Case #11-The Rogue Brothers, part 2

Thousands and thousands of years ago…

"NO, PLEASE, DON'T DO IT!" A girl wails.

"I'm sorry Kushinada but we must!" An old man replies. "The great Orochi demanded it, we don't have a choice!"

"Hmm?" A rag-tag man with long, dark blue hair and a white gi asks as he strolls over to the two. He has a long black katana hanging from his belt. "What's the problem here?"

"Help me, please!" The girl cries. "I don't want to die!"

"The great Orochi demanded our daughter as a sacrifice so we must give her up!" The old man furiously explains.

"And why are you sacrificing your poor daughter to this Orochi?" The sword- wielding man asks.

"Because if we don't, Orochi will destroy this entire village and eat all of our crops!" The old man shouts. "He'll kill us all!"

"Orochi?" The rag-tag man asks as he picks his ear. "Is that some asshole feudal lord? Never heard of 'em."

"Surely you're joking?!" The old man panics. "You mustn't be from around these parts. Lord Orochi…the legendary serpent Yamata no Orochi who terrorizes these lands?!"

"Ah, so he's not just come dude?" The rag-tag man asks.

"N-no," stammers the old man. He's not human."

"Huh, so this changes everything…?" The rag-tag man mutters to himself under his breath.

"Young man…are you perhaps a warrior, by any chance?" The old man asks once he notices the katana hanging from his hip.

"Why, yes, I am!" The rag-tag man proudly boasts. "I am the legendary samurai, Susanoo Mikoto!"

"A swordsman?!" The old man cries, and then without another word, he collapses to the ground and slams his hand against the soil. "Then please!" He cries. "Please slay Yamata no Orochi for us!"

"Huh?" Mikoto asks. "Why would I do that?"

"Wh-what…?" The old man stammers as he lifts his head. "Aren't wandering swordsmen usually pure of heart and do good deeds for others?"

"Are they?" Mikoto asks. Miktoto then peers over at female sacrifice and smirks. "This is your daughter, correct? And you are going to sacrifice her to Yamata no Orochi?" He asks.

"Y-yes," the old man stammers.

"Well, it would be a shame to let such a beauty go to waste, so how about this-" Mikoto replies. "I'll slay this serpent for you, and in exchange, I want your daughter's hand in marriage."

"What?!" The old man cries.

"WHAT?!" The girl cries.

"Oh well, then so be it," the old man sighs. "My daughter will be dead if you don't slay Orochi, so I may as well give her up for your reward. You have a deal."

"Alright," Mikoto smirks as he unties the girl. "What is your name, anyway, young lass?"

"K-Kushinada," the girl stammers.

"Beautiful name," Mikoto smiles, causing Kishinada to blush. "Kushinada…I shall save you."

"So how long has Orochi been tormenting you?" Mikoto asks as he turns around to face the old man.

"It started eight years ago," the old man gloomy explains. "One day, a grand eight headed dragon named Yamata Orochi appeared in our village and demanded one of our daughters as a sacrifice. Orochi said that if we refused, he would destroy our entire village. And then one per year after that day, Orochi would come back and demand one of our daughters as a sacrifice and then...consume her. And now, we are down to our eight and final daughter, Kushinada. I just...I just can't bear to lose one more! After Kushinada, we'll be out of daughters, and then what will we do?! Orochi will kill us all!"

"How terrible…" Mikoto replies. "So how strong is this Orochi?"

"Yamata no Orochi is three hundred meters tall and can take out entire countries with ease, '' the old man explains. 

"Interesting…" Miktoto replies as he strikes his chin.

"So do you have a plan to defeat Orochi?" The old man booms.

"Not at all!" Answers Mikoto with a smile, causing the old man to groan.

Just then, the ground begins trembling, and Mikoto looks up, spotting in the distance a giant three headed dragon.

"Yamata no Orochi, he's here!" The old man wails.

"I'm so dead…" Kushinada sobs.

"So this is the mighty Yamata Orochi, eh?" Mikoto smirks as he gazes upon the grand beast. Just as the old man had said, Orochi stands at three hundred letters tall and has eight heads attached to eight long necks as well as eight long tails. Orochi's body is covered in dark olive green scales with a white under belly. Each one of Orichi's head has glowing orange eyes and silver-plated armor resembling shogun helmets.

"Human villagers!" Orochi booms, his voice echoing from each one of his eight threads. "Have you prepared my sacrifice?!"

"Sh-she's right here, L-Lord Orochi…" the old man timidly stammers as he points to his daughter, causing Kushinana to tense up,

"Hmm…" Orochi mutters as one of his giant hands draws in close to Kunishida, causing her to wince and recoil as the serpent looks her up and down. "She is a sexy sacrifice, she will taste delicious!" Orochi laughs. "But-" Orochi then continues as all sixteen of his eyes narrow. "You don't take her clothes off as I instructed…" Orochi growls as he leans in close to the old man, causing him to tremble in fear.

"Not so fast!" Mikoto booms as he leaps in the way of Kushina and Orochi. "This is my future wife, foul beast, and after I slay you, I shall take her hand in marriage."

Orochi pauses. He then looks up and down and rears all eight heads to the sky, letting out along, booming laugh. "Don't make me laugh!" Orochi spits as he peers back down at Mikoto, despite already laughing. "How are you going to stop me?"

"With this!" Mikoto booms as he draws his katana and aims it at Orochi.

"What willl that toothpick do to me?" Orochi smirks. "You're going to use it to clean my teeth after I consume your wife?"

"My katana shall pry apart your scales!" Mikoto booms as he charges Orochi. Mikoto slashes Orochi's legs, but his katana has no effect on Orochi's powerful scales.

"Cut that out, you're tickling me!" Orochi cackles as he swings one of his mighty tails towards Mikoto, who leaps over it to dodge. Mikoto slashes Orochi again, but just as before his attack does nothing. Orochi then opens one of his eight mouths up wide and fires off an orange beam of energy, which explodes into Miktoto, causing the swordsman to howl in pain as he's sent flying backwards.

"Mikoto!" Kushinada cries as she rushes over to the swordsman.

"NO!" Mikoto shouts as he swipes a hand towards Kushinda. "It's not safe out here, take cover inside!"

Kushiada nods, then turns around and rushes into her cabin alongside her father.

"D-dammit…" Miktoto grunts as he pushes himself back up to his feet. "If only I had my storm powers…"

"Storm powers…?" Orochi asks. "What do you mean?"

"I am the ex God of Storms, Susano'o no Mikoto!" Miktoto booms as he stands up to face the giant serpent.

"No fallen God can stand up to me!" Orochi booms as he fires off another orange beam of energy towards Mikoto, who manages to narrowly evade the attack. Miktoto then turns around, seeing that the village behind him had been reduced to rubble. Kushinada's chain included.

"Oh no…" Miktoto softly says as his eyes widen. "Kushinada!" Orochi cackles as Miktoto rushes over to the rubble that was once the old man's cabin. Miktoto looks around, until he spots a hand sticking out of the ruble. He rushes over to the body and clears the rubble out of the way, revealing the old man, who is soaked in blood as he's shielding a relatively uninjured Kushinada.

"D-dad…" Kushinada stammers as the old man limply falls to the ground. "DAD!"

"Damn…" MIkototo grunts as he looks away in shame. "If only I still had my powers…"

"Ghahahaha, that's exactly right!" Orochi booms. "If only you had your powers, then maybe you could have saved that poor old man! I don't eat old ugly dudes, so that fool died for nothing, saving a girl bound to be consumed by me!"

"Kushinda, quick, does Orochi have any weaknesses?!" Mikoto Tasks. "You've been seeing it for eight years, it's bound to have at least one!"

"I-I don't know if it can be considered a weakness…" Kushinda stammers. "But it can't resist sake…"

Miktoto's eyes widened. "Perfect!" He replies. "Do you have any?"

"A-around back…" Kushinda stammers as she points to a ruined shed.

Miktoto rushes over to the rubble that makes up the shed, finding eight giant barrels of sake, standing proud and tall before him. "Amazing…" Mikoto marvels as his eyes light up. "It's as if fate itself is giving me the key to slay Orochi…"

"Back for more, eh?" Orochi yawns as Miktoto rolls a barrel over to him. Orochi then sniffs the air. "Wh-what is that smell…?"

"Grand Serpent!" Miktoto booms. "I see now that I have no hope of defeating you! So, here I offer you the finest sake that one can find as a peace offering. Forgive me for attacking you. Now, get drunk, and then you may feast on my future wife!"

 "I-is that…sake…?" Orochi asks as his sixteen eyes widen. Orochi then draws onf of its eight heads towards the barrel and sniffs. "This smells…exquisite!"

"Drink up," MIktoto smirks.

"Don't mind if I do!" Orochi replies as he laps up. "WOO-HOO!" Orochi then booms as he rears his now-drunken head up to the sky. "Thatsh wash shome gud shtu-" Orochi begins to say, slurring his words, and then, one of Orochi's heads falls asleep.

Mikoto smirks. "I think I have a plan…"

Mikoto then wheels the seven other barrels of sake over to Orochi, who happily kaps and hits me up. And then, once each had consumed a barrel of sake, all eight heads fell asleep. And with no head awake to control his actions, Orochi reaches to the ground, oblivious to Miktoto's scheme.

"Perfect…" Miktoto smirks as he draws his katana. And then, one by one, Miktoto goes around to each head and slashes then cleans off. Orochi is too drunk to wake up. But then, in the final chapter, Mikoto finds a long, glowing purple katana and sheath, with a curved blade, wrapped in an electric blue cloth with two flowing ribbons.

"Woah…" Miktoto marvels. "What is it…?"

"That is a legendary katana said to be the reward for slaying Orochi," Kushianda explains. "Thank you…"

"My pleasure," Mikoto replies as he turns to face Kushinada and smiles. "I shall take this katana -as well are you hand- as my rewards for slaying the great eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi!"

And so, Mikoto and Kushinada got married and birthed plenty of children. They lived a long, and happy life, until many, many years later, while on his deathbed, everything went black for Mikoto…

***

Thousands of years later, yet only a second for Miktoto passes by…

"RRRRAGHHH!" A woman groans.

"Come on honey, you're doing great!" Her husband replies.

Currently, we find ourselves in a hospital room, where a married couple is about to meet their twin boys, Yamata Rogue and Mikoto Rogue. After a while of fighting, Yamata and then two minutes later, Miktoto emerge into the world at last.

"Congratulations you two, you are officially parents!" The doctor says.

"Um, doctor, we have a problem!" The nurse cries, and the doctor rushes over to the woman's vitals,and when he does, his eyes widen.

"Sir, you have to leave!" The doctor says as he ushers the husband out of the room.

"B-but what about my wife?!" He cries.

The same day that Yamata Rogue and Miktoto Rogue entered into this world, their mother left it. She had died during childbirth.

Days later, Yamata and Miktoto found themselves at the funeral for their mother. Miktoto was crying, of course, but not over the death of his mother, he was far too young to understand what any of that means. He was simply crying as babies cry. The strange one was Yamata on the other hand, who was laughing.

"You're laughing…" Yamata's father growls. "YOU MURDERED MY LIFE AND YOU'RE LAUGHING?!" Yamata's father jumps up and slaps his baby in the face, causing Yamata to shut up. But then, Yatama simply looks up at his father and begins laughing again. The Rogue Brothers' father stormed out of the funeral directly after that, and the two boys never saw either of their parents again.

After that, with no family to adopt them or take care of them, social services shoved Yamata and Miktoot into the shittiest, cheapest orphanage available, where the two brothers had to rely on nothing but their strength and brotherly bond to survive. After years of fighting, bloodshed, abuse, and starvation, the two brothers left the orphanage when they were twelve.

By the time that they were fourteen, Yamata and Miktoto became leading figures in the Japanese underworld, and the name, The Rogue Brothers, was known far and wide. Despite now being regular humans, Yamata and Mikoto still had memories of their impressive feats and inhuman fighting skills and abilities, and were indirectly powerful for their age, said to be able to kill a highly-trained pro boxer in under eight seconds by the time that they were thirteen.

And so, that brings us to where we are now. Through their connections in the underworld,d Yamata and Miktoto heard rumors about the legendary artifacts, a scarf made out of Yamata no Orochi's scales and a katana once wielded by Susano'o no Mikoto, and that if Yamata and Miktoto where to take up these weapons, it would restore their former strength. Their current goal is to steal these artifacts so that they can return to their former lives of glory instead of their dingy lives in the underworld. Yamata, of course, as a once evil serpent plans to use his powers to commit even more evil deeds, whereas Miktoto is only stealing the katana out of necessity, and hopes to gain his former godly powers to bring his wife, Kushinada, back to life.

Usually, babies begin developing memories at around three years old. But for Yamata and Mikoto, it was a bit different. By the time they were won, Yamata and Miktoto had begun experiencing dreams and visions of their past life. By the time that they were two, Yamata and Mikoto had begun to rationalize who they were in a past life. And by the time that they were three, Yamata and Miktoto had developed the rational and adult-intelligence as their former counterparts. While Yamata retained his original personality, Miktoto underwent drastic changes due to the humility that he had been taught after getting kicked out of Heaven and being forced to live with humans for the rest of his life. Mikoto resembles the Mikoto that he became before he died, not that one that Yamata remembers, which confuses the former serpent. The older they got, the more Yamata and Mikoto remembered about their past existence, but once the turned eighteen, they has assimilated too much into their new lives and began to forget those memories Now, in president time, Yamata and Mikoto remember very little about their past lives, only their meeting, their battle, and their deaths.

***

"SUSANO'O!" A pale woman with long black hair wearing a red robe booms.

"Yes, sister?" Susano'o asks.

"Did you…URINATE IN THE PALACE?!" Amaterasu, sister of Susanoo no Mikoto, eldest child of Izanami and Izanagi, and the Goddess of the Sun booms.

"Oh, hah-hah, ywah…" Susano'o laughs. "That was me."

"And why did you do such a thing…?" Amaterasu growls, her eyebrow twitching with each breath.

"Meh," Susano'o shrugs. "I had to go."

"GRAH!" Amaterasu grunts as she throws her hands in the air in frustration. "We should have banished you to Earth eons ago! I am so sick of your shenanigans!"

"Oh yeah?" Susano'o snickers. "Like you have domain over me!"

"Want to bet?" Amaterasu smirks.

"Do I?" Susano'o smirks back.

"Then We'll hold a pledge of divination, a Ukeh," Amaterasu begins to say. "We'll each take a possession of the other and chew it and spit it out, seeing how many children we can birth."

"Alright , just don't get mad when you lose!" Susano'o laughs. "Now…what should I take from you…?" Susano'o mutters to himself as he looks Amaterasu up and down. "I would like... your necklace!"

"Why you…" Amaterasu growls.

"Hey, a deal's a deal!" Susanoo laughs.

"Very well," Amaterasu sighs, before undoing her necklace and handing it to Susano'o. "As for me, I would like your sword."

"Hell no, anything but my sword!" Susano'o cries.

"Well a deal's a deal," Amaterasu parrots.

"Alright, here you go," Susano'o sighs, before tossing his katana to Amaterasu, who clumsily snatches it out of the air.

Both Amaterasu and Susanoo break their sibling's possessions into multiple pieces before shoving them in their mouth then chewing and swallowing. Next, the two siblings split the pieces out. Three men spawn from Susanoos katana, while five women spawn from Amaterasu's necklace.

"HAH!" Susano'o spits. "I birthed more humans than you, I win!"

"Are you so sure about that?" Amaterasu asks with a smirk. "One woman is worth two men."

"Since when?!" Susano'o cries.

"Since ever," Amaterau' answers, causing Susanoo's eyes to widen.

"So you mean to tell me…that you have six points while I only have five…" he asks.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," Amaterau's answers, causing Susanoos entire body to tense up.

"I lost."

"I lost."

"I lost."

"I...don't lose.."

"I DON'T LOSE!"

In a fit of rage, Susanoo went on a rampage. For days storms raged in the sky in the human world as Susano'o tried tearing his palace to bits. Thunder boomed, lightning struck the Earth, the winds howled, and the rain flooded entire towns away. It wasn't until days later when Susano'o had settled down, his rampage ending just as the storms did.

"God of Storms, wake up!"

"H-huh…?" Susano'o groggily asks as his eyes slowly open, dinging himself in the ruins of Amaterasu's rice fields (which he had begun rampaging through once the palace was destroyed). Above Susano'o, is a farmer.

Your sister...something terrible has happened!" The farmer panics, causing Susanoo's eyes to widen.

"What happened to Amaterasu?!" Susano'o cries as he leaps up.

"Due to your rampaging, she hid herself in the Ama no Iwata (Heavenly Rock Cave)!" The farmer explains. "With the Goddess of the sun stowed away, Heaven and Earth have been plunged into total darkness!"

Susano'o then peers up at the sky and sees that, indeed, there is no sun. But, it is still daytime. So without stars or the moon in the sky, the sky is now pitch black. "This…is all my fault…" Susano'o sadly says to himself as he stares at the ground. But then, he looks back up as his eyes narrow. "No! This is no time to wallow in self pity, I must go save my sister!" And with that, Susano'o takes off towards the Ama no Iwata.

Once outside of the Heavenly Rock Cave, Susanoo sees that it's surrounded by a large crowd, and that the entrance is boarded up by a large boulder

"Come out!"

"Lazy Goddess!"

"Please, we need you!"

The crowd hurls boht panic, desperate cries as well as insults towards the cave, in a frantic plea to get Amaterasu to emerge once more. But nothing is working.

"Amaterasu, come out, please!" Susano'o pleads as he worms his way to the front of the crowd. "We need you!"

"No!" Amataerasu snaps.

"But you stole all the light from the world!" Susano'o cries. "Heaven and Earth are now in total darkness!"

"Oh, so now it's my fault?!" Amaterasu snaps. "You were the one who went on a rampage and destroyed my home and killed my friends and it's my fault that the world is plunged into darkness?!"

"No…" Susano'o gloomily replies, causing Amaterau's eyes to widen. "It is my fault. I've already made up my mind to banish myself from Heaven, so please, come on it!"

Amaterasu is silent.

"Sister…?"

"Susanoo…" Amaterasu finally answers, breaking her silence in a soft whisper. "You…never apologize…?"

"Well I do now," Susano'o replied with a sad smile. "It's about time I swallowed my pride and learned some humility."

Susano'o then hears some shuffling come from behind the rock, and a moment later, Amaterasu pushes the rock aside just a smidge, so that she can see out. "Susano'o, I-'' she begins to say, but Amaterasu is interrupted when Susanoo grabs his sister's wrist and hoists her out into the open, restoring all of the light to the world and causing the crowd to cheer. And thus, light was brought back to both Heaven and Earth.

 But alas, Susano'o deeds didn't go unpunished. As much as Amaterasu pleaded, the other gods refused to allow Susanoo to stay in Heaven any longer, and stripped him of his title as the god of storms. After a heartfelt goodbye to his sister, Susnaoo was forced to leave Heaven and never to return.