galaxy, as shapes seemed to crawl into being, a brighter set of objects overlaid on top of the swirling cosmic disc at his waistline.  And those bright ephemeral shapes turned into words, the meaning of which was cryptic at best:

AMEFUTTEJIKATAMARU.

THIS IS UNDERSTANDING.

Oddly enough, Koketsu could feel the presence of the words as if someone was standing next to him.  It didn’t feel like the touch of the kami, or anything so poetic or overdramatic; rather, it was like old friend or a comforting person standing aside and ready to help, even if he wasn’t sure exactly what that help meant.

As he continued to scan the words, hoping for some understanding, the stars stretched into lines, becoming a cacophony of light and sound, far too visceral for the young man as the sensoria continued to pummel him.  He dropped to his knees in complete shock, closing his eyes in a desperate attempt to ward away the chaos.

And when he opened them, he found himself right back where he’d been, still staring over the box, watching Hikage in mortal danger and with the brute that would murder her dragging her along as if she were a child’s plaything.  The situation hadn’t changed; there was nothing he could do.

Or so went the conventional wisdom.  The truth of course tended to lean towards a far clearer axiom, “Even the little things can mean a lot.”

Pausing only to grab a broken plank of wood, Koketsu leapt away from his bolt-hole, dashing towards Hikage and shouting, “No, Hikage, don’t give up!  You can’t give up!”

Through the nearly-encompassing fog of pain that enshrouded her mind, heart, and soul, the would-be hisa-me looked towards the direction where she heard her name.  And what she saw filled her heart with both an indescribable joy and a terrifying fear.  “Koketsu-kun!”

One other noticed the young man’s charge as well.  SO THE LITTLE MOUSE HAS RETURNED TO HELP HIS PLAYMATE.  TOO BAD YOU HAVEN’T REALIZED YOU CANNOT ESCAPE FROM ME.  Komibo laughed once more with satisfaction; he was now to get two birds with one stone.  COME, COME LITTLE MOUSE AND PREPARE FOR THE SWEET STING OF THE CAT’S CLAWS.

Forcing himself to ignore the kisei-denma, ran to Hikage’s side.  Sticking the wood between her and the bladed lashes, he desperately tried to pry the cutting lines off her.  Putting all his strength into it, he grunted through clenched teeth, “I’m going to get you out of here, and then we’re going to get away!  Just don’t give up on me; I need you to stand with me here and now!”

“No, run away, far away!” she pleaded, tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked at him.  “Save your life and your soul!  I’m lost – there’s no hope for me,” she sobbed.  “Please go, before it’s too late for you, too.”

“NO!!!” he barked, with enough ferocity that it took both of them aback.  “I’m not going to give up, and neither should you!”

“But I’m worthless!  The only good I can do is to save your soul,” she responded in a tone that indicated that she intended to die.

“That’s not true and you know it!  You have claim over my soul!  Didn’t you say that as a hisa-me, you were supposed to take my soul?  You can have it if we get out of here!  Just don’t give up on me now!”

“But I can’t take it!” she moaned.  “I’m not strong enough!”

“But if you don’t, then he’ll kill both of us!  This is gonna sound crazy, but I trust you farther than I can throw him!”

A tear streamed down Hikage’s cheek again, but there was something different about it.  The tear was somehow brighter, as if it had been not a drop of water, but a glimmer of hope.  “You can’t mean that, can you?”

“Which part of ‘take it!’ did you not understand?” he challenged.

PLAYTIME IS OVER, CHILDREN!!!!! Komibo boomed, as his sword-whip grew another set of nine-tails.  With a slight flick of the wrist, the new lashes raced out like hunters, striking Koketsu and enveloping him in their folds.  The impact was fierce enough to make him cough up blood as he was caught in the binding, lacerating grip of the tails.

“KOKETSU-KUN!” she screamed, “NNOOOOOOO!!!”  Despite her own pain and desire for it to all end, she managed to look at him one last time.  “Did you mean what you said?”  His only response was to offer his hand, which she desperately reached out to grab.  With only a couple of meters separating them from Komibo, she took his hand and whispered the ancient ritual that would declare her ownership of his soul.  Technically, they should have immediately consummated the pact, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and even if she wanted to (which she didn’t), performing whatever contortionist stunts that were in that book was going to be a bit difficult at the moment.

As they were dragged within striking range, Komibo unsheathed a dagger the length of a normal tachi and snarled,