5 Guidance and Secrets II

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 1]

  [Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense]

  [Kegare: 22%]

  [Status: Trapped]

  ---

  Kazuki turned to Kuro. He could feel himself shudder, betrayed. "You... you were working with them?"

  For a moment, her eyes softened and her shoulders slumped slightly. "Kazuki, I—"

  "Save your excuses, feline," interrupted the mastiff-headed yokai. "We have what we came for." He turned his muzzle toward Kazuki, dark eyes gleaming with intelligence. "A fresh human with the seeds of kegare already planted." The mastiff turned and addressed Kazuki directly, "Do you know how valuable that is here, little vessel?"

  "Vessel?" Kazuki echoed, feeling his stomach twist.

  The mastiff yokai's muzzle split in what might have been a grin, his tongue lolling out for a moment before he continued. "Oh, she didn't tell you? We’ve been looking for someone like you. You are the perfect container." He inhaled deeply, as if savoring Kazuki's scent. "And you are the most… empty… vessel we’ve found in decades. Master will be most pleased, I’m sure."

  The Inugami leader turned his attention back to Kuro. "You've done well, Nekomata. A fine prize you've brought us."

  Kuro's hands clenched into fists, but she didn't move. Her golden eyes flicked to Kazuki, then away.

  "Let him go," she whispered, too quiet for Kazuki to be sure if he'd heard her right.

  The mastiff yokai laughed. "No deals, cat. You’ve done your job. Now we take him. The vessel must be emptied before it can be filled."

  Kuro inhaled sharply. Then, without another word, she lunged at the nearest Inugami, claws flashing.

  Kazuki backed away, his mind racing. Six opponents, all armed. His leg was injured. Trapped in a clearing saturated with Kegare. And Kuro, who had betrayed him, then seemingly changed sides again, fighting against impossible odds.

  But there was really no choice. "I won't let you take me," Kazuki said. Black smoke seeped from his skin as he prepared Black Hand.

  The dog-headed yokai laughed, a chilling sound that was half-bark, half-human. "You don't have a choice, little vessel. Your power and your body will be ours, one way or another. Our master has waited too long for a suitable host."

  Kazuki cast a final glance at Kuro, who was barely holding her own against two Inugami. Her shoulder was already bleeding from a slash, her movements slowing.

  "I trusted you," he said quietly.

  Then Kazuki turned and ran.

  Not toward the false shrine, but back the way they had come, into the forest. His injured leg screamed in protest, but adrenaline carried him forward. Behind him, howls and baying and something like laughter erupted, and then the sound of pursuit crashed through the underbrush.

  [Kegare: 22%]

  Kazuki's injured leg suddenly felt itchy, as if something was moving just beneath the skin. It felt creepy but somehow his legs began propelling him faster through the trees. He dodged branches and leapt over fallen logs. But the howls behind him grew closer. The Inugami were faster, more familiar with the terrain.

  A root caught his foot, sending Kazuki sprawling. Pain exploded in his injured leg as he crashed to the forest floor. He rolled, trying to use the force of the fall to propel him back on his feet, but his leg buckled beneath him.

  The first of the Inugami burst through the trees, curved blade raised for the kill. Kazuki raised his hand, summoning Black Hand, knowing it wouldn't be enough.

  A small dark blur shot past him, colliding with the dog-headed yokai. Kuro in her cat form, claws extended, raking across the creature's face. The Inugami howled in pain, staggering backward.

  Kuro landed beside Kazuki, transforming back to her human form in a fluid motion like living black water. Her eyes were wide, urgent.

  "Run, you idiot!" she hissed. "I'll hold them off!"

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  "Why? So you can betray me again?" Kazuki spat, struggling to his feet.

  [Kegare: 23%]

  "I made a mistake," she said, her voice cracking. "But I'm trying to fix it now. Go!"

  More Inugami crashed through the underbrush, surrounding them. Kuro stood protectively in front of Kazuki, her cat claws extended, sharp but small.

  "Last chance, nekomata," growled the mastiff-headed leader. "You’re not as valuable as you think you are. Step aside, or die with the vessel."

  Kuro's reply was a hiss as she launched herself at the nearest Inugami. She slashed precisely at his neck. Dark blood sprayed across the forest floor.

  Kazuki watched in stunned silence as Kuro fought. She was outnumbered, but her speed and ferocity were incredible. She ducked under blades, flipped over attackers, transforming partially between cat and human as needed - now a woman with a cat's claws, now a massive cat with a woman's calculating eyes.

  But it wouldn't be enough. There were too many, and as Kazuki watched, one of the Inugami's blades caught her across the shoulder, opening a deep wound. Kuro stumbled, momentarily vulnerable, and another yokai moved in for the kill.

  Kazuki didn't think. He just acted.

  [Black Hand - Active]

  He executed a Black Hand strike, slamming into the Inugami about to strike Kuro. The creature flew backward, crashing into a tree with a sickening crack.

  [Kegare: 26%]

  Pain speared through Kazuki's head with the effort, but he pushed forward, limping to Kuro's side. She looked at him in shock.

  "Yeah, well," Kazuki panted, grinning in spite of himself, "I'm starting to make a habit of helping cats in trouble."

  A grim smile flickered across her face.

  The remaining Inugami circled them warily now, growling, reassessing the threat. Four against two, with both Kazuki and Kuro injured.

  "Any ideas?" Kazuki asked, his hand gloved in smoky black.

  Kuro's eyes darted around, then fixed on something beyond the trees. "Yes, but you're not going to like it."

  "What does that mean?"

  Kuro grabbed his arm, her expression grave. "It means we have only one way out of this." She pointed beyond the circling Inugami. "The Kegare pool we passed earlier. It's just past those trees."

  "The pool? But you said that's dangerous—"

  "It is. Extremely. But it's also our only chance." Her golden eyes held him. "Do you trust me, Kazuki? After everything?"

  The Inugami were tense, preparing to attack again.

  Kazuki looked at Kuro's face; the yokai who had betrayed him, then came back to save him. The whispers from the Ridge echoed in his mind: "...don't trust the cat, she lies with every breath..." But what choice did he have?

  "Do I trust you? Not really!" Kazuki laughed. "But I like you!"

  [Kegare: 24%]

  Kuro's eyes glinted, a predator's smile touching her lips. "Good enough." She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I need your kegare. All of it. I can channel it, but you have to give it willingly."

  The lead Inugami barked a command, and his followers began to advance.

  "If I do this," Kazuki said, "what happens to me?"

  Kuro's expression softened momentarily. "I don't know. But if you don't, we both die here."

  Kazuki hesitated, the whispers from the Ridge haunting him. If he gave Kuro his power, would he be playing right into her hands? Wasn't this her plan all along - to steal his soul?

  He thought of home - his empty apartment, his father who went away one day and never came back, and his mother who did the same years later. He thought of all the hours and days he'd wasted waiting for someone to come back, for someone to save him. But here, now...

  He had a chance to save someone else.

  The Inugami were closing in, blades gleaming. Decision time. Trust the yokai who had betrayed him once already, or face certain death at the hands of the Inugami and their mysterious master.

  Kazuki took a deep breath. "If I do this," he said slowly, "and we survive... I want answers. Real ones. No more half-truths."

  Kuro nodded once, her golden eyes unreadable. "

  The promise of a yokai who'd already betrayed him once. Yet somehow, Kazuki believed her-or wanted to.

  "Do it," Kazuki said.

  Kuro's hand shot out, grabbing his wrist. Her touch burned, and Kazuki felt something inside him responding, flowing toward her like water finding a new channel. He saw the veins in his arms turn black as they had before and then reach out like streams and rivers to the tributary of Kuro's warm hand. The midnight energy of his aura mingled with her purple-tinged power, creating a swirling vortex around them both.

  As his dark energy drained into Kuro, Kazuki felt lightheaded, his vision tunneling. Through the haze, he noticed that Kuro seemed to know exactly what to do with his power, manipulating it with confidence. Had she prepared for this?.

  The Inugami backed away, their muzzles in snarls of fear rather than aggression now. Kuro's form was changing, growing larger, her body surrounded by a nimbus of smoke.

  "What are you doing?" the mastiff leader growled, but his voice held uncertainty now. "This wasn't part of our agreement, cat!"

  Kuro didn't answer. Her golden eyes, now glowing with transferred power, fixed on Kazuki one last time. In them, he saw a swirl of emotions too complex to decipher - guilt and triumph, regret and necessity, and something deeper that might have been genuine concern.

  The last thing Kazuki saw before consciousness faded was Kuro's face - her golden eyes meeting him with an expression that might have been regret, or triumph, or something else entirely unreadable.

  Then darkness swallowed him whole, just like she knew it would.

  ---

  [New Achievement: You’re Not Going To Like It]

  [Next Chapter: The Dark Rider]

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