Samurai Awakening Read online

  ‘Grandpa obviously wanted us to be able to follow him if we needed to. He stayed out of the water. Look, even after a few days, he left us a clearer trail than a herd of elephants would have.’

  ‘And just how do you know what a trail made by a herd of elephants looks like? You’ve never left Japan.’

  ‘But you watch TV.’

  Kou continued along the bank, even he could barely hear the three humans following him. While the spot where Rie usually disappeared was not overly far from the Estate, Kou went slowly to ensure he missed nothing. As they neared the curve in the stream that would mark her departure, the wind suddenly shifted, blowing a coppery smell that was all too easy for the animal part of him to recognize.

  “I smell blood,” Kou said, stopping even as he called to the others.

  The ring of swords leaving their sheaths barely disturbed the darkening sky’s stillness as Kou hurried forward again, followed closely by the three human shadows. Kou paused when he reached the place where Rie usually left the stream to head into the mountains. Circling the area, he studied the tracks and smells, relying on his instincts to interpret his senses.

  “This is where Rie would head towards the mountains, but the blood I smell is fresh and leads away from here. It is on the other side, and farther upstream.” Kou’s voice grew strained as he fought his instinct to hunt down the source of the blood.

  “Follow the blood first,” Masao said, closing in on Kou with Natsuki and Takumi. “We can worry about where Rie’s been going later.”

  ‘Let’s just hope the blood and her disappearances are completely unrelated.’

  ‘Right. Like that is even a possibility.’ Kou continued his search, stopping away from the stream in a patch of tall grass. “Look here. There are some books that smell like Grandpa.”

  “Takumi, grab the books, Kou, lead on.” Masao’s whispered commands barely carried on the wind, yet his urgency was as clear as the mountain stream running by.

  Takumi ran over to Kou, covered closely by Natsuki, who kept her eyes on the forest around them. As soon as Takumi had the spot marked, Kou turned and splashed through the stream to the other side.

  ‘At least the stream isn’t giving us any problems.’

  ‘We have a complicated relationship with rivers and lakes, we depend on them. The sea, however…’ Kou growled and let the thought fade as they reached the other shore.

  Having recovered the books Takumi slid them inside his armor for safekeeping. The three humans quietly became shadows again, trailing swiftly behind Kou. The small tiger paced faster as the smell grew stronger, threatening to overwhelm them. Unfortunately, the breeze was just as strong as his sense of smell. It took them much longer than David had thought it would to find the source of the scent.

  A change in the light alerted them to a clearing just ahead. Kou stopped to listen then trotted out into a small open clearing at the side of the main road. The familiar sounds of Nakano Town carried over the still night air.

  Grandpa lay in a crumpled heap in the center of the clearing, battered and bloody. Kou checked the surrounding trees for any sign of ambush since there was nothing he could do to help the old man. Rushing past, Masao reached Grandpa first, bending down he checked his father.

  With Natsuki and Takumi keeping guard, Kou trotted over to the elder Matsumoto. Grandpa had been tortured. His clothes were ragged and bloody, with numerous gashes along what had once been his proud arms and legs, all of which appeared broken. One stump, hand missing was pressed against his shirt, the whole of which was caked in dried blood.

  “Dad, can you hear me? Dad?” Masao checked for a pulse. With no response, Masao leaned closer hissing something that even Kou’s ears could not pick up.

  “The SHRINE! – Ōkami – Rie!” Grandpa’s eyes fluttered open, gasping for breath his words rattled out in a pained voice. As quickly as he had awoken, Grandpa passed out again. His shallow breathing came in ragged pulls. Masao whirled wildly on Takumi.

  “The books! Quickly!” Masao demanded, grabbing the books from Takumi and turning on a light from his bag. From between the books, Takumi caught a piece of paper as it fell.

  “It’s a map of the mountains, with caves hand-marked,” Takumi whispered, trying to avoid looking at Grandpa.

  “Caves. Of course…” Masao said distantly as he looked up from one of the books. Masao suddenly shook himself back to the present. “Go back to the house. Head for the shrine. You must stop them no matter what. Even… Even if you have to kill everyone there, stop them. I will get word to Yukiko and take care of Grandpa. I would only slow you down now… Go!”

  Masao’s urgency, his total focus on the three despite his father lying at his feet dying brooked no hesitation. Kou, Natsuki, and Takumi, turned and ran.

  “What was the book he found? What’s at the shrine?” David asked. Takumi had to shout, although Kou was not yet running full out, he was still ahead of Takumi and Natsuki and gaining ground.

  “It was the Matsumoto books on ōkami and the lands surrounding the Estate. The pack of ōkami must have Rie!”

  ‘Koji!’ David’s thoughts screamed out in a sudden rage.

  The three runners needed no more prompting, with a burst of speed they ran harder, using every technique they knew to get back to the Estate as fast as possible. As part of his evening training with Grandpa, David had learned about the various forms of evil that he might one day face. The ōkami were a horrible combination of human, animal, and corrupt spirit. Able to appear either attractive or vicious in either their human or animal form, the ōkami were dangerous on their own and murderous in a pack. With the ability to exert a powerful domination over a human caught unaware, the ōkami were extremely good at manipulating their prey. Ōkami fed off the souls of their dominated captives, much as evil obake were known to do. Unlike obake, however, they also fed off their preys’ flesh.

  The part that had Kou, Takumi, and Natsuki using every ounce of speed they had was that Grandpa had told them that packs of ōkami usually were driven by a yūrei. One of the most horrible, powerful, and deadly types of monster, yūrei were the dark shades that haunted the collective memory from ages past, and still manifested in the nightmares of today. Evil so pervasive humans could never quite forget it. Ōkami packs without a yūrei were often driven to create one from their greed and lust for power.

  The yūrei were able to summon oni and control ōkami. In return, the ōkami would become far more powerful, drawing strength from the corrupt Kami within the yūrei. To create their abomination, the ōkami would need a person of strong body, whose will they would have been able to weaken over a long process of dominion. They would also need access to a true Shinto shrine, one where Kami would visit, one like at the Matsumoto Estate.

  In a Clearing among Trees

  July,

  Even though I did not really know Rie very well, David’s memories of her, few though they might be, were more than enough to make my fur stand on end…

  Kou flew through the trees within the Estate like a silent wraith. He kept up his furious pace until he caught movement and slowed as he neared the shrine. His night vision caught Jahangir, the stranger from the police station, standing before the Matsumoto shrine wearing a dark cloak with hood pulled low over his face. His insistent chanting was reminiscent of Grandpa’s summoning chant but had a more insistent tempo and far harsher quality.

  Rie sat on the altar of the shrine, a place usually reserved for the steel of a new sword. She stared into space. Her usually bright features were veiled by a vacant smile and misty eyes. As Jahangir continued his chant, a young girl ran into the clearing from the direction of the house. Scrawny and ragged she was nonetheless beautiful.

  “I heard the mother talk to the old one on a phone,” the young ōkami called. “They’re coming.” Her message delivered, she turned and headed for the trees opposite Kou. Jahangir’s chant increased in volume and speed as he attacked his way through the rough words. Before the young ōkami cou
ld reach the trees though, Kou jumped into the clearing, his teeth bared.

  As Kou hit the clearing, he froze in shock as he saw a giant fiery Kami descending on the shrine. It contained a blinding radiance that caused such debilitating waves of fear within David that Kou froze as surely as the ancient trees around him were deep rooted. David swallowed past the terror roiling through him, uncertainty locking him in place. Kou’s fur stood on edge as he battled against David’s indecision. The young girl ran towards them.

  Entering the clearing with Natsuki, Takumi ran straight past the young ōkami. It was as if the trees, rocks, monsters, and his friends disappeared from Takumi’s view. He rushed towards the shrine, ignoring everything else around him. Takumi bowled past Jahangir, who stumbled, but continued chanting, focused on the ceremony.

  ‘Should we attack as Kou or David,’ David thought, the seconds flashing by. His uncertainty burned within as he felt a growing need to act. Kou roared within, wanting nothing more than to attack. David’s eyes locked on a shape leaving the woods next to the shrine. His determination and strength returning, David opened himself to Kou’s input but with Kou straining against him, it took precious seconds for them to merge. They changed, and despite retaining Kou’s tail, summoned their Seikaku.

  Before him, Natsuki was already engaged in combat with the young female ōkami as Takumi hit the stone steps. Natsuki’s borrowed sword flashed against metal gauntlets with long wicked claws. Takumi’s hand wrapped around Rie’s arm, ready to pull her to safety. David wanted to scream.

  Even as Kou and David moved towards their host brother, howling to him in their mixed voice to run, a large black furred ōkami with white markings around its snout and eyes sprang from beside the shrine. David saw every instant of horror as the ōkami’s vicious fangs ripped into Takumi’s neck.

  The black haired ōkami’s teeth and powerful jaws bit through Takumi’s muscle and bones with a crunch audible throughout the clearing. His hand slid slowly down Rie’s arm, Takumi’s last strength left him in a vain attempt to hold onto his sister. With a jerk of the ōkami’s head, his eyes blazed with shock and sorrow before fading completely, his hand falling away limply.

  As the black haired ōkami attacked, another slightly larger grey furred ōkami sprang from the forest. Horrified by the scene before him, but otherwise alert for danger, David took the hit from the grey ōkami in the side, his armor protected him as the ōkami’s claws tried to slash him. Rolling, David was able to right himself and face his opponent, Seikaku in hand, shaken, but still whole.

  Cagey, the ōkami circled David, staying out of range of the sword. Though a brute animal, its familiar hate-filled eyes sent shivers down his spine. David checked on Natsuki with a quick glance. Her sword was locked in between the young female ōkami’s gauntlets. Natsuki struggled, her strength against the ōkami’s strength, something Grandpa had taught them to always avoid. Catching David looking away, the ōkami lunged, testing David’s defenses.

  Jahangir finished his chant in crescendo of vocal power. Before him, Rie’s eyes flew open with a piercing scream. In the clearing, Natsuki flinched. Off balance, the female ōkami drove her to the ground, her gauntlets ripping Natsuki’s sword from her hands. On the alter, Rie’s eyes became deep black voids, her whole body twitching as if she was being burned alive. For one brief moment, David forgot the ōkami prowling before him as his entire being absorbed the pain and violation on Rie’s face. Then it was over and she fell off the altar, rolling down the stairs to Jahangir’s feet.

  Howling, Jahangir scooped up Rie’s lifeless body and ran into the forest. The black haired ōkami followed immediately, leaving Takumi’s corpse behind. The grey ōkami snapped at David, then smiled.

  “She is ours now.” Chul Moo’s voice, distorted by its new source, was nonetheless all too familiar. Before David could react, Chul Moo leapt away, sprinting after Jahangir.

  The female ōkami, poised to strike a killing blow ignored the rest of her pack. Her eyes and body no longer seemed human, mouth open in a wild grin, she loomed over Natsuki.

  As her gauntlet fell, David moved. Rushing forward the Seikaku gleamed as it sliced the ōkami’s arms. Surprisingly, the heavy blow did not cut through. Instead, it merely opened large gashes, deflecting the deadly weapons enough to save Natsuki. The ōkami’s outraged howl was sucked from the air as David used the momentum from the first strike to reverse the blade’s direction. Changing the Seikaku to its elemental form, David thrust the wooden blade behind him into the center of the ōkami.

  David froze, his gaze locked with the animal Chul Moo, standing among the trees at the edge of the forest. His shining black eyes inscrutable, David tried to find some meaning behind the stare, but even Kou was at a loss. Another howl from far away sounded, and Chul Moo was gone. Behind him, David’s tail brushed something hard and he turned to take in the small wooden statue of an ōkami that stood in place of the young girl. The statue’s wolven features were horribly lifelike in the hatred glaring from the eyes. Every grain of the wood seemed to scream the rage the ōkami had felt at losing its prey.

  “You should keep the tail,” Natsuki said as she took in David standing over her. Her smile faded as she searched the area. Finally, her eyes found Takumi’s body.

  Hours later in the main house, the rising sun was just beginning to illuminate the straw tatami mats. The shoji doors were open and a ragged Masao Matsumoto sat at the large low table in the main room. Haggard from the night’s events, he still wore the same blood stained kimono that he had worn beneath his armor the night before. Across from him, David sat staring into the eyes of the statue standing between them on the table. Arrayed around the statue were scattered the books Kou had found in the forest near the stream and Takumi’s sword.

  “There was nothing we could do for him, the ōkami made sure of that. It is obvious now he was left to attract attention and lure us away from the shrine. If you had not tracked him down, someone would have found him by the road.” Masao had recovered somewhat from the past night’s events, though he was changed. David recognized more of Grandpa in him. Reaching forward he took the old, hand-marked map of the forest around the Matsumoto Estate.

  “So the ōkami were there the whole time? Hiding in the caves, feeding off Rie?” asked David, Kou’s anger feeding his own, burning within him. He had literally stood on top of some of the caves.

  “Grandpa knew these mountains better than anyone,” Masao said, sighing with fatigue. “He probably suspected one of them was the den based on what you said. After Grandpa… after Grandpa was taken care of, I searched the caves and found the remains of a den, and what I believe to be Misaki’s remains. Yukiko placed a call. Someone will discover the body of a runaway mauled by an animal. When they identify her, they will assume it is the same animal that killed Grandpa. There will be searches, but they will not find anything. The ōkami’s lair was cleared out before the ōkami attacked the Estate.” Masao spoke with a deep resignation, his eyes staring into the statue’s carved features.

  “What kind of Jitsugen Samurai am I?” David asked, tears in his eyes. “Not only did I cause Grandpa’s death, I couldn’t even save Rie. How many days did I sit and talk with Chul Soon and do nothing. He was my friend! All those days trying to help Rie, when in reality I was helping the ōkami. And then worst of all, when it truly mattered I hesitated. I let fear control me. I should have been with Takumi.”

  “We have failed. One less ōkami does not even begin to repair the damage we have caused.” Kou’s orange hue and David’s tears turned his eyes into great shining suns.

  “Grandpa was responsible for his own actions. It is the Matsumoto who have failed. We missed the signs. I missed the signs of an ōkami’s dominance in my own daughter. Misaki’s death is on my shoulders. We are only lucky you did not succeed in breaking Chul Moo from his isolation. As for this ōkami, be glad you have a wood sword and not a stone. We will burn it to prevent it from ever being animated by another spirit.”

/>   Masao withdrew into silence. The sad brooding between the two was broken by a slow, pained groan from beneath the table. David pulled his gaze away from the statue’s eyes as hand grabbing the table. Takumi lifted himself up into a sitting position, his eyes glazed.

  “What happened?” Takumi asked, clean and dressed in fresh clothes. He looked around bewildered.

  “You fell asleep again. I assume you still remember everything?” Masao asked as Takumi’s eyes tried to focus on him. His eyes filled with tears.

  “Yes, I remember. What are we going to do? We have to help Rie. What about Grandpa? Where’s Natsuki? I can’t believe we let Rie be dominated by ōkami all this time. We need to go. Let’s go get her, right now.” Takumi tried to stand, but staggered. He would have fallen over the table, but David was there, helping him back down.

  “Natsuki went home. She had to sneak back in before her parents woke up… It was her birthday after all…” David spoke gently, unable to continue he sat again, eyes falling back into the wooden pits of the statue’s eyes. Masao continued where David left off.

  “Grandpa died about an hour ago. The ōkami made sure there was nothing we could do for him.” Masao’s voice gained strength as he spoke, his eyes tightening in anger and outrage. Takumi sagged, defeated. His sister and Grandpa torn away in the same night. “As for what is next, we will cremate Grandpa, burn this ōkami’s statue, then track down the rest and do the same to them. Then, and only then will we be able to destroy the yūrei.”

  “What do you mean ‘destroy’ the yūrei?” Takumi asked suddenly shouting in a rage. “You mean kill Rie? It was our fault this happened to her. We can’t just kill her!”

  Masao waited for Takumi to calm himself before replying.

  “We do not know how much Rie was in control of her actions. If she had any choice in the matter, if she chose any part of it, we may not be able to save her. What we do know, is that the ōkami found out about David… probably when he first changed. David that must have been Chul Soon that chased you that first time. From what you have said, the markings were the same. They have probably been hiding out since they found out you are a Jitsugen Samurai. With a yūrei, however, they will grow much stronger. They may not realize that they have also bound themselves. A yūrei will control them, not the other way around.”