[Himushi Redemption]: Taeko Akiyama, Cheater of Death

Osamu, Izanami, Tsukiakari, and Yoko took their seats, their full attention centered on Taeko.

Taeko held up her index finger. "First, I suppose I should start with my 'death'. Izanami, you said that you watched me die, that you killed me after I turned into a Mu-Onna."

Izanami nodded. "Of course! I remember it so vividly! Inari was there with us!"

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but the Mu-Onna you killed wasn't me." Taeko declared.

"Hold on, I'm sorry, but can you start from the beginning?" Yoko asked. "Gekko and Izanami already know you, but Osamu and I..."

"Of course." Taeko said. "You two already seem to know about the Senkumo clan. We were founded by Bishamon shortly before the Onin War, the catalyst of the Warring States period. After Gekko proved herself capable to Bishamon, she was given command of her own base. She had a ring of leadership that helped her out with clan affairs, and I was one of those leaders, Taeko Senkumo. We were best friends and comrades. We always looked out for each other, and we loved each other fiercely. However, as Gekko might've told you, our last meeting was...nightmarish."

"I didn't tell them in detail." Tsukiakari said. "It's still painful to remember."

"Is it okay if I tell them a bit more about what happened?" Taeko asked, getting a nod from Tsukiakari. "Okay. I was exiled from the clan. I wasn't mentally fit for my position anymore. The war took a hell of a toll on us all, but especially on me. I'm sure Gekko's told you all about the terrible decisions she made, the killings, the brutality, the senseless violence. Well, I was worse. I truly became a demon.

“My mistakes costed me my career with the clan, but I used the opportunity to do some investigating. We were already getting a bit suspicious of Bishamon during that time, and I managed to stumble upon the skeletons in his closet. I was the one who discovered that Bishamon was using the Senkumo clan to prop up the lives of otherwise forgotten gods."

Taeko leaned forward, closing her eyes. "It was an ingenious plan. Back then, the Shinto pantheon had just finalized a merger with the Buddhist pantheon. That merger brought a bunch of new gods under Amaterasu's command, but it also brought forth a great, new power; reincarnation. Gods who garnered enough prayers from the followers would reincarnate upon death, making it much more difficult to thin out the ranks of the pantheon. It was a tremendous boon for the gods, or rather, for the new gods."

"What do you mean?" Osamu asked.

"Turns out that when you merge two pantheons together like that, there's a lot of overlap. Amaterasu ended up with multiple gods holding dominion over the same field. When that happened, the older gods were slowly phased out in favor of the newer gods, thanks to Buddhism spreading so rapidly in Japan. That meant that a lot of gods were phased out of existence because they were forgotten, and plenty more were at risk of sharing the same fate. Amaterasu didn't just expand the pantheon, she made it more efficient. She must've known what was going to happen to the older, Shinto gods, and she did it anyway."

"Mother...really did that?" Tsukiakari questioned.

Taeko nodded. "This created a faction of disillusioned gods in desperate need of help. Bishamon was ambitious and he saw an opportunity to amass power within the pantheon. That's why he founded the Senkumo clan and structured it as a theocratic stratocracy. He took advantage of the unraveling political order of the Ashikaga shogunate, and, anticipating a war, he founded the clan.

“From the very beginning, the mission was to grow the clan until it could embark on its own missions. Instead of occupying a city with soldiers and taxing the population like any other army, Bishamon had us influence the religious leaders of the era, forcing them to venerate Shinto gods alongside Buddhist gods. As a result, those old gods in danger of fading away were given a lifeline, and they found themselves indebted to Bishamon."

"Hachiman, Oyamatsumi, Raijin, and Fujin were the main co-conspirators." Izanami said. "They benefited the most from the scheme."

"Those were the ones you killed, right, Gekko?" Yoko asked.

Tsukiakari nodded. "Yeah."

"Bishamon was getting enough gods on his side to stage a coup and dethrone Amaterasu." Taeko said. "Plenty of gods reviled her for what she did, after all. However, when I uncovered the truth, I threatened his entire plan. Izanami and Inari helped me when they launched an investigation into the clan, but it ultimately fell apart. Heaven's entire legal system was in Bishamon's pocket, and I found myself hunted by the clan I used to love. I hatched a plan to secure my escape and stole weapon designs that belonged to the Senkumo.

“Since Izanami was just about done with her failed investigation, the designs were still in her custody. I took them and attempted to trade the designs for my freedom with the Takeda clan. The Akiyama were a side branch of the Takeda, after all. Of course, because I threatened the security of the clan, Tsukiakari was bound by her duty as their commanding lord to step in and stop me. The last time we saw each other was during our fight to the death. Gekko lost that fight. She died right then and there, and our friendship died with her."

"You actually won against Gekko?" Yoko gasped.

"It wasn't by sheer force, I assure you." Taeko said. "I hid the documents she needed on my person, meaning she couldn't hit me with any of her magic, lest she destroy the designs. After our fight, I went off to make the deal, but it turned out that Bishamon had set the whole thing up to trap me. He and Oyamatsumi captured me and killed my infant daughter right in front of my eyes. Then they took me back to Kyoto so they could finish me off, but they couldn't kill me."

"Because Momo's death triggered the Mu-Onna curse." Izanami finished.

Taeko nodded. "That's right. A Mu-Onna, or a woman of naught, is a woman who is swallowed by her grief upon the death of her child that she transforms into a pale, featureless husk of herself. Once that curse took hold of me, I had very little time left."

"How on earth did you get out of that? You should've died!" Tsukiakari cried.

"Should've, yes. You can thank the Shoku Twins for saving me." Taeko said.

"What?! The Shoku Twins did this?" Osamu recoiled.

"They came and found me in the catacombs beneath Oyamatsumi's shrine. They pulled me out of there and told me they needed my help, that the world had come to an end in their timeline. Osamu, you might recall that the twins are permitted to travel back in time only in the case of severe emergencies, right?"

"Yeah, I think Akatsuki mentioned something like that before." Osamu answered. "I asked them if they could do anything to save Isabella from her cancer, and they said that even if they could, they only travel back with permission from Amaterasu, and that only ever happens in the case of a cataclysmic event."

"So, was there some sort of cataclysm they needed you to prevent?" Yoko asked.

"Yes." Taeko said. "That event was Izanami."

"Huh? Me?"

Taeko explained further. "Originally, Himushi and Magatori were supposed to ambush Tsukiakari outside of this very house one night. They would've taken her to another location, tortured her, murdered her, and stuffed her remains in a suitcase outside your front door."

"Holy fuck, what?!" Tsukiakari gasped. "Bullshit, I would've killed those two idiots!"

"No, you didn't." Taeko sighed. "The only reason you know they exist now is because I was here to warn you all about the threat. Originally, I died back during the Warring States period, so that means that not even Shinju knew Himushi or Magatori were still around. They took Gekko by surprise and brutally murdered her. And of course, that sent Izanami into a rage. Even after Izanami killed Himushi and Magatori for revenge, she continued to wreak havoc on humanity itself and unleashed a plague that wiped out almost all of Earth's population."

Izanami tented her thumbs together. "That...sounds like something I'd do if I ever lost Gekko..."

"The Shoku Twins came back to prevent that from happening. To do that, they needed someone with a vested interest in protecting Tsukiakari and Izanami. Who else but me? So, after they pulled me out, we hatched a plan to prevent the cataclysm from occurring. The solution seemed simple. We had to at least make you guys aware of the threat so that you wouldn't be caught off guard.

“We determined that the best way to prevent the cataclysm and right some of the things left wrong by the Warring States period was to send me to the future. However, there was no way I'd be able to handle everything by myself. Not only did I want to save Izanami and Tsukiakari, but also Kagutsuchi and Inari as well. I needed two things, an organization to back me up, and a way to get up-to-date information about everyone. I had to join the Exorcist Program."

"That's why you impersonated Lucrezia?" Tsukiakari asked.

Taeko nodded. "Lucrezia and I shared similar physical attributes, and had she survived the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, she would've been the same age as me. She was the perfect mold for me. Because the earthquake was so destructive, her body was never recovered, which meant that the exorcists never registered her as dead, but as missing. The Shoku Twins brought me to 2005 so that I could take a few years getting used to life in the modern era. Not only that, but I had to really 'become' Lucrezia. That's where Shinju came in."

"Taeko and I..." Shinju began. "We became good friends, comrades even. When the twins told me who she was, I was in complete awe of her. I wanted to ask her so many questions and thank her for everything she did. It was because of her efforts that Tsukiakari was able to come out of the Warring States period alive, after all. But...Taeko wasn't exactly in a good head space. Tsukiakari, you lived through the gap between the war and now, but for Taeko, it was only a few years. She was still in a lot of pain from losing the clan, and most of all, from losing you."

"Taeko..." Tsukiakari sobbed.

"Honestly, once I managed to save you and Izanami, I was planning on committing suicide." Taeko admitted. "I just wanted to make sure you two were okay and then stop living. Being here, so far removed from my own time period, having to see everything I once knew about life and this country change so drastically...it was overwhelming. Shinju just wouldn't let me do it, though. She was hesitant at first, but she agreed to help me become her late comrade, Lucrezia. She showed me how to dye my hair and she gave me all the information on Lucrezia I would need to become a convincing copy of her. I even adopted the same powers as her, on top of some other powers unique to me. Shinju gave me my training as an exorcist, and in return, I taught her how to use the air gun fighting style that she's known for now."

"Yep!" Shinju cheered. "That was all thanks to Taeko here! When I brought Taeko in to be registered for active duty, the higher ups couldn't even tell the difference between her and the real Lucrezia. They actually promoted her to a higher position once she came back, which allowed us command over all of the other exorcist squads in Kyoto and gave her access to confidential information regarding Inari and Kagutsuchi."

"But wait, you said you did suffer the Mu-Onna curse, right? How did you escape that? And if that wasn't you in the catacombs we killed, who was it?" Izanami asked.

"Yes, I did suffer from the curse. Thankfully we know a girl who's good at stopping curses."

Shinju smiled as she pointed to herself. "Hi, me again."

"Shinju halted the Mu-Onna curse for me. I owe her my life because of it. As for the Mu-Onna you actually killed...well, I honestly hate to have to say this. We took advantage of Lucrezia's death yet again. See, Lucrezia lived with her mother at the time. She was taking care of her when the earthquake struck and buried them both beneath the rubble of their home. The mother survived, but she had to watch her daughter pass away after four days of being stuck beneath the rubble."

"No way! So you're saying that she was the Mu-Onna?!" Tsukiakari asked.

"Precisely." Taeko answered. "The Mu-Onna you killed was that of Lucrezia's mother, not me. The Shoku Twins and I went back in time just to make sure that the ruse worked. Right as you killed the Mu-Onna, we went right back to the future."

"So that's why I felt your life force die away!" Izanami shouted. "Except, you didn't actually die, but you slipped back into the future where I couldn't sense you!"

"Wouldn't they have known it wasn't you?" Osamu questioned, struggling to keep up.

"Like I said, Mu-Onna are pale and featureless. They have no eyes, mouth, or teeth. They're just husks. Remember how the shikome you fought in the Underworld all looked the same? Mu-Onna aren’t any different. There’s no way anyone would be able to tell if you swapped one Mu-Onna out for another." Taeko explained. "I made sure to leave behind a list of co-conspirators so that Tsukiakari would know who to target, and then I entrusted everything to Izanami. I knew she'd look after Gekko once the killings were done.

“As long as Gekko stayed under her protection, she would be able to live to see the modern era, where I'd be waiting for her. As Lucrezia, I was able take charge of the task of watching Aika Mihara after her tragic memory wipe. I discovered Kagutsuchi's whereabouts, and once I knew she wasn't a danger anymore, I sought to help her, too. That led me to Satori, who I helped in order to repay my debt to the Sentani family. Well, I think you guys have witnessed all the rest for yourselves."

"The only problem was that Himushi and Magatori caught onto the fact that Taeko was an imposter." Shinju added. "Himushi knew Lucrezia personally before the earthquake. She was also aware that Lucrezia was diagnosed with emphysema before her death, so even if Lucrezia did survive the earthquake, seeing her walk around perfectly fine was still strange. We ended up having to plan even further ahead to keep those two off our tails. We barely made it, in the end."

"What's this debt you owed the Sentani family?" Yoko asked.

Taeko hung her head in dejected shame. "Back in my time, I had a little sister. We weren't blood related. She had lost her parents in a typhoon. Her mom and dad drowned, and she had to hang onto her father's corpse to stay afloat in the water. Our families were close friends, so my mom and dad immediately took her in. Her name was Ebina Sentani.

“To make a long, depressing story short, Ebina was critically wounded in battle. Hachiman shot her with an arrow that shattered her armor and left a gaping hole in her hip. The clan had a skilled medical unit, and they did everything they could to keep her alive, but it was pointless. Her wounds were too catastrophic. I insisted on keeping her alive. I wanted her to push through the agony.

“Bishamon and Tsukiakari didn't feel the same way. Honestly, they made the correct choice. They opted to give Ebina a coup de grace. Tsukiakari was supposed to be the one to do it, but convinced her to leave the task to me. I was her sister, after all. I was the one who failed her."

"That's how Taeko and I got the scars on our backs." Tsukiakari interjected. "I was punished for letting Taeko handle the deed herself, and Taeko was punished for circumventing the chain of command. At the time, I thought it was so unfair that we were both punished for it. Looking back now, I actually understand why Bishamon did that. He knew what it would do to Taeko. It was my responsibility as her commanding lord to spare her the agony of having to kill her own family, and I didn't do that. It was my failure that night that ultimately led to you being exiled, and to what I thought was your death."

"I was just happy to see that you were alive, Gekko." Taeko said. "I see you kept my words close to your heart. The memory of our clan lives on to this day, within the family you've made here. As long as there are people that know your story, all of our struggles were worth it. In the end, we didn't get to create our ideal nation, but the one we have now...really isn't so bad. Thank you for staying alive for all this time."

Taeko stood up, prompting Tsukiakari to do the same. Taeko gently wrapped her arms around the weeping Tsukiakari. The two held each other as if the other was going to disappear any second. It still felt like a dream for Tsukiakari, feeling the warmth of Taeko's body against hers, the pulse of her heartbeat against her chest, and the calming embrace of her arms. Hundreds of years of agony and guilt washed away, all so Tsukiakari could fully experience the joy of that single moment.

"I'm sorry..." Taeko sobbed into Tsukiakari's shoulder. "I told myself I wouldn't cry if this day were to ever come. It costed us both so much just to stay alive. It all felt hopeless. This right here...makes it all worth it."

"We won't be torn apart again." Tsukiakari cried. "This time, we're sticking together.”

Tsukiakari pulled away and stepped aside. "We're not anywhere near the size of the Senkumo clan, but you're part of this family now. We'll have your back, Taeko. Always."

"That's right! You're always welcome here, Taeko." Izanami cheered.

Yoko smiled. "It was quite an honor to hear your story. I'm not surprised my ancestor was such a badass. Absolutely, you're welcome here."

"You don't even have to ask me." Osamu chimed. "We're buddies, and if my wives love you, you're also family to me."

Taeko smiled as she dried the tears from her eyes. "You guys are truly wonderful people. All of that suffering really was worth it. Thank you for everything."

Tsukiakari pounded her fist into her palm. "Now then, about Himushi and Magatori, our girl Amatsuki is already on it! She's in Kyoto with Kagutsuchi and the Shoku Twins. We already know where they're hiding. It's some sort of baseball stadium under construction downtown."

"You guys managed to track them down while we were unconscious?" Shinju asked.

"We sure did." Yoko said. "You guys did a number on them both, so they didn't manage to get too far. They're probably expecting you to come back and finish things."

"Are you sure you guys don't want to rest a little while longer, though? That fight back there seemed pretty brutal." Izanami cautioned.

"It's okay, Izanami. I've already secured our victory for this fight." Taeko said. "You should've felt a stinging sensation in your stomach yesterday."

"Yeah, I did! How did you know?" Izanami questioned.

"Because I was the one who caused it. Earlier, I said that I adopted Lucrezia's abilities, as well as some unique to me. This technique is the latter. It's a phenomenon known as the Fetal Dream. Fetuses spend most of their time sleeping, you see. Just like us, they undergo REM as that happens, and they dream about everything they know.

“The Fetal Dream is a supernatural phenomenon. Usually, it occurs when a fetus is on the verge of death. The dream it experiences is more like a nightmare, and if the baby's terror is great enough, and the mother's spirit vengeful enough, that terror and rage can bring the fetus's nightmare out from its mind. The dream will bleed onto the very fabric of reality."

"Whoa...That sounds freaky." Osamu gasped.

"I had to put your baby in a small amount of pain, but there's no real adverse effect from this technique on your child. It's simulated pain to illicit the Fetal Dream, which I then extracted and weaved into reality." Taeko explained.

"I thought I felt something change in that hospital!" Shinju said. "What exactly did you change about reality?"

"I had you carry out my plan involving the gyroscope and Cyanide's coin, for one. Then, I had Himushi collect both the Shoku Stopwatch and Bishamon's war fan." Taeko said.

"Wait, that was you?!" Shinju recoiled. "We both did what you wanted us to?!"

Taeko nodded. "Secondly, just to test something out, I had Himushi believe that she slit Cyanide's throat before tossing him into the crypt. But, as you can see, Cyanide has no wound on his neck."

Shinju crawled over to Cyanide just to make sure, and sure enough, there was no gash on his neck. "Holy shit, Taeko..."

"With that, I was able to confirm that it's possible to construct a localized dream, one specific to a single person, even within the greater Fetal Dream." Taeko explained. "Himushi will think she's doing one thing, and she'll actually experience her reality as such. However, something else entirely will happen while the greater Fetal Dream is in effect. Whatever I write in that greater dream is what will actually happen. This is a good way to manipulate someone's actions without them even noticing, and without the adverse effects of their actions having an impact on all of us in the greater dream."

"How on earth did you get such a power?" Yoko asked.

"The Shoku Twins again. They told me about how Gekko set out to vanquish the phantoms haunting our clan back in the Warring States era. Kagutsuchi was one of those 'phantoms', until it was revealed she was actually a goddess, of course. One of the other phantoms Gekko vanquished was the ghost of a woman who was killed by members of our clan. She was eight months pregnant at the time. Her ghost was the product of a Fetal Dream, or rather, a Fetal Nightmare. In death, her baby experienced a nightmare about its dying mother, and that terror combined with the mother's anger towards our clan. Thus, the Phantom of the Well."

"Seriously?" Tsukiakari gasped. "So...I was trapped in a...Fetal Dream?"

"That's what led me to discover the phenomenon. I then learned how to use it myself, without having to kill the baby or the mother, of course. The only way to do that is to use Izanami's baby. Izanami herself is immortal, so as long as the fetus is connected to her, it won't die either. It'll be able to handle the stress of simulated pain without any complications to either of you."

"I'm...not sure how I feel about you using my baby as a weapon, but I understand you were in quite a pinch." Izanami pouted. "So, this wouldn't work if you were to use Yoko's baby, right?"

"I wouldn't even want to try it." Taeko said. "Something would almost certainly go wrong."

"So, was it also your will to have them hide out at that stadium?" Osamu asked.

"Yes, it was. It's the perfect place to end things." Taeko said. "Oh, and don't worry about our wounds, Izanami. When it comes to Himushi, we won't have to fight. Like I said, the battle has already been decided. However, I will have to ask for your help in handling Magatori. Gekko, I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but I think the honor should be yours."

"That bastard murdered me in the original timeline, right?" Tsukiakari asked. "But he only did so because he ambushed me. How do you reckon I'll do if we face head on?"

Taeko laughed. "For you? If you're even a fraction of the war goddess you used to be, I'd say the odds are in your favor."

"Is that right?" Tsukiakari smirked.

"So, what do you guys say? Shall we finish this?" Shinju asked.

"Count me in." Tsukiakari said.

"I'll go too!" Izanami chimed.

"Fuck it. I guess we're going, too. We'll bring Cyanide with us so he can rest at the other house." Yoko said.

"I'll call the Shoku Twins. They'll come here and teleport us right back to Kyoto." Osamu said.

"Good." Taeko sighed. "It's time to put this blood feud to rest.”