"If the creature really feeds on humans, then we must find him before more lives are lost. s.h.i.+nshou, I request your a.s.sistance, lend me your strength...."

Narachika paused a moment and then turned to Masahiro.

"I want you to stay here."

"What?! NO! Im going with you."

Painfully he struggled off the bed, he added "I promised Mizu and Musoru that after we vanquish the monster, I would bring back their mother and friends........ I promised...... "

Masahiro clenched his teeth, struggling to stamp down on the rise of pa.s.sion and anger that rose within him. He had once promised many things to many people, but found himself largely unable to fulfill much of his promises. But at the edge of the woods watching the woman disappear toward the spring, all that had changed and the promise burned on his heart. Buried too among those hundreds of useless promises was one that would never be kept, the most important one. He had made a promise to someone to become the greatest onmyouji that had ever lived......but the receiver of his promise was gone forever.

"Everyday there are more and more victims, people are suffering and in pain. I want to help them as an Onmyouji. I promised that I would be the greatest onmyouji that has ever lived........ !"

Masahiro's eyes glittered with emotion as he shouted.

Narachika knew that his brother couldnt be stopped when he had his mind set on something. Though Masahiro didnt know it, in many ways he was as determined and stubborn as his grandfather.

"..... I understand......But please don't push yourself too far. " Narachika sighed.

Masahiro gave a fierce nod.

At the foot of the bed, the white mononoke tilted his head quizzically. Did he say he wanted to become an Onmyouji? He didn't even have the ability to see, why would he push himself to do the impossible? Exactly who did he make this foolish promise to? The greatest of Onmyouji? In Touda's mind, there was no one else but Abe no Seimei. If he understood the little nuisance correctly, that would mean he planned to surpa.s.s Abe no Seimei himself. 

Surpa.s.s Abe no Seimei?...... Heh......What foolish hubris.

The white mononoke shook his head and blinked. For the life of him, he couldn't recall the name of the child before him. Even his face seemed unfamiliar, as if Touda was seeing it for the first time. But his promise, was the one thing that seem to etch itself into his memory.

________________________________________________________

The creature beneath the water seethed in anger at the return of his defeated minions. His servants trembled, bleeding from countless wounds, covered before him, dragging useless limbs. Yet clinging to their bodies was the scent of his hated enemy, the one who had seal him so long ago. The boundless stretch of time sealed within the darkness was more than enough to etch that scent into his memory a thousand times over. When freedom finally came, he and his minions were free to return to the waters they had once ruled.

Beneath his feet lay a pile of waterlogged bodies, entangled in their bloated slimy limbs. (Trans-Note: Ewwww......ewwww........ewwww......) At his side, his remaining servants tore at the decomposing corpses, fighting amongst themselves for sc.r.a.ps. They had hoped that the dead would attract the living, humans searching for their lost loved ones. But gradually few and fewer people came. Perhaps the prey had grown wise to his ways.

There was a boy that entered the water a few days ago. He had sent one of his servants, who returned defeated as others intervened. There were a few women, on which he had cast his affliction, their pained screams and wretched cries had been music to his ears, and he had released them.........perhaps he should have eaten them instead.

He stretched in his dark crevice in the craggy sea floor, slowly opening his yellow eyes.

"Go........"

His minions bickering over the human sc.r.a.ps instantly looked up in attention, jaws dripping with putrid flesh. Then as one, they reared and charged forth for the ocean's surface.

He was hungry.

The land bordering the ocean was heavily populated, there was more than enough for him, and eating humans were of no consequence. And when he was full...... he wouldn't be adverse to having some fun with the survivors. Oh, what fun he would have with the survivors,...until he got hungry again, of course. Humans were prey and should act like prey. It wasn't their lot in life to raise their hands against their youkai masters. Eventually he would run out of humans to prey on. No matter, he could simply move some where else. Humans in the world were as countless as blades of gra.s.s, but he was loath to move beyond this island (j.a.pan). Other places were occupied by other Youkai, and encroaching on another's territory was not wise. Compet.i.tion was everywhere, but this country was different. He was powerful and had many servants, there were few threats here..... except of course for the one that had once sealed him.

______________________________________________________________________

At twilight, the waves lapped gently on sh.o.r.e. This stretch of sandy beach was once the summer gathering place for the village children. Now the beach was silent and still, as Masahiro and Narachika gazed out onto the ocean's surface.   

There was a mark on Masahiro's forehead, a spiraling pattern of sharp lines drawn in ash. The ash of certain spells (the paper strips) had the power to allow one to see spirits.

"This can be used in place of your spirit vision ability (Kenki). Although, it's not very useful, I hope it will put your heart at ease."

Masahiro nodded at his brother, grateful for what little help the spell can offer. If he focused hard, he could see the s.h.i.+nshou.

He focused his vision on the oceans surface, instantly picking up on a strange presence, a dark shape beneath the lapping waves. The dark shape seemed to grow in size, a shadow slowly spreading to darken the water like ink welling up from the depth. Masahiro felt the hair on his neck stand on end. A trickling coldness ran down his spine as if shards of ice had been dropped down his collar.

Without warning, the water welled up, bulging out of the sea to form a column of water like a waterspout churning at the ocean's surface.

Masahiro flinched back, but held his ground and squinted into the chaos. His eyes picked out a dark shape in the column of water. Too late he picked out the creatures as they shot out of the waterspout in a blur of darkness. At his side, Genbu gestured, and just as the creatures were about to make landfall on sh.o.r.e, they where thrown back by an invisible barrier. Masahiro felt that a split second before the air around him had suddenly become drier, and with a start he had realized the Genbu had used the water vapor in the air to make his protective barrier.

For the sake of the villagers, they could not allow the creatures to invade the land, they must be vanquished here and now. Masahiro stepped back onto the sandbar as Genbu's barrier dissappated, and watched as far on the ocean's surface, the beasts circled and regrouped, scanning the sh.o.r.e until collectively, their eyes fell on Masahiro. Target acquired..

Masahiro watched in horror as their human like faces split into grotesque toothy grins, and the air thundered with their cries. In a spray of mist, they charged toward him as one.

Masahiro took a deep breath and used precious few seconds to gather his senses and sharpen his focus. He was ready.

Masahiro took a deep breath and began to chant, each syllable growing more powerful than the last until the air itself seem to pulse with his words, reaching out to bind one of the charging creatures. It struggled in it's bonds kicking up a fierce spray.

Behind it, another creature narrowly dodged one of Narachika's attacks, escaping by diving beneath the surface. Narachika frowned in frustration, he tended to stick to the quieter aspects of the Onmyouji trade, and vanquis.h.i.+ng monsters was not his forte.  He took aim at the monster Masahiro had bound at the water's surface and gestured as he wove a new spell. The air itself became his blade as his attack sped forth, slicing the monster to dark slimy shreds.

At the opening, Masahiro wove another binding spell that seem to strip the bodies of one of the creatures of skin, as Taiin followed up with countless sharp gales, rending the monster into dark stringy threads easily carried off by the wind.

It seemed to weren't so hard to kill after all, and soon only one was left, hiding beneath the surface.

Though Narachika had not confirmed the existence a leader, he would rather err on the side of caution and refrain from discounting it's existence. At the same time, he wondered if the death of the leader would really cure the afflicted villagers. In his heart he fear that the death of the monster would do nothing to return the minds and souls of the afflicted. Though Narachika wanted very much to help the children, he had a clear grasp on what was possible and what was not. He doubted he could recapture the people's lost memories, just as he was sure he was powerless to revived the dead. Perhaps Seimei was the only one who can help.

As Narachika pondered the problem, Masahiro had readied himself to vanquish the last monster, focusing his energy and scanning the surface of the water for suspicious ripples.The last monster had to be there, and Masahiro braced himself for the inevitable charge.