[Inari Standoff]: Blood is Life

The flames from the ignited gas dissipated, leaving behind a cloud of noxious fumes. Osamu and Inari were able to hide behind a corner wall, barely escaping without getting scorched by chemical burns.

"She's really trying to kill us. She doesn't seem to care there's a human with me!" Inari laughed.

"Why do you sound so happy?! My skin still feels hot!" Osamu cried.

"Mortal, let me possess you! We'll move faster as one unit! I won't pressure your body too much!"

"Damn it! Damn it!"

(What do I do?! Should I just let her do it?!)

"Make your decision quick, mortal! She doesn't like waiting!" Inari warned.

Maria holstered her pistol, switching to a sawed-off shotgun and walking closer to the wall they were hiding behind. Osamu heard her heavy, black boots from afar, each step growing close than the last. They both heard her breathing through her gas mask as she inched closer and closer, sliding shells into the two chambers of her shotgun with her thumb.

"Fine! Do it!" Osamu said.

"Beautiful! That's what I wanted to hear!" Inari said with a grin. "You're really manning up on me!"

The two locked eyes, allowing Inari to possess Osamu's body. In an instant, she disappeared into a flash of light, joining her mind and flesh with Osamu's. His eyes turned blood-red and his teeth grew into fearsome fangs. All of his fear and dread disappeared as Inari's physical and emotional strength became his own.

"Good, mortal! Have I ever told you how good it feels to be inside of you?" Inari tittered.

"Will you shut up?!" Osamu hissed.

Osamu focused on the sound of Maria's footsteps. Suddenly, before she crossed the wall, her footsteps stopped. Osamu could clearly see her shadow, simply standing there at what felt like mere inches away.

"So, are you using the human as a shield, Inari? I didn't know you were such a cowardly god." Maria mocked.

"Damned mortal, using guns and calling me a coward..." Inari said, her voice unheard to anyone but Osamu.

"I guess that's just how it's gonna have to be then, right?" Maria said. "Will I really have to kill a human and a god today? Oh well."

"Here we go, mortal!" Inari said.

Maria leaped over the corner and fired her sawed-off shotgun, catching Osamu completely off guard. The flesh on his arms were ripped apart by her flechette rounds, tearing up the sleeve of his shirt and forcing him to retreat behind the other end of the wall. Maria rolled over behind a bench, where she loaded another shell into the first chamber of her trusty shotgun as Osamu screamed in agony over his wounds behind the wall.

"She's using flechette. It's a very messy kind of ammunition. Don't worry, mortal. If we can just get some of her blood, we'll be all right." Inari advised.

Osamu's arms were covered in blood and embedded with nail fragments from the flechette round. Indeed, the ammunition was messy, overloading every nerve in his limb with a hellish sting. He, or should we say Inari, slowly pulled the hot pieces of shrapnel out of his arm.

"It hurts...it really, really hurts..." Osamu cringed.

"What did you expect? We're being hunted. They'll stop at nothing to kill us. Humans really are merciless.” Inari scoffed.

"What do we do?!" Osamu asked.

"We attack from above, of course." Inari proposed.

"What?!" Osamu recoiled.

With Inari in control, Osamu nimbly and quietly went around the other way, climbing with ease up the face of the wall and using it to get to the fifth floor, directly above Maria. Osamu's heightened sense of smell allowed him to pinpoint exactly where Maria was below them.

"Perfect! Right here will do! We'll smash it!" Inari shouted.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Osamu asked, no control over his own body.

Inari forced Osamu to punch through the tiled floor with his wounded arm, completely shattering it and showering Maria with chunks of debris big enough to kill men and flatten cars. Maria rolled out of the way, managing to avoid most of the debris. A piece of concrete fell and smashed her ankle, pinning her to the floor. Defenseless for a moment, she whipped out her pistol, expecting Inari to come out from the hole she just created. Instead, Osamu went back down to the fourth floor via the interconnecting wall.

With that, he was able to sneak up behind Maria, picking her up and tossing her down the escalators, back to the third floor.

"Damn it, I thought you said you wouldn't pressure my body!" Osamu said, looking at his shredded mess of an arm.

"This is fine! Now she's too hurt to move! We'll go for her blood!" Inari said.

Osamu leaped down from the top of the escalators to Maria, who was still writhing on the ground, hurt from her enormous fall. Inari leaped out from Osamu's body, smugly standing over the immobilized exorcist.

"Aww, look who hurt herself! Want a band-aid for your broken ribs?" Inari sang.

Maria tried crawling away, but every move she made sent excruciating pain through her ribs and hips. "Damn you!"

Maria aimed her pistol, but Inari clawed her fingers clean off from her hand, cutting the gun into several pieces as well. As Maria screamed, Inari stomped her foot on her throat, crushing her windpipe to silence her.

"Now then, I'll be taking your blood." Inari growled.

"Inari, wait!" Osamu cried.

Inari looked back with a confused expression.

"She's just a child! Whatever you do, don't kill her!" Osamu warned.

"Don't kill her? Are you insane? If we don't kill her, she'll come back to kill us!" Inari argued.

"Those injuries will put her out of commission for a while!" Osamu protested.

"And a priest will heal them in a night! What's your point?!" Inari shouted. "I warned you to be prepared to kill you fellow human. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking her blood!"

Inari bit onto Maria's wounded hand, sucking her blood to heal the last of her wounds. Her tails excitedly waved and fluttered as she drank to her heart's content. Inari only drank enough blood to heal herself and Osamu, but not nearly enough to kill Maria .With blood soaked lips and glowing, red eyes, Inari walked over to Osamu, squatting down and caressing his cheeks.

"You need some too. Drink some from my lips." Inari said.

"You...want me to kiss you?!" Osamu recoiled.

"Do it, or you'll bleed to death!" Inari growled.

Osamu looked over to Maria, who was still very much alive, groaning in agony. When he turned his frightened eyes over to Inari, she suddenly lunged forward and kissed him forcefully. With that one kiss, Inari was able to use her power to heal the flechette wounds. Osamu's arm steamed like a hot pan in cold water, his exposed bone slowly re-wrapped in flesh and skin and his fingers growing back anew. As she pulled away, Osamu realized they both had blood on their lips.

Inari kissed his arms like a mother after bandaging a child's wounds. "All better now."

(I...I was fed human blood? Blood from a young girl?)

Inari stood up again, laughing as Maria struggled to stand up. Osamu rubbed Maria's blood off of his lips, shaking as he did so.

(Oh god...I've really had her blood...what have I done?! Is this what Inari has to do every time to heal herself? Foxes...they're omnivores. I'm sure if things weren't like this, she could just eat some offered fruits and heal from those...but being forced into a tight spot like this makes her rely on her carnivorous side...and so, blood is what sustains her. I can't blame her for that, but...)

"Inari, please...don't kill her." Osamu begged

"You're still going on about that, huh?" Inari groaned. "Well, we got what we needed out of her, and we're both in good condition. I suppose there's no need."

Right then, Inari picked up another scent. She immediately stood in front of Osamu to guard him.

"He's coming, fast!" Inari warned.

"Who?!" Osamu asked.

While Inari was amused fighting Maria, her excited mood wilted into an aura of disgust and hatred for their next opponent. "The monk."

The blonde monk jumped from the fifth floor down to the third, landing right next to Maria. His white robes glowed in the morning sunlight along with his bright head of long hair.

"Yes...he's the one they call White Saint. What a self-absorbed name." Inari mocked.

White Saint knelt down by Maria, taking her gas mask off and looking at her wounds. Blood dripped from her mouth as a result of Inari's foot crushing her windpipes. She had also taken a blow to the head from the fall, as blood streamed down her temple. It wasn't looking good, and White Saint knew they were at a disadvantage.

"I'm sorry, this is because I didn't make it in time." White Saint said.

White Saint turned turned his head towards Inari and Osamu. "Such brutality was unnecessary for a young girl. I'd expect nothing less from a shameless goddess such as yourself."

"Sorry, I fight to live, not to die. If you didn't want her getting hurt, you should've kept the girl in school." Inari said. "Be sure to tell your masters that the next time they think it's a splendid idea to toss a child into the ring with a goddess."

White Saint took out a vial of holy water from his pocket, giving some for Maria to drink. With a few sups, her windpipes were restored, but her fingers were gone for good. She coughed repeatedly, wiping blood from her mouth and furiously throwing her gas mask against the floor.

"God damn it! You fox bitch!" Maria raged.

"Do you want to retreat?" White Saint asked.

Inari laughed, fanning out her tails as her laughter echoed through the airport. "Yes, go home, little girl. Go do your homework or something. Children should never be exorcists. If you ask me, exorcists shouldn't have even been created in the first place! Run along now, you've lost the fight."

"Saint, stand me up." Maria ordered.

"Are you sure?" White Saint asked.

Maria nodded. "Positive."

Maria stood up with Saint's help, loading a 40mm round into her grenade launcher as Inari continued to laugh. Inari may have been distracted, but Osamu caught a glance of her loading the round.

"Umm...Inari!" Osamu cried.

Inari's laughter ceased when she saw the grenade launcher. "No way...they're going to keep fighting?!"

"Try and dodge this, fox bitch!" Maria screamed.

"Fuck! Run!" Inari shouted.

Inari grabbed Osamu as Maria fired a round at them. The 40mm explosive detonated on impact with tremendous, wall-shaking force, blasting Inari and Osamu into the elevator shaft. They fell four stories down to the bottom of the elevator shaft, landing hard on the ground and cracking their ribs. The only light at the bottom of the shaft were blood-red service lights, meant to illuminate the space for maintenance workers. Their voices echoed inside of the shaft as they coughed out the smoke in their lungs and caught their breath again.

"Mortal, are you all right?" Inari asked.

Osamu writhed on the ground, completely shell shocked from the blast. "My head! I can hardly hear anything!"

“Shell shock. It should wear off soon."

Osamu staggered up on his feet, leaning against the wall with his hand over his ear.

"This wouldn't have happened if I had just killed her." Inari growled.

"Could you really do it?! Kill a child?!" Osamu shouted.

"A child with a weapon and the guts to pull the trigger no longer has the innocence to be called a child. They're combatants at that point. That's why I hate what they've done to them, making them exorcists. That girl is just as much of a victim as I am."

"But still...doesn't a part of you hurt when you do it?!"

"I have no choice." Inari said.

(Her time on the run, fighting against the humans who once worshiped her...has turned her into someone much more emotionally null than she should be.)

"Now then, let's get out of this elevator shaft. I'll use your body to get up again. We should be able to pry open the door to the first floor." Inari said.

An ear-piercing shriek of metal and cables turned their eyes upwards. White Saint had slashed the cables suspending the elevator on the fourth floor.

"That madman is going to bring it down on top of us!" Osamu cried.

The last cable snapped and the elevator made a plummeted towards the bottom of the shaft, sparks trailing behind it. Osamu covered his head, fearing that this was the end of his life. To his shock, Inari charged forth and caught the elevator on her shoulders. The weight of it brought her to her knees.

Like Atlas carrying the world, she was able to hold the elevator, saving herself and Osamu from being flattened like pancakes. The wheels of the elevator screeched as Inari struggled to hold it, the veins in her forehead bulging from beneath her skin.

"Inari?! Are you all right?!" Osamu cried.

"Well...I'd be lying if I said this didn't hurt like hell!" Inari said, her voice strained. "Mortal, I need your body! Put your hands on the elevator. I'll possess you, and we can send this thing up long enough so we can escape! We'll have to bust through the first floor!"

"All right!"

Osamu crawled on the ground and knelt beneath the elevator, holding his hands against it exactly as Inari was doing. "I'm ready!"

Inari looked into his eyes, possessing his body. With their combined strength, Osamu threw the elevator back up the shaft, giving him just a few seconds before it would come crashing back down again.

With but a short window of time available to them, Osamu jumped up to the wall opposite of the door to the first floor, then vaulted off of it with his legs, breaking through the chrome, elevator door and making it out on the other side before the elevator came flying back down. Osamu rolled onto the cool, tile floor and lied on his back, in complete disbelief they actually pulled that stunt off.

"Whew! That's what I call teamwork! How are you feeling, mortal?" Inari asked.

"Exhausted!" Osamu panted, his arms feeling like limp noodles.

Osamu staggered back up to his feet, wiping the dirt and dust off of his face. White Saint and Maria looked down on him from the fifth floor with furious eyes. Inari had proven she wouldn't be that easy to kill. Even Osamu was starting feeling the thrill of battle. The fire of adventure burned in him, and a satisfied smile spread across his sweat-soaked face.

"Oh, they're good..." Maria complimented.

"Stay here, Maria. You can't use most of your arsenal with only one hand. I'll handle this." White Saint ordered.

White Saint jumped over the edge, landing softly on his feet on the first floor before the possessed Osamu.

"Ooo, now we get to dance with White Saint!" Inari sang, ready for another fight.

"This is getting way too crazy..." Osamu panted, wiping the sweat beads from his forehead.

"Ah, but I can tell, you love it." Inari snickered.

Osamu smiled and held his arm in a guard position, preparing himself for the fight. "You already know me so well, Inari."

"I see. It seems you're her accomplice, not a hostage. In that case, we were right to consider killing you both." White Saint said.

White Saint knocked the butt of his golden staff against the floor, enwreathing it with a blood-red aura. "Well then, let's begin."
Osamu steeled himself for a fight, waiting for Saint to make his first move. His golden staff gleamed in the sunlight creeping through the windows of the airport. Just as Saint flexed to make his first move, the hard-hitting splash of liquid stopped him. Maria coughed up blood from upstairs, the drops raining down upon the white tile of the first floor.

"Maria's wounds are much more serious than I thought..." White Saint murmured.

"Hmm? Is he going to leave after all?" Inari questioned.

Saint did not immediately rush to Maria's side. It seemed he was contemplating his next move as eagerly as Osamu and Inari.

"What are you going to do? If you're wise, you'll take her and leave." Osamu urged.

Saint suddenly aimed his staff at Osamu, and the crescent moon tip lit up with red light. "Yes, you're right. "

"I don't know what he's doing but we should get out of its way!" Inari urged.

Osamu ducked behind the metal detectors, dodging a barrage of molten balls of lava. The metal detectors hissed and smoked, filling the air with the odor of burning steel as they melted down into a thick, sludgy liquid.

"It melted?!" Osamu recoiled.

Osamu got up and lunged directly at White Saint, but was knocked away by his staff like a baseball out of a stadium. He landed on his feet, his right cheek bruised and bloodied by the hit.

"What the hell, Inari?! That was incredibly stupid! Damn it, this hurts!" Osamu cried.

"Sorry, I just had to try it. I wanted to see how easily we could get to his body." Inari growled.

"Did it matter to you that much that you'd put my face on the line?!" Osamu nagged.

"Look, the biggest reason we have to fight them like this is because I'm not in any good condition to fight on my own. I've lost a lot of power over the years, especially in these past few days. Do you know how I can get that strength back, mortal?"

"Drinking more blood, and eating more flesh?" Osamu asked.

"That helps, but it's not enough. The best way I can get my power back is by eating human hearts."

"Hearts?!" Osamu repeated in disbelief.

"You won't let me kill the girl, but killing the monk and eating his heart would be most beneficial! I could be twice as powerful after eating it! So then, what do you say?"

"Inari...have you ever eaten a human heart before?!"

"Only once, a very long time ago. I can do it again."

White Saint slowly sauntered through the metal detectors, setting off their ear-piercing alarms. He was getting ever closer to Osamu and Inari, neither of them having a good idea on how to approach a fight with him.

"At this rate, you'll be a man-eating fox! You can't just let that happen!" Osamu shouted.

"Why not? I already hate humans! They're all vile!" Inari protested.

"That's what they want, Inari! They'll treat you like a beast until you actually become one! Then they can say they were right all along! As a goddess, you have the power to hate, but you also have the power to love! I know that power is in you! You're not the terrifying goddess they make you out to be! Izanami and Gekko told me so!"

"...What did you just say? Izanami? Gekko?" Inari gasped. "Mortal, how do you know them?"

Osamu stood up. "I don't want to see you lose yourself, Inari. I've seen you do awful, gruesome things, but I know you're doing it because you need to survive. You've been in darkness so long, you had to cope with it, get used to it. When the day comes when we're backed into a corner, and you need strength that I cannot give...you can have my heart."

Saint slammed the butt of his staff on the ground, the sound of the impact echoed through the airport. "I'm afraid I must end this quickly and see about Maria's wounds."

"Mortal...you would...so willingly give your heart to me?"

Osamu nodded. "Yeah. I would."

The aura around White Saint's golden staff suddenly turned from red to pitch black. Knowing Osamu would simply dodge the spell, Saint had successfully tricked Osamu in a feint, swinging has staff, but not yet releasing the spell. Osamu had dodged for nothing and was now in the exact spot Saint needed him to be.

"Damn it! He tricked us!" Inari raged.

A black bolt of lightning shot out from the crescent-shaped tip of the staff, striking Osamu in the center of his chest. Osamu was blown back towards the escalators, clutching his chest and gritting his teeth in agony. His heart and sternum burned with fury that could only be matched by hell itself.

"Maria! I'm sorry, but we should leave! You need medical attention!" White Saint warned.

Inari ejected herself out of Osamu's body and landed face first on the cold, airport floor. White Saint leaped up to the fourth floor, grabbing the severely wounded Maria and looking back at Osamu and Inari. Saint slammed his staff against the floor teleporting himself and Maria out of the airport.

Since Osamu had taken the brunt of the curse, he was in the most pain by far. However, since they shared a body, Inari felt a similar pain throbbing through her chest. She crawled over to Osamu, flipping him on his back as tears ran down his cheeks.

"Hey, mortal! Look at me!" Inari cried.

Osamu's screaming was dying down, but it was not a good sign. Inari put her fingers against his neck to measure his pulse, noticing it was growing faint. She unbuttoned his shirt and saw the damage White Saint had done. Osamu's chest was slowly turning black, and the discoloration was spreading fast.

"Fuck! A necrotization curse!" Inari exclaimed, lightly slapping Osamu's cheeks. "Hey! Stay with me, mortal! I can't fight them off without you!”