2 The Demon Within
"Two wolves 10 o'clock." Katsumi whispered to Misaki as she drew her bow and knocked an arrow.
"You take care of the wolf in the back I'll go up close and fight the other one ok?" Katsumi asked as he drew his dagger from its sheath.
"Ok… be careful." She whispered in a caution to him.
Katsumi sneaked up to about 4 meters away from the first wolf he raised his hand just high enough for Misaki to still see it. He then lowered it and sprinted in towards the first wolf. As soon as he did Misaki let an arrow fly straight at the second wolf. It hit, but it wasn't fatal. The wolf was hit in the right side of its stomach. The wolf would be down for a bit but not for long.
Katsumi was now within striking range of the 1st wolf.
"Hyahhh!" He yelled as he slashed diagonally and than straight back up. The first strike was solid but the second was shallow and barely managed to cut the wolf. The wolf yelped but immediately barred it's fangs at him.
"KATSUMI DUCK!" Misaki yelled revealing her position because it didn't matter, the other black wolf had gotten up and lunged at Katsumi. Thanks to Misaki's warning he was able to avoid the attack and right as the wolf landed Misaki let loose an arrow that hit the wolf right in the head. It's body went limp and fell to the floor. It was dead.
"Thanks Misaki!" Katsumi thanked her as he got back to his feet and readied his stance towards the wolf. The wolf lunged at Katsumi with its teeth, Katsumi slid underneath the wolf as it jumped and stuck his dagger down the center almost cutting it completely in half down the center. The wolf's blood poured to the floor and the wolf was dead.
"Thanks for the warning, also nice shot." Katsumi praised Misaki which made her happy, but than she thought about the fight.
"Thanks, but…. how could you be so reckless if I hadn't warned you about the second wolf you could have been killed! You need to be more aware!" Misaki was worried and her face told it. She looked like she was ready to cry, but regardless she kept herself together.
"I'm sorry I will be more careful, but I knew you had my back so I was sure I would be fine." as he said this the smile on his face grew and Misaki couldn't help but forgive him and blush a little.
"Well let's take them back to town so we can sell their pelts." Misaki wanted to sell their pelts to make a little extra money but also to have a reason to leave the forest. She didn't want Katsumi to spend his whole life chained to the thought of finding his mothers final burial.
"Sure maybe than I can afford to sharpen my dagger!" Katsumi said excitedly. "Well lets get going then it's about an hours walk back to the city." "Sounds good." Misaki said happily.
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"Man I'm tired, can't wait to get home and take a bath." Katsumi complained playfully.
"Yeah, for once I think you're right Katsumi. Carrying these pelts isn't easy either." Misaki teased him and laughed as she did.
"What do you mean for on-." Katsumi stopped himself and stood perfectly still.
"Grhhhhhh." A low growl came from behind a tree to his right.
"Misaki, slowly back away to my left there's another one." Katsumi whispered to Misaki, she immediately dropped the pelt and slowly began to sneak to his right.
"I'll get in a tree and prepare my bow. Be careful." She whispered to him with worry in her voice.
She climbed the nearest tree quickly and when she looked back over he saw it. A giant wolf over 3.5 meters tall.
"Katsumi it's…." She lost her breath for a second as the wolf came into view. A large black wolf with one red stripe of fur longways down its side.
"The Black wolf, the one sister says to avoid at all costs in the forest!" Her voice was full of worry but she forgot to whisper and that's what caused it. The wolf lunged, Misaki didn't have her bow ready yet, she couldn't assist him.
Katsumi quickly drew his dagger and clashed with him at his teeth. They both pushed off each other and backed away. Misaki had drawn her bow at this point but she didn't have a clear shot. If she shot nwo she may hit Katsumi and she knew that.
"Ghahh, I hate this! I can't just sand by and do nothing while he is fighting, even if that's what I am supposed to do with my bow." Misaki thought while gritting her teeth as she waited for an open shot.
Katsumi panted as he caught his breath. Unlike the wolf Katsumi was already exhausted from walking so far. Katsumi slowly backed away as he watched the Black Wolf ready itself. He kept backing up till he felt the back of his foot over a ledge. But it wasn't a ledge exactly it was more of a just a very steep slope.
"Take that!" Misaki said as she let loose an arrow from her perch. The arrow didn't hit but that wasn't what she was aiming for. The arrow landed right near its feet. She was keeping the wolf in check, letting it know that it couldn't do what whatever it pleased.
"Grrrrahhh" the wolf leapt forwards with its mouth open ready to chomp down on Katsumi."Hmph, should have been more cautious." Misaki said smugly as she let another arrow fly. She was being overconfident. She lost focus in her overconfidence and underestimated the Wolf's speed. Her arrow only grazed his back leg, but that wasn't nearly enough to stop it.
"Ahh!" The wolf bit Katsumi right in his left arm, the pain worsened as the wolf's teeth tore out flesh as the both flew down the hill. They quickly grew speed as the steep grew deeper.
"Uhh" the wind was knocked out of Katsumi as him and the wolf hit a tree right before the ground leveled out.
"KATSUMI!!" Misaki screamed after him as she slid down the slope chasing after him.
Katsumi struggled as he stumbled to his feet and caught his breath. His stomach hurt and he felt like his ribs might have broke, buy none of it mattered when he looked up. He didn't care about the pain, he had found it, the place he could never forget. It was the spot of his mother's grave. The crater was just as big as he remembered. No it was bigger. He was soon interrupted by something he had never seen before.
"Grahhh" Katsumi hadn't noticed but the wolf was standing up and snarling, but not at him instead the wolf was snarling towards the center of the crater. When he followed the Black Wolf's gaze he saw something shaped like a human. But anyone that saw it would could immediately tell that it wasn't human. He began to quiver in fear as he realized what it was that he was seeing.
"It can't be, it's impossible, an….. Onryo." Katsumi thought to himself as he slowly backed away in fear. It was something of a myth. A vengeful spirit that kills anything it sees. The Onryo wielded a one-handed katana that it held in its right hand. Katsumi began to quiver as it raised its black fleshy arm and walked towards them.
In the next moment Katsumi heard only one thing, a scream. He didn't see it happen but suddenly the wolf standing next to him was no longer standing, rather it was cut in half with blood that shot out of its body and was all over the Onryo and its sword. The Onryo was standing above it with his bloody sword pointed to the ground. It moved faster than he could see, faster than he could even comprehend. In the next move the Onrya turned its head completely around and faced Katsumi without having to move its body at all. The Onrya began to raise its sword once again.
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Moments later a loud clanging of metal was the only noise Misaki heard. She was finally able to see Katsumi but what she saw shocked her. A demon was standing above Katsumi, for a moment her heart stopped. She couldn't breathe. Katsumi was cut, and unconscious. His dagger lay on the ground next to a nearby tree.
"No no no no no no…. This can't be happening!" Misaki mumbled to herself incoherently. She could only do one thing, she knocked an arrow in her bow. The demon raised his sword ready to strike Katsumi down for good.
Fwoom! Misaki let an arrow loose, it flew and hit the Onrya right on the arm it had raised. It lowered its arm, slowly. The Onrya turned to face Misaki as it raised its arm once more. This time a thick black liquid was flowing out of the wound Misaki's arrow had caused. She knocked another arrow, she almost released it.
The sound of metal slicing through flesh as smoothly as a knife through butter was all that could be heard. A muffled scream was heard for the briefest of moments, and then it vanished.
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"Arhh" Katsumi awoke, in pain, and coughing up blood. He raised his head and looked towards Misaki. She was slashed from her left shoulder down to the right of her waist. She was on the ground, blood flowing out of her wound. The ground around her was quickly turned to a dark red.
"AHHHH… RHAAAAA!" Katsumi screamed and clutched his head, he began to jerk and thrash about the ground as he screamed. Then it all went dark. He closed his deep crimson eyes and stopped moving.
"Kill, kill, kill, kill them all!" a fiendish voice whispered in his head. He began to move once more. He was different, he cocked up his head and got up to his feet. He opened his eyes, they were no longer the deep crimson they always were, his eyes were now an endless abyss of darkness. An insatiable bloodlust oozed off of him. The blood stopped flowing from his chest. He vanished from where he stood, then reappeared with his dagger in his hand next to a nearby tree. His arms were straight down, almost lifeless and the blood was no longer flowing from where the wolf bit him. A moment later his dagger flew through the air and severed the Onrya's arm. Before its arm could even touch the floor Katsumi was behind it with his hand inside his chest. His hand grasped a black pulsing sack that was oozing of the black sludge that leaked from its wounds.
"Die die die Die DIE DIE!" Katsumi's mumbling quickly turned into a scream as he crushed its heat in his hand and slammed its skull into a tree. Katsumi grabbed the arrow from its one remaining arm and thrusted it into the Onrya's neck hanging it there. The Onrya's lifeless body hung there as black blood poured to the floor.
He picked up his dagger which was on the floor covered in black blood from the Onrya's arm. He walked towards Misaki as if he were in a trance, or it would be more accurate to say it was like he was possessed. He reached down to pick Misaki up with his left hand. He pulled her up by the collar of her shirt.
"KILL KILL KILL KILL THEM ALL!" The demonic voice in his head was screaming at him. The voice hypnotised him. He put his dagger to her throat.
"KILL KILL KILL" The voice echoed through his head, he pressed the blade against her neck and a drop of blood seeped from her neck.
Then a warm sensation pressed up against his back. A warmth he hadn't felt in almost 9 years. The sensation was overwhelming, he dropped his dagger to the floor. His eyes turned back to the crimson red he was born with. The bloodlust that killed the Onya was gone. Tears began to fill his eyes.
"Mother…" Katsumi whispered as he dropped his knife to the floor. He put Misaki to the ground and turned around. What he saw was to much for him to handle. It was his mother. His mother that died while still worrying about him. Her knot regret that kept her bound to the slot of her death was leaving her child all alone.
"Mother!" Katsumi reached out towards his mother to give her a hug. He felt the warm sensation but no touch. He went straight through her.
"Katsumi, overcome the evil within you and live." His mother's voice echoed throughout his entire being. She moved gracefully through his body and towards Misaki.
"I love you, Katsumi." As she said those words she vanished into small particles of light that flowed into Misaki's wounds. Suddenly the bleeding stopped, the wounds closed, and then he heard it.
"Hhhh" a soft breathing coming from Misaki. He tried to stop crying, but couldn't. He turned around towards the crater, and his mother's final burial. Then he cupped his hands together.
"I love you, mother, thank you." He whispered, and with tears in his eyes. He picked up Misaki and carried her back to Erith.
