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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 42, Written February 2012

===

Chapter 42 - Many Tailed Friends

Ichitama and Kuro walked back down the steep path from the Shinto shrine with Saburo, Kira and Keiko. At the halfway point there was a flat resting place, and Ichitama signaled for them to stop for a moment.

"I have some questions for the three of you, if I may ask them," he began. "This is a good place, where no one else may hear or see. Keiko-chan? Are you absolutely loyal to your Mistress, Lady Kira-sama?"

"Yes! Kira-sama has been my friend and companion all my life, even though my station is so much lower than hers. Her happiness is everything to me," the maid replied, without hesitation.

"And you all believe in the grace of Inari, and pray to her aid, hoping for her blessing?" Ichitama asked.

"Yes. Though happiness seems impossible, if anyone can give us that gift, it is Inari. She is our only hope," Saburo replied.

"Yes, I hope so. You cannot know our sadness, but we hope Inari will take pity on us," Kira said quietly. It was the longest sentence Ichitama had heard the vixen speak since they had met.

"I, too, pray for Inari's blessing on my Lady, and for some small peace in my own heart," Keiko replied.

"And yet the three of you go on a journey that none of you desires to complete? It is a great honor that is being done to Lady Kira-sama, to be married at the order of her Daimyo to a favored hatamoto in the court of a daimyo in Edo itself. But this marriage can bring only sadness, not only for Lady Kira-sama, and also for Saburo-sama, correct?" Ichitama asked.

"What? How could you know this?" Saburo asked, his hand on the hilt of his Katana. "We have said no such thing, and our prayers were silent! Who has told you this?"

"Keep your sword in its sheath, Saburo. It would be useless against us," Ichitama replied. "Perhaps it is because Inari has heard your pleas, and knew your hearts even before you set foot upon the part to this shrine? You made similar pleas at other shrines along the way, did you not? Even before you met us?"

"If we did or not it is no matter for you to be involved in! You will not speak of such things! It could bring ruin upon us all!" Saburo said. "Answer me! Who told you that this marriage would cause sadness for both Kira-chan and myself?"

Ichitama smiled, and replied calmly, "Who but Inari could have known such things?" Then his form shifted, and he was no longer a grey wolf, but was now a white fox, with three tails. "And who but one of her loyal servants would she tell?"

"A Kitsune!" Lady Keiko exclaimed, in a shocked whisper.

All three of them took a step back from Ichitama and Kuro. They were frightened, and looked even more frightened when Kuro followed Ichitama's example, and also transformed into a three-tailed white fox.

"Two of us. Inari knows that you two love each other, and that you seek a way to avoid this marriage. Yet it would seem that honor gives no other possibility, for the marriage must take place. I will ask you now - are the three of you willing to sacrifice everything that you have, to remain with each other? What if it could be arranged that all would believe the marriage took place, and that Murakami Jiro-sama got the wife he was promised?" Ichitama asked. " Saburo? Would you be willing to allow everyone to believe you died on the way back from delivering Kira-sama to her marriage? Would you be willing to become ronin? Or to become peasants and live the rest of your lives in some obscure village? Would you do this, if it meant Saburo and Kira could marry and spend their lives together, and raise a family together?"

"That would truly be a gift beyond price," Saburo admitted. "Yes. If my Kira-chan could bear it, I would even become a nameless peasant to be her husband."

"And I would work the fields, if it meant I could be Saburo's wife," Kira replied.

"I... want my Lady to be happy. I do not know what I could do, but I will support whatever is needed for this." Keiko said uncertainly.

Ichitama resumed his former appearance as a wolf, and said, "Then we continue to Edo. We shall protect you along the way, as planned. But just before we enter Edo, Kuro and I will take the places of Keiko and Kira, while the ladies remain behind in an inn. We can change our gender as easily as we just changed our appearance. Murakami Jiro-sama will have no reason to complain of the wife that he gets - assuming he treats me well. And I can make sure that he does. I can control the peasant porters so they will see nothing amiss. As we travel, I shell devise a plan for you to continue your lives in secrecy and happiness. If you trust me, all will be well."

===

As they left Osaka, the road they took led into the mountains again. Ichitama spoke with each of the Porters as they walked, and in the process put them under a compulsion spell so they would not run in fear if Ichitama or Kuro performed any supernatural acts. He completed this process just barely in time.

As they headed into a narrow pass, Ichitama held up one hand. "Wait. Several people lie in ambush ahead. Possibly ronin, or perhaps common bandits. Kuro! Take the lead, and deal with them as best you see fit."

Kuro nodded, and mentally sent to Ichitama, 'With pleasure. I may take them completely?'

Ichitama nodded again, and said simply, "Go. Eliminate them, if they oppose you."

"You send only one man, against an ambush?" Kira asked.

"One Kitsune is more than a match for them. Watch," Ichitama replied.

Kuro shrugged off his blanket roll, and strode down the dirt road, and just as he was almost out of sight around a bend, three arrows flew at him, and struck his breast. They passed through him with almost no resistance, though their passing did tear holes in his silk kimono. The arrows had not appeared to be on fire as they flew at him, but when they struck the ground behind him, they were entirely aflame. Kuro walked on, as if he felt nothing.

Two swordsmen leaped to the attack.

The first was a wolf, who delivered a vicious blow to the neck that would have decapitated any normal samurai. But his blade passed through Kuro's neck as if it was mere smoke. The bow on Kuro's left shoulder shattered and fell to the ground - proof that his enemy's blade had passed through where his neck was. The swordsman screamed and dropped his blade, which was steaming hot.

As the first ronin backpedaled in terror, trying to get away from this impossible apparition, the second swordsman, who was a brown bear, attempted a powerful blow that should have cut Kuro in half, from collar bone to hip. The blade sliced through the cloth of his Kuro's kimono with so little resistance that the swordsman lost his balance and stumbled, coming close to Kuro on the left side.

Kuro grabbed the bear by the face with his left hand, and the bear's head became engulfed in flames. As that enemy died, Kuro took his falling ememy's bow from his shoulder with his right hand. But he didn't take any arrows to go with it. He simply drew the bow back, and at full draw a flaming arrow appeared, to streak in the direction of his victims. He fired four arrows, which were matched by four screams. Then he cast the captured bow aside, and returned to the group. As he walked back, he picked up the sword his first attacker had dropped. His kimono was falling apart, severed from shoulder to hip, the waist sash cut through. He shrugged his left arm out of the useless garment, and allowed it to drop to the ground, dressed now only in a loincloth and the part of his kimono that covered his right arm and shoulder.

When Kuro got back to his group, he presented the sword to Lady Kira. It was slightly discolored, as if it had been passed through an intense flame, but was now cool to the touch. The remains of his kimono hung in tatters from his right shoulder.

"How... He should be dead! Is he a ghost?" Kira said in fear, not touching the offered blade.

"A Kitsune like Kuro can become intangible at will," Ichitama explained, taking the sword from Kuro, "With no more substance than a candle flame. Though I see his kimono did not fare as well. Please, Kuro, take a moment and dress yourself again. You embarrass the ladies."

Kuro nodded, and wordlessly retrieved his blanket roll, taking from it a fresh kimono to replace the one that had been destroyed in the fight.

Ichitama looked at the captured sword. "Not a very good blade, is it? Still, it may be worth selling. Kuro and I will gather anything worth keeping, and deal with the bodies. Then we may proceed," he said, handing the sword to Saburo.

===

They collected five sets of swords, five knives, and four bows, as well as four sheaves of arrows and a considerable collection of coins and jewelry that the ronin had apparently taken from travelers that they had ambushed previously. They piled the bodies beside the road, just out of sight. The weapons and valuables they gave to Saburo.

"Do you think there will be more of them?" Saburo asked. He was quite certain that he would have fallen to that ambush, and as grateful for the aid of the two Kitsune guarding his group.

"Perhaps. And if there are, we will dispatch them," Ichitama said confidently.

===

In Kyoto, Saburo contacted a police inspector, and informed him about the five ronin that had attacked his party on the road from Osaka. He showed him the collected weapons as proof, and the inspector took the weapons, paid him for their value, and he also gave Saburo a reward for ridding the area of that band of cutthroats and thieves.

"You should take this. It is rightfully yours," Saburo said to Ichitama, as they left Kyoto. He offered the reward money to the Kitsune.

"Keep that to start your new life with. We will have to give the Lady Kira's dowry to Murakami Jiro-sama. The value of the dowry is no doubt known to her promised husband, and he will count it to make sure it is all there. You should keep that reward, as well as the money we reclaimed from the bandits, to start your new lives with," Ichitama replied, refusing the gift.

"But you deserve a reward!" Saburo said emphatically.

"And I shall get one," Ichitama replied. "I will for a time live in Edo as Lady Murakami Kira, wife of a respected hatamoto in Edo. My husband will have Lady Kira's dowry, as well as his own wealth. Kuro will attend me as Keiko-chan would have attended the real Lady Kira. I will remain there long enough that no one will look for the three of you. And when I tire of this game, I will make sure they have no reason to seek me."

"As you wish, oh powerful Kitsune," Saburo said. "But you at least have our thanks, and our eternal gratitude. We shall pray for you whenever we can, to thank Inari for sending you to us."

They continued on to Nagoya, and took rooms in an inn there for the night. As they had done before, got fresh peasants to bear the burdens in the morning, and the ones that had served them previously were paid and returned whence they came. Ichitama released the peasants from his spell as they left, and placed the new ones under his control.

The road now led along the southern shore of Japan, and they often could see the endless expanse of the Pacific Ocean, and many small fishing boats working close to shore. As night fell, they arrived at a relatively large fishing village.

"This might be a good place for you," Ichitama suggested quietly to Saburo and Kira. "I could make sure that a few of the villagers here would think you are peasant relatives from another nearby village, when they see you next. That could ease your introductions here. Or you could go to some larger town, and try to take service as a samurai and his wife, and her widowed sister?"

"I think we would try to remain samurai, if we can. But we will remember this place as a possibility, as well," Saburo said.

Ichitama looked at a map, and said, "As you wish. Tomorrow we will stop at Yokohama, and find a safe place for the women. From there to Edo it is but a short distance, and you can claim that you dismissed your other escorts when in sight of the city. Get some rest. Tomorrow, we are all reborn."