Hikari Okami: Kitsune Series (2 page)

Once Ritsu-no-kami was done speaking with his
friend, leaving the way he came as his body slowly disappeared
until there was no trace of him left in the room after which Hikari
rose from where he sat to leave on a journey into the unknown world
of the humans, for a moment he felt a slight regret not waiting to
bid his long time companion goodbye.

“I hope she can forgive me one day”

With that thought in mind he left the inn to
begin his journey…

An immense yokai aura seem to announce
Hikari’s presence into the world of the humans as he came in
through a Tori gate located at the entrance of the Inari shrine
that connects the world of the yokai and the humans. On reaching
the human world he began to observe the brightness of the sky and
his surroundings watching as the humans passed by going on with
their activities, wanting to know more he allowed his senses to
flare out seeking as much as he could without physically going to
those places.

As a creature of the night he was not yet
used to the intense brightness of daytime, deciding to come out
later in the night as he swiftly headed straight for the inner room
of the shrine to assume his duties as guardian.

On entering into the shrine he noticed that
his friend Ritsu left the place looking unattended as he saw
ancient mystical scrolls, books and spiritual ornaments lying
carelessly around, as one used to refinement and neatness the whole
place struck him as odd as he began picking the things lying on the
tatami and arranging the place.

“If I keep going at this pace I’ll never
finish until sundown” with that said he released his Kitsune no
maho “demon magic” not too long after the place was looking
sparkling clean.

Making his way out he saw a grown blooming
senbonzakura “cherry” tree not too far were small jizo statues
erected to the east of the shrine while to the west was a
Shishiodoshi with a zen garden.

“At least he was able to take care of the
shrine surroundings” he mused within himself

Walking to where the senbonzakura was it
reminded him of home, closing his eyes while allowing his Kitsune
no maho to fill the air as though with life of their own they began
wrapping around the blossoms as they danced to the wind shining so
brightly.

Once his turbulent emotion was under control
he made his way back into the shrine to wait for night to come.

As a fully realized kitsune he had reached
the point where he could assume the form of a human without his
tail neither sticking out nor having to resort to using a kitsune
no ha “demon leaf” to appear human.

On the night when Hikari decided to take a
walk among the humans unknown to him this was the night of the
Tsuki no mangetsu when the moon becomes the color of peach with the
absence of stars from the sky, head of the onmyouji clan Kamo no
Yasunori would call his men to perform a special seal to renew the
ritual that wards off yokai from entering the human world so as to
maintain the balance between the human and that of the yokai world
by placing a special barrier in the area where yokai are most
likely to be by using the seal binding spell that places the yokai
in special barrier sucking their spiritual energy then sending them
to jigoku where they ultimately become soulless spirits stripped of
spiritual power to break free. It has been said that none had ever
escaped the jigoku and lived to tell about it, the only ones that
can come and go are those who are with tremendous yokai power.

Kamo no Yasunori master of onmyou magic and
spells praised alongside Abe no Seimei as a highly skilled onmyouji
who had dedicated many years to studying the act of demon slaying
and use of spells to protect the human world from the influence of
yokai.

Dressed in a pink and grey flower print
Kimono while watching the humans walking by, as the whole place was
alive with noise and activity, suddenly he felt a sense of unease
as though he was being watched, he found it strange that the humans
avoided walking towards and around where he was, not knowing he was
already in an onmyou barrier.

He saw some men dressed in black kimono with
some strange talisman pointed towards him and uttering word that
felt powerful despite his lack of knowledge about what was been
said, that was when it dawned on him that he was already under the
control of the onmyouji, as he watched in defeat while the onmyouji
completed the sealing ritual.

“Hurry do not let the kitsune escape, use the
spells I taught you to bind him” Kamo no Yasunori commanded as he
rallied the men to gather round the yokai as chanted in unity.

“
Watashi wa anata ga futatabi kono ji o
arukimawaru geretsuna ikimono kara tochi o tame ni Kotoamatsukami o
yobidashimasu”

Afterwards a shinning blue light emerged from
the seal binding tag enclosed the kitsun
e
and shutting off
the flow of yokai energy from within the barrier as he was taken
into the world of no return.

On seeing he was surrounded by a wall of blue
light, while being whisked away to a very dark place in anguish he
said “I brought this on myself had I not assumed human form this
would not have happened for in my foolishness they saw the chance
to prey on my weakness” closing his eyes closed in defeat.

He cursed himself for his carelessness by not
sensing their presence before it was too late to act as he drifted
into an unnatural sleep, waiting for the time when he will break
away from the powerful barrier and take his revenge.

One year later…

In her dreams Murakami Miyako saw a person
dressed in pink and gray flowery kimono, lavender blue hair with
pointed ears sticking out from it. A face which seem pale having
nails that appeared almost like claws with slim feet covered in
white socks and slippers made of wood. Each time she slept her
dream seem to be the same on waking up whenever she tried to
remember it all seem hazy in a way.

At the early age of three she grew up in an
orphanage because a car accident occurred that claimed the lives of
her parents leaving her the only survivor, on checking her into an
hospital doctors saw no bruises or bleeding, after that she was
discharged and sent to the orphanage since no one showed up
claiming to know her.

Life at the orphanage was hard as she lived
off scraps of food, hand-me-down clothing and used schooling
materials as those were the things she was privileged to have.

One of the things that made life more
difficult was the unusual color of her hair; as one born with blood
red hair no one understood why she would have that color of hair so
this caused her to be treated harshly. She was often teased by
other children in the orphanage as an ainoko “mixed blood” some had
dared to whisper that she must have been a bastard child of some
foreigner as she passed by even the matrons of the orphanage
avoided her as much as possible.

Feeling frustrated and lonely at such a
tender age she learned to shut her emotions never allowing what she
heard from people to affect her way of life, even when she got into
high school there was not any difference as to the way she was
treated as though invisible and by the age of sixteen she was told
to start looking for jobs so that by her eighteenth birthday she
would have left the orphanage.

Luckily she found a part time job at a food
café and a grocery store with both jobs close to the orphanage; she
began saving money received from the places where she worked, as
soon as the time came for her to move a representative of the
orphanage stood as a guarantor by providing falsified document
showing she was twenty one in order to meet the apartment renting
requirement.

Lately her dream was starting to bother her
as it no longer looked as if it was just a dream, this time she saw
that he opened his eyes which was lavender blue with piercing dark
pupil, as he called her to rescue him.

“How can I save you? Where are you? Are you
real?” as she began to feel agitated with tears gathering in her
eyes.

Lately she didn’t know why she was beginning
to think her ‘dreams’ were real because it was as though they were
communicating face to face. He told her he was held captive in a
barrier by magic spells which was used to bind him and seal him
away.

She remembered asking him how she was able to
talk to him, for whom he replied that he didn’t know but what he
was sure of is that she appears to have some sort of power which
seems to be similar to those of a priestess and that the power is
strong enough to break the seal and release him.

“You’ll have to allow me to perform the
kitsunebi “demon fox possession” technique on you so that I can use
your body to locate where I am and you could utter the sacred words
to break the barrier keeping me captive, once that is done I’ll be
free ”

“How does it work?” she asked while trying to
stay calm

“I’ll have control over your body and guide
it to where I am then take something from you that would be strong
enough to weaken the barrier after which once I break free I’ll
release you from my hold”

“If I don’t agree what will happen?”

“This is the only time that have ever asked a
human for help, I am putting my pride on the line by pleading with
you to come to my aid, just this once and I’ll never ask anything
of you”

“I’m not a wicked person, of course I’ll help
you just let me know when you’ll be performing this technique that
you speak of”

“I’ll be doing it now, just be prepared for
you would have no control whatsoever over your body for your will
would become mine”

“That sounds scary! I think am about to have
second thoughts”

“I promise you this, that no harm shall
befall you for you have my word on that”

“
Kyosei Kitsune suimin”
he said

Hikari uttered the sacred words from his
mouth using his mental link to the human who was finally under his
control as he sensed the emotions from her past life and current
life seeing the pain she endured, the grief as a child for the loss
of her parents, her uncertainty about the future the deep
loneliness of growing up in a strange place with people who clearly
hated her.

He felt some remorse for using her to bring
about his release but at the same time he was happy to have someone
with powers strong enough to break the seal.

He found her to be a fascinating human who
didn’t know that she possessed a power that rivaled those of a
yokai, “Was it possible she was a real priestess? He thought as he
kept leading her out of her house to the place where he was sealed
away.

Miyako kept walking as though in a trance
feeling a presence within her as she watched people pass by without
really seeing them as though she was observing them from afar.

On getting closer to where she worked at the
food café then suddenly her body stopped at a particular spot; she
noticed people were not looking at her it was as though she wasn’t
even there. A strong urge overcame her as she bit into her palm
cheek watching in dismay and horror as blood began flowing from the
wound on her palm,
“Akuma no shoheki wa watashi ga mujitsu no
seinaru chi o kaiho shimasu”
speaking some strange words she
didn’t know she could utter and smearing blood on an invisible wall
that she could only sense but not see.

Suddenly she heard a sizzling sound as a dark
spiraling hole appeared, the opening kept getting larger and larger
until she saw something emerge from it then she realized she just
released the creature of her dreams as soon as he was completely
out the opening disappeared.

Walking towards her Hikari held her hand
close to his mouth as he spoke some healing spells to close her
wound after which he released her from his technique.

“You were of great use today, I thank you for
that” as he bowed slightly to show his gratitude

“What did you think you were doing, making me
to bite myself? Why didn’t you tell me that you will do that to
me?”

“If I had told you would you have heeded my
pleas for help?”

On hearing that Miyako knew that, if he had
told her then she would most likely not have gone out of her way to
help him.

“You really are real” she said while looking
at him from all sides, she was surprised when she saw a tail
protruding from him behind.

“Can I touch your tail?”

“As you please, just once and that will be
all”

She ran her finger over his tail as she felt
it twitch slightly from her touch, she noticed it had a fluffy feel
she wished she could touch it more but remembering he told her just
one touch, straightway she took her hand off not wanting to annoy
him.

“If I may ask what are you? And why do I have
the power to release you?”

“I’m a kitsune from a strong noble family, as
to why you were able to release me I saw that the spiritual energy
you possess closely resembles those of a priestess and you seem to
share the same color of hair as those of an ancient priestess clan
and I think they were called the Miko clan”

“My name is Murakami Miyako, if I may ask
could you please tell me your name”

“Hikari is my name, nice meeting a human who
isn’t really human”

“What do you mean by that?! Am human you
know?!” she replied angrily.

“If you would permit me”

Stepping forward as he brought her close to
himself tilting her head towards him as he bent to seal his lips
with hers in order to replenish some of the energy he lost while
sealed away for he knew that she had no need for the immense power
dwelling within her, for he perceived she had no knowledge of how
much power her body held.

After taking in his fill of her energy he
slowly released her, Miyako knew that one moment she was standing
away from Hikari and the next she was swept in his arms as her mind
went blank when his lips touched hers. She didn’t know for how long
it lasted but the feeling of been held close lingered on as she
struggled to regain her voice “Why…did you kiss me?”