Chapter 16: Inheritor of a Spirit

"Ken-chan! How was Hachi-kun? not too mean I hope," I hid the grimace on my face as I sat down in front of Susanoo-No-Mikoto at the Shin-Corp building's inner gardens.

"He was fine," I answered calmly, "We managed to get my Sacred Gear working once without me falling unconscious, but we hadn't managed to get it to work again after."

"Hmm, That's a start I suppose," The god said before he clapped his hands loudly and leapt to his feet.

"So! Today I'll be going over what You'll be expected to do once your training with Hachiman is over," Susanoo said and with a snap of his fingers, a television appeared next to him.

"As you might know already, Japan is filled to the brim with supernatural elements, from Excorsist families to Yokai, to lesser Kami and even wild spirits." Susanoo pressed a button on the TV remote and an image appeared on the screen, A man wearing a Yukata, Bird Wings extending out of his back, and a wooden mask covering his face.

A Tengu. I've already seen some in this very building.

Next Image was photo of a group of Bald old men, wearing monk robes with prayer beads around their necks, standing in row in front of a temple, smiling at the camera.

One of the men was holding a glowing slip of paper between his fingers.

And the final Image was of a large muscular creature, covered in green scales, a large shell on its back, with a bowl-like indent on its head. Standing on its two back legs and flexing its arms like a bodybuilder, Several smaller Turtle-creatures standing near its feet smiling at the camera and jumping around, nowhere near as tall or muscular as the focus of the photo.

As I looked at that last image, I knew deep down, that this Turtle was more dangerous than All the monks and the Tengu combined.

"That's a Kappa..." I whispered as I looked at the last photo.

"Huh, this guy?" Susanoo pointed at the TV, "Don't worry about him, He's one of our Yokai, he knows better than to start trouble." Susanoo once more pressed the remote and the Image on screen changed to show Kyoto from above.

"Now, You gotta' understand something important, We at Shin-Corp have access to every corner of Japan, from the most northern peak of Hokkaido to the southernmost point in Okinawa, All that is our territory," Susanoo said.

"All of that except one place," He turned to look at me, "Kyoto," he paused for dramatic effect before he continued once he saw I wasn't giving him a reaction.

"There was a short while, Just over ten years ago, that Kouh was also one of those places," Now that got my attention.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Susanoo smiled at that and sat down once again, Placing the remote on top of the blocky old television.

"Before we Shinto got active in monitoring our territory, The Yokai faction, an independent coalition of Yokai living in Kyoto, sold Kuoh as territory for a Devil," Susanoo spoke as he leaned forward in his seated position.

"As you might have guessed, that was a major step out of the boundaries that the Yokai faction had, and so we decided to be more active in how we deal with out territory. The Devil who bought Kuoh, was soon executed for having relations with an Exorcist of the church, and the Church pulled out as a result." Susanoo pointed his finger at me, "Don't worry, right now Kuoh is Shinto land and we won't be selling it to anybody,"

I nodded my head at that, glad to know that there weren't any Devils running around Kuoh.

"Back to our topic," Susanoo said and jumped back to his feet, "The Yokai Faction in Kyoto, We allow them to rule over themselves as long as they don't break a list of rules we gave them," He pointed at me, "Kidnapping you and introducing you to this world broke several of those rules, if you want to know," I nodded at that.

"As a result," Susanoo grabbed the remote and the next image appeared, "Any trouble made by the Yokai faction outside of Kyoto is seen as an act of aggression, and we are to apprehend them as we see fit," The image showed a ferret with sickles for hands thrashing in the arms of someone wearing a Shin-Corp uniform.

"Now you," Susanoo pointed at me again, "You're different from the rest of our agents out in the field, Not only are you a Spirit Inheritor, but you also have a sacred gear," The image on the TV changed again, showcasing an orange-haired woman in a green dress floating above the floor, signing hands with Susanoo in his 'Sano Koto' guise.

"Recently, Shin-Corp struck a deal with the Celtic faction, You see? We're creating a temporary team of agents from both Shinto and Celtic, and you're on that team," He smiled at me, the image on the television switching again before he gave me time to speak.

"Currently, One of our agents is in Ireland, doing his part, and soon, someone from the Celtic faction will be coming over to work here, with you,"

"Question!" I said loudly and raised my hand before Susanoo could change the topic again, "What am I supposed to be doing once this all starts?"

Susanoo snapped his fingers and pointed at me again, "Good question! You and the Celtic agent will be doing miscellaneous work for our people. It could range anywhere from exorcising a haunted house to babysitting the daughter of a powerful Yokai." I frowned at that. "Anything that seems like you fit, Regular Shin-Corp agent biz,"

"Another question, How the hell do I exorcise a haunted house?" I asked, and I didn't like how instead of answering my question, Susanoo turned off the Television and chucked a wooden sword into my lap.

"Good question!" Susanoo said with a smirk and with a flash of thunder, we were back in the same training ring where he had me run circles the first time I was here.

"Oh no..."

...........

Sounds of wood and clangs of metal echoed from the Garden of the Shin-Corp building.

"Why am I doing this?!" A young boy yelled as he stepped back to avoid a sweep from his opponent's blade, "We both know I can't beat you!"

The opponent, a taller man who looked to be in his early forties chuckled at that, "You don't need to win every fight, you just need to not lose," He took half a step back and avoided the downward slash from the boy.

"What the hell does that mean?!" The boy yelled as he stepped forward, ducking under another sword swing as he pushed his sword upwards, causing the sword in his opponent's hand to budge away from him before he followed with a quick sword jab towards the face.

"That's for me to teach you," The man said as the sword in his hand moved faster than before, hitting the wooden sword in the boys hand and throwing it out of his hands, "And for you to learn," He smiled as the wooden sword rested at the boys neck.

"Pick up your sword, We're doing this again," The boy sighed in defeat as the man told him what to do, "Look on the bright side, You're clearly improving,"

"Yeah," The boy said with a frown, "But it's not really me improving, is it? It's my past life or whatever passing along more training,"

The man frowned at that answer, "We both know that's not true kid, Your Spirit-inheritance can only teach you so much. Do you even know who it is yet?"

The boy shook his head, "I have an idea, but no actual answer," he frowned as he picked the sword up and entered back into the small ring, "I only had one dream to go off of,"

"I see," The man said as he loosed his hold on his blade, "What about this?"

"What about wha-" But before the boy could finish his sentence, a bolt of blue lightning hit him in the forehead and he fell to the ground.

.............

Rain fell on the land as I and four other people ran up a muddy slope on a mountain.

"Hurry up! With the mountain filled with mud like this, The beast will have nowhere to run!" The man leading us yelled as he seemed to almost fly up the mountain with how fast he was moving. His Samurai armor washed with the rainwater as the sky seemed to want to flood him, A ponytail of purple hair coming out of his Helmet, two swords resting on his hip drew my eyes, a large Bow and a quiver of arrows on his back.

"Yeah!" A muscular man with short blue-almost-white hair yelled as he ran next to me, I recognized him from my previous dream, "And this time it won't trick us!" Suetaka shouted, his body covered by an armored robe, a spear resting on his back.

"More like it won't trick you," Another person said, A thin woman with long white hair, her body covered by a lighter suit of armor, no weapon could be seen on her other than a dagger at her hip, "I was never fooled by that Spider,"

"Shut up Sadamitsu!" Suetaka yelled as his large body started moving quicker following our leader, the mud under him freezing with each step he took, giving us a more stable foothold as we ran up the muddy slope.

"Rude," Sadamitsu said lightly before she turned to look at me, "What about you, ready for your rematch?"

"There is no rematch," I said in a voice not my own, "Our job is to put down the threat," I wanted to frown at what I said, I sounded like an asshole.

"You know, You're no fun," Sadamitsu pouted at me before a slip of paper appeared in her hand and burst into flame before she shot ahead of Suetaka and me.

"Hey! Wait up!" Suetaka yelled as the ice beneath his feet started expanding forward into a ramp before he jumped into the air, platforms of floating ice acting as footholds.

"Those two..." I whispered before I looked to the last member of our group, Short golden hair and an excited smile on his face, instead of a suit of armor he wore what I could only describe as a Sci-Fi power suit. Red armor with jagged spikes and rough corners, green gems on his shoulders and wrist, with a larger green gem in his chest, resembling an eye more than anything.

"Boost" The gem in his chest voiced and the golden-haired man smiled at me before he leaped forward and reached the front of our group.

"Show offs," I whispered as I grabbed the sword on my hip and unsheathed it with a slice, the rain falling on me blowing aside as the rain itself was cut away before a slip of paper appeared between my fingers and I started whispering words I didn't understand, The slip of white paper turning blue before I stuck it onto my sword, and started cutting at the rain and mud ahead of me with greater speed.

"We're getting close everyone!" The man at the front, our leader, yelled as we neared the top of the mountain, a large cave appearing in front of us, "Let us get this Spider!"

"Yeah!" Sadamitsu, Suetaka, and the golden-haired man yelled as they threw their arms into the sky.

"I didn't hear you back there!" The man turned back to look at me, a smile on his face.

"Yeah," I said in a monotone voice, and he nodded his head.

"That's good enough! Tsuchigumo here we come!"

.............

I woke up suddenly, Looking around and spotting Susanoo watching me from the corner.

"I know who my Spirit Inheritor is," I told him with eyes wide as all the names from the dream remained in my head, the descriptors of the two unnamed men filling out the rest.

Four powerful warriors, following a powerful leader. A man with golden hair and the strength of a Dragon. The two other people could be none other than Urabe no Suetake, or Suetaka as we called him, and the woman Usui Sadamitsu. 

Meaning that the two unnamed men were none other than Sakata no Kintoki and Minamoto no Yorimitsu, or Minamoto no Raiko as he's more commonly known.

And if those were Raiko, Kintoki, Suetake, and Sadamitsu, that means that my Spirit Inheritance.

One of my past lives.

"My Inherited Spirit is Watanabe no Tsuna..." I whispered and Susanoo clapped his hands with a smile.

"So that's who it was! Tsukuyomi figured it out already but wouldn't tell me- Hey kid, are you okay?" Susanoo stopped and looked at me.

"What are you-" I wanted to ask Susanoo what he was talking about before I spotted a glow coming from my chest.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" I yelled and quickly stood up, ignoring the headache from where Susanoo zapped me with lightning as I pulled my shirt off and watched as my Sacred Gear, the moth tattoo over my heart, glowed like a beacon of light, almost blinding to look at, before me eyes widened in shock as the moth tattoo moved and wriggled on my flesh, pressure growing as it seemed to crawl on my skin before it moved to the center of my chest between the ribs and then to the side of my torso, under the armpit, on my back, all around.

"Calm down Ken-chan," Susanoo said seriously as he focused on what was going on.

After almost thirty minutes of the moth moving around, growing smaller and bigger as it made rounds all around my body, it finally settled back over my heart, now half a finger taller than it previously was.

"Well, Seems like your Sacred Gear evolved somehow," Susanoo said nonchalantly as he nodded his head, "You realizing who your Spirit-Inheritance came from must have caused it to mutate. But hey, look on the bright side, You're not unconscious again,"

I blinked at Susanoo, slowly processing his words before looking down at the moth tattoo, the beacon of light fading as it settled back into place.

"I'll have Hachiman try and figure out how this works," Susanoo said as he poked me in the chest, "But for now, Put your shirt back on, We're going back to our swords." He smiled at me and jumped almost twenty meters away.

I nodded my head and slowly picked up my wooden sword.

"Now, let's see if you're any better," Susanoo yelled with a smile and our match began.