[Inari Standoff]: Belle Âme

With their deal in place, Taeko shut the hospital door in the faces of the embittered exorcists. With Shinju's help, she pushed a vending machine across the hall and dropped it on its side, barricading the entrance with it.

"Well..." Shinju panted. "That wasn't exactly the ticket we were hoping for, but I guess it'll have to do."

Taeko slouched against the wall, her shoes squeaking against the teal, tile floors. "I'm sorry we had to put you through that, Amaterasu, Uzume."

Uzume bowed. "No, not at all. Lady Amaterasu and I have been through worse. I'm sorry we can't get you into the airport before Belle."

"Just how strong is Belle, anyway?" Tsukiakari asked, taking her buttoned-down top off to cool down in her black tank top.

"Strong enough to make me worried that Osamu won't survive a fight against her." Uzume answered.

"God damn it..." Taeko sighed. "So now the whole city knows I'm not Lucrezia, huh?"

"Seems Manami leaked that detail to the men who helped her in the assassination attempt." Amaterasu said. "I'm sorry, Taeko. If I had known..."

"What's going to happen to me?" Taeko asked.

"...You impersonated a high-ranking official for years. Every mission you undertook, every order you've ever issued, every classified document you ever looked at, it will be considered a severe crime." Amaterasu explained. "That alone gives them enough ground to execute you. That's not even mentioning our hostage situation, even if we did stage it to scare them. And the fact that you're interfering in a Category One operation doesn't help either. I'm going to be honest, Taeko. This is a lot more trouble than I think I'm capable of getting you out of."

"You can't be serious..." Tsukiakari lamented, her eyes wide with horror.

"Fucking Manami!" Shinju screamed.

"It's okay, Shinju." Taeko said. "Even if we had managed to kill her back at the hotel...No, it wouldn't have mattered either way. She leaked that information beforehand, and those exorcists reported it after the assassination failed. We would've killed Yoko's mother for nothing. I'm kind of glad she's still alive."

"I just wish we could get some information out of her." Uzume said.

"...If only we had a bit of blood magic on our side." Amaterasu interjected, folding her raven hair behind her ear. "We could force her to talk, even if it killed her."

"Amaterasu!" Uzume shouted, her eyes alight with anger.

Amaterasu smiled. "It was just a wish, that's all. I'm sure you all have your own wild wishes, too. How could you not, especially in such a terrible situation as this. Manami outmaneuvered us, and Osamu ended up becoming a target alongside Inari. It couldn't possibly have ended up any worse than this."

"Taeko, I won't let them touch a hair on your head. I swear on it." Tsukiakari growled.

"Same here. I'm with you until the end." Shinju added.

"Stop it." Taeko demanded, squeezing her left thumb with her right hand. "Gekko, if you do anything stupid, we lose all political capital we have within the pantheon. In the event Shinju and I are arrested, we need you on the inside using your pen, not your sword. Having you free might mean the difference between execution and acquittal."

"...It feels like no matter how this ends, we're just...screwed." Shinju sighed.

Tsukiakari stared into the ground with her hands on her hips and a storm of thoughts in her head. She glanced at Taeko, watching she covered her pursed lips with her trembling hand.

"Can you guys please give us a minute?" Tsukiakari asked.

"Of course." Uzume said.

"We'll be just down the hall, Taeko." Shinju said, patting Taeko's shoulders as she walked by and sauntered down the hall with Amaterasu and Uzume.

Tsukiakari knelt before Taeko, gently wrapping her warm hands around Taeko's cold fingers. She caressed Taeko's cheek and gazed into her shimmering eyes. Taeko sighed in relief, some of stress melting off of her very body because of Tsukiakari's soft touch.

"I know when you're scared, Taeko. I've known you too long." Tsukiakari said. "Let's just take this one step at a time, okay?"

Taeko nodded. "I wanted to apologize to Osamu."

"Apologize? Why?"

"I wanted to tell him I was sorry for what happened to Rousoku."

"...Taeko, that wasn't your fault. Osamu...he doesn't blame you. I think he blames himself more than anything."

"When I first met him, I never thought it would ever hurt this much to see him hurt himself. I think I would feel better if he did blame me. Now it looks like I won't get to apologize to him after all of this is over. Even if we saved Osamu and Inari tomorrow, the way things have unfolded, Shinju and I would be forced to hide just like Inari.

“We won't be able to come back from all of this. And if we fail, we're as good as dead. Either way, we're fucked. Protecting Inari and Osamu is the only option we have, of course. We're his friends, and you're his wives. But doing so will put us in direct opposition with Heaven. Hell, we're already there."

"If we're already there, we may as well go all the way, right? After we killed Bishamon, I swore to Osamu that if he ever needed me, I'd be right by his side, even if it was us versus the whole world. That hasn't changed. Even if all of Heaven is going to come down on us, even if we have to fight every exorcist in this fucking country, I am never leaving his side. The same goes for Inari."

"...Gekko, are you really ready for what comes next?"

"I've already fought against the gods twice now. For them? I'll do it two-thousand more times."

Taeko snickered. "All these centuries later, and you're still as feisty as ever."

"That's just who I am, Taeko." Tsukiakari sang. "For now, let's put our faith in our boy. Osamu and Inari will make it through this. I know they will.

(Finally, it seemed we had connected through our wounds. Our fight with White Saint, and our meeting with Heavy Metal wore us out beyond belief. After our wounds were healed and our tears were dried, Inari and I awoke together. I was...glad to be alive...)

The beauty of the morning sun shined through all the windows with its vibrant, deep orange light, bouncing off of the walls and indirectly illuminating the strewn about clothes, bags, potted plants, and reflective hallways. Perhaps most beautiful of all was how the light hit Inari's crimson eyes and cheeks as she awoke from her slumber. Her voice was weak and relaxed as she sat up, stretching out her arms and fluffing all nine of her tails.

"Morning, Osamu. Did you sleep well?" Inari asked, a pleased smile on her face.

Osamu yawned as he answered. His blue, long sleeve, button up shirt was undone and completely tattered, stained with blood and burn marks. His peace sign necklace dangled against his bare, scarred chest as he sat up too.

"I've had better nights...but...sleeping beside you definitely made it better."

Inari blushed and smiled and she stroked one of her tails. The air between the two was less divided between what it meant to be a god or a human.

"I'd take you seriously Osamu, but...you really look like you just climbed out of the woods."

"....Huh?"

(Wait a minute. I'm a complete mess!)

Osamu jumped up and looked around the bakery for any clothes that might suit him. “Shirts, shirts, shirts...gotta find a good shirt!"

"Sorry, Osamu. But I guess that's what happens when you get shot at, have your arm melted off, and narrowly survive a plane crash."

Osamu took a good look at Inari, who still looked perfectly fine and alluring in her frilly, black dress. "It's easy for you to say when you look like you belong on a magazine cover..."

"Oh?" Inari laughed.

Inari slowly and sensually traced her hand down her neck and to the breast of her dress, pulling on it to expose most of her big, bouncy, delectable fun bags. Her sly wink and a seductive smile captured Osamu's heart.

"Would you screw me like a model too?" Inari tittered.

"You're damn right I would!"

"You actually said it?!" Inari recoiled.

"You weren't expecting that, were you? I'd take you from behind, over a kitchen counter, in a car, in an airplane, on a train, or even in space!"

"Osamu, stop! You're crossing over into the land of unfiltered perversion!"

"I'd pull your hair and your tails! I'd do you standing up and in public! I don't care who sees us, nor do I care about getting arrested for public indecency!"

"Stop, I can't take much more!" Inari begged, holding her hands out to shield her from Osamu's barrage of unyielding lewdness.

The madman kept going. "I would even sixty-nine with you, Inari!"

That was it. Inari was utterly defeated. She fell flat onto her face and waved one of her white tails in the air in lieu of a white flag. "You truly are a fierce protagonist. I commend you, Osamu Ashikaga. You win this round."

"That's what the hell I thought." Osamu huffed.

(Remember kids, when a girl tries to be a pervert, be a bigger pervert than her.)

Not having any luck finding a good shirt inside of the diner, Osamu and Inari ventured out into the lobby to scavenge from what was left by the raptured civilians. A good shirt was the name of the game as Osamu went digging through the piles while Inari kept her eyes outside, surveying for any more exorcists.

"Hmm...well, I suppose this is decent enough." Osamu said, finding a cream, buttoned-down cardigan.

"Hurry up. Even if we won last night, we still have to be on guard. A skilled exorcist can take us by surprise if they really want to. Killing White Saint definitely just made things harder for us. Exorcists respond like any other kind of law enforcement, with escalated force."

Just from that bit of information, Osamu's heart raced within his chest. The previous fights nearly killed them both, and yet, it was only bound to get harder. That realization let Osamu know that even after a victory, there was no time to rest or let your guard down.

"Hey, don't look so down. We made it this far, didn't we? If we keep on working together as efficiently as possible, I'm sure we'll make it out of this somehow." Inari said.

"Hmph...and you were originally very pessimistic about how all of this was go. Did I grow on you, Inari?"

“Oh, don't be so smug about it! Your optimism in this forlorn situation of ours is just...infectious."

(Good...I'm glad she's starting to look up while maintaining her realism. I guess that's a nice balance.)

"All right, I'll change out of this shirt now."

Osamu discarded his tattered, blue shirt and put on the cream-colored cardigan he found. He fluffed his wild, wavy hair, and buttoned the cardigan up to his lower sternum, with his peace sign necklace glittering with light in the center of his chest. He brushed off his pants and fixed his bullet belt, making sure he at least looked decent if he was going to die.

"You'd make a fine Yaoi protagonist." Inari quipped.

"You'd make a fine fur coat."

With nothing better to do for the moment, the two of them sat together on top of the plane wreckage left over from last night's fight. The wind was heavy, ferociously fluttering through their clothes and hair as they gazed at the flocks of birds flying through the partially clouded sky. Osamu sat atop the severed head of the plane while Inari laid down on the broken wing blocking the runway.

"Hey, Inari..." Osamu said.

"What is it?" Inari yawned.

"You know the Shoku Twins too, right?"

Inari suddenly went quiet, her laid back mood shattering to pieces. Osamu's head perked up in surprise. It was an innocent question, but it felt as though he had stepped on a massive landmine.

"...Inari?"

"Yeah, I know those two cuties." Inari said. "Izanami introduced me to them a long time ago. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering how many divine beings, if any, might actually take your side in all of this. After we've gotten out of here, you'll need all the help you can get, right?"

Inari leaned her head back and laughed at the sky. "If any of them were to help me now, they'd only put themselves in danger. It sounds like Izanami, Gekko, and the Shoku Twins finally have a good relationship with Heaven, unlike a certain someone. I'd never want them to throw all of that away. That was the whole reason why I ran."

"To protect them?"

"...They were on the only friends I ever had. They're good people. Sure, they made horrific mistakes in their lives. Izanami, Gekko, and even the twins showed me just how intense someone's hatred can get. But they each made an effort to be better. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but they're finally whole again. If I had run back to them after the exorcists tried to kill me, they would've gotten wrapped up in all of that bullshit too. They most certainly would've killed Gekko. I wasn't going to condemn one of my best friends just to save myself."

Silence washed over them for a while as they watched the morning sky turn from a beautiful green to a light and comforting blue. Suddenly, Inari shot up onto her feet, sniffing the air in alarmed sense as her tails wildly fluttered about.

"Inari? What is it?"

"My foxes! I can smell more of the little ones!"
The two immediately kicked it into high gear, running back inside of the airport at full speed. Inari ran on all fours, following the familiar scent of her loyal foxes.

"Damn, they're scattered!" Inari growled.

"Which way, Inari?" Osamu asked.

"You go towards the lobby! I'll go to baggage reception! If you don't find one of them, just come back here!"

"Got it!"

Inari hurriedly jumped up the entire span of the escalators, running off to find the foxes. Osamu ran down the reflective hallway, looking around at every nook and cranny for even the faintest sign of one of the small, nine-tailed foxes.

(Wait...)

Osamu stopped, sliding across the incredibly slippery and polished floor before coming to a full stop. He looked around, having sworn he had just head the sound of reverberating bells.

"What was that? Where did..." Osamu mumbled.

Down the other way, Inari also came to a screeching stop. "The foxes...they were converging just a minute ago...where did their energy signatures go?! Oh no...Osamu!"

Osamu guardedly walked into the empty reception area, which was soaked with bright sunlight that reflected right off of the floors as if the sun was right below him. When his eyes adjusted to the intense light, they widened in absolute horror. He found Inari's foxes.

Six foxes were hung from the planted bamboo trees in the middle of the lobby, black ropes tied tightly around their necks. A single raven-haired girl stood before the hung foxes. The frilly, white skirt she wore was short, easily exposing her thick bottom and white underwear beneath. As she turned her head towards Osamu, the silver bells on her white, lace choker chimed and echoed through the airport

Frilly, white armbands decorated her upper arms and were tied with black ribbons and more bells. They all rang softly as she stood, facing Osamu with a sheathed katana in her hand. Osamu's heart was about to jump out of his sore chest as the silence between them made him increasingly unsure of what the girl was about to do.

The girl's voice was surprisingly gentle and soft. "My name is Belle Âme."

Belle curtsied before Osamu and bowed her head. He simply stood in awe of the girl's beauty, captivated by her every move and soft-spoken words.

"I would like to speak to you, Osamu Ashikaga.”