[Inari Standoff]: An Exorcist Sighs

Belle gripped the handle of her cross, prepared to guard against what she expected would be an oncoming attack. Instead, Inari possessed Osamu's body again. He raised his foot and stomped down on the tarmac as hard he could. His mighty stomp shattered the concrete like gas and covered the area in a thick cloud of odorous dust. He used the dust as a smokescreen and slipped back into the airport from behind it.

Belle relaxed her stance and turned her blindfolded gaze towards the airport, realizing her enemies had fallen back.

Once inside, Osamu grabbed two of the dead foxes as he continued to run deeper inside of the airport. He came to a stop at the security checkpoint, practically a maze of leather line partitions, metal detectors, and body scanning booths. Inari leaped out of his body, falling flat on her face as she continued to bleed from her wounded leg and stomach. Osamu laid his back on the cool, tile floors, panting like an overheated dog.

"Okay...okay...I'll make it quick! Hang in there!" Inari said.

Inari dragged herself across the floor, smearing her blood across the tile. She couldn't believe she was really about to do it, eat one of her own loyal foxes. The thought of it made her stomach churn, but she was left with no choice. It was do or die. Inari dug the sharp nail of her index finger into the skin of the fox, splitting the skin down the middle of its belly.

"You all did so much for me up until now. Thank you for everything." Inari murmured.

Inari flayed the fox, discarding its skin and fur. The entire process disgusted her, especially as she saw the muscles and intramuscular veins of the fox in their bloody putrescence.

"Osamu, talk to me! How are you doing?" Inari asked.

"Everything hurts, Inari!" Osamu cried.

"Good!"

"How the hell is that good?!"

"If you still feel pain, it means you're not in shock yet. I'm going to eat the fox now. I know you're wounded, and I promise I'll fix you soon, but keep your eyes and ears open for Belle! I'm sure she's realized we've retreated into the airport by now."

"I'll try..."

Inari turned her back to Osamu, partially because she did not want him to see her devour the very things she was supposed to be protecting. All Osamu heard was the ripping of flesh and the snapping of bones as she dug right into the fox's corpse. Then came the hissing steam of Inari's wounds healing. Her leg regenerated every bit of flesh, bone, and skin that was blown away in the explosion, stopping the bleeding.

"It tastes no more foul than human flesh, and yet, it hurts so much more. Osamu, are you ready?"

Osamu nodded. "Do it..."

Inari's crimson kiss took care of most of Osamu's wounds. For the cuts and bruises that remained, Inari gently licked them until they were gone. The very feeling of Inari's warm and moist tongue worked like an anesthetic, numbing Osamu's aching pain and reducing the purple and blue swelling of his bruises.

"How are your hands? Did they heal too?" Inari asked.

"Yeah, all my digits are in working order again. Thanks, Inari...I know eating one of your foxes wasn't easy."

Taking a moment to rest, the two sat back to back on the floor, catching their breath with their eyes closed and their ears cautiously waiting for the sound of chiming bells. Strangely, Inari erupted into wheezing, hearty laughter.

"What's so funny?" Osamu asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Inari snickered. "It's just that I never thought I'd go so far for another human. I never thought I would ever love someone this much. I wouldn't even devour a fox for my own sake, but when you got injured back there, I was willing to do anything. Honestly, Osamu, you're terrible!"

Osamu smiled. "How am I terrible?"

"You've got a goddess so mercilessly wrapped around your finger. It's unfair! I can't give up when you're with me. I can't back down when you're fighting beside me."

With their backs pressed together, Inari interlocked her fingers around Osamu's and sighed, and her words came out with a relaxed whisper. "I love you, Osamu."

(There goes my heart again, racing like it has somewhere it needs to go.)

"I love you too, Inari."

"I just wanted you to know that, in case we do die here. And if we die..." Inari said, slowing her breathing.

"I know. I'll see you in a better place." Osamu said.

"And we'll be free of our earthly bodies..."

"Our earthly burdens..."

"Our earthly sorrows..."

"Free at last."

"Forever, with you."

Finally, the sound of reverberating bells faintly rang out from ahead. Belle was coming.

"She's here." Inari growled.

"Round two. Let's do it." Osamu said.

Inari and Osamu, mortal and deity, stood tall together as Belle entered the security hall. They held each other's hands with their fingers interlocked and their eyes dead set on Belle. The slam of her cross on the ground echoed through the security hall as she used it to rest her arm.

"Why do you persist, Inari? You are only delaying the inevitable. On top of that...I would think a god has the sense to not involve a human in their affairs."

"Stop talking about me like I'm some damn hostage! I'm as much of an enemy as Inari is! If you're going to cut her down, you'll have to cut me down too!" Osamu roared.

Inari's grip on his hand tightened, as if to say, 'I love you.' silently.

"I just don't understand...why would you go so far for her, even when you know she's a criminal?" Belle questioned.

"Don't make me repeat myself. You know why." Osamu said.

After seconds of silence that felt like years, Belle began to unravel the black bandages covering her eyes. "Osamu. You're kind. I truly believe that. Even if I must kill you here, I do not believe you are a bad person, and I could never think of you as a criminal. Inari Okami, as far as I know, Heaven has deemed you as one of the most wanted divine criminals in history. Please do not misunderstand, none of this sits well with me. But as an exorcist, it's simply not my choice to make."

Inari's eyes softened in sadness and heartbreaking sympathy as Belle's black blindfold fell, unveiling her eyes, which were sewn shut with stitches.

"What...what happened to you?" Inari asked.

Belle curtsied again, smiling softly and sadly as she did so. "My real name is Cécile Gonçalves. Like most exorcists, my parents died when I was young, but because my family descends from Oyamatsumi, I was made into an exorcist."

"Oyamatsumi...Amaterasu's older brother, right?" Osamu asked.

"Yeah, that was him." Inari answered. "He's long gone now. Tsukiakari killed him when she waged war against Bishamon. I can't believe they forced you into this just because of your lineage! They're doing exactly what Bishamon did to Tsukiakari."

(The Senkumo clan itself may have died, but the concept lives on. I had no idea Gekko killed her uncle either...)

"These eyes were my punishment for failing a mission before, because I forgot that an exorcist is not an individual. We don't get to make our own choices and judgments. Otherwise, this is what happens to us."

(That's not fair...)

"Of course, that's only natural." Belle added. "That's what happens when you take a pledge to defend your country. I may not have a choice in any of this, but you do, Osamu. Look at me. This is what they're capable of doing to one of their own. Just imagine what they'll do to you."

"Do you really care what happens to him?" Inari asked.

"Are you really so surprised that I'm human?" Belle countered. "Osamu, the right thing to do is to stop this and go home. Get help. Inari, I'm sure you know what the right thing to do is, don't you?"

Inari crossed her arms. "When you're fighting for your life, there is no right or wrong."

"I see. Is that why you forced the Shoku Twins to initiate a blood moon?" Belle asked.

(What? Blood moon? We haven't had one of those since...)

It didn't take long for Osamu to put the pieces together. Rousoku's failed ritual, the blood moon that wasn't supposed to appear that night, and her transformation into a Jikininki, it all finally made sense. It wasn't a deliberate act by the Shoku Twins. It wasn't a miscalculation on Taeko's part. It was Inari.

Osamu slowly turned his head towards her, his eyes stuck open with disbelief. Her silence said it all. Osamu had even asked her if she knew the Shoku Twins earlier that day, and she omitted the fact that she forced them to initiate the blood moon that led to Rousoku's demise.

"Inari?" Osamu murmured, urging her to say something.

Inari locked eyes with Osamu, taking over his body once more. Belle wielded her golden cross with a tight grip, prepared for whatever attack Osamu might throw at her. But after he stared her down with his fierce, crimson eyes, he ran as fast as he could down the shopping hall.

"What's the plan, Inari?! What are you hoping to achieve by running?!" Osamu asked.

"I need a tighter space, somewhere she could easily lose sight of us, even for a moment! Just trust me, Osamu! I have something in mind!" Inari explained.

"Inari, is what she said true? Was that blood moon--"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Osamu was suddenly slammed in the jaw by Belle's cross. The blow sent him flying right through the display window of the clothing store. Entire shelves were knocked down as he landed hard against the back wall of the store.

"Here she comes!" Inari exclaimed.

"Oh, really? How could you guess?" Osamu groaned, rubbing his burning jaw.

Belle jumped through the broken display window, sliding across the polished floor of the store as her cross left blue burn marks on the ground. Osamu rolled and just barely managed to dodge the diagonal swing of her cross as she slid in for the attack. Seeing a bottle of perfume for sale, her threw the odorous concoction at Belle's head, shattering the glass and spraying her entire face with it. She fell over on one knee as shards of glass pierced her face.

Osamu flung himself towards Belle like a bullet, slamming her through the wall and into the cell phone store next door. Pinning her on the ground, Osamu wrapped his iron grip around Belle's left arm, pulling on it with all of his might.

It was frighteningly easy for him to pull the bone of her arm right out of its socket. Once the bone was dislocated, Osamu tore her arm right from her body. Belle screamed in agony, using her right hand to slam the cross into Osamu's chest. The impact blew him right out of the cell phone store and onto the escalators outside. A small, blue flame burned and quickly died out on his chest, leaving the area of skin it affected with blisters. Osamu held Belle's dismembered arm in his hand like a spoil of war.

"She'll recover from that soon. Now we can use the time available to us to set up a trap!" Inari said.

"All right, but please let go of the arm! This is freaking me out!" Osamu cried.

Blood dripped from the dismembered limb as the escalators took Osamu on a cruise downstairs. It still had her arm band, bell, and glove adorning it.

"Sorry, but I think we can use this. She can regenerate catastrophic wounds that would kill any other exorcist. Watching her regeneration gave me an idea. You won't like it, but it's going to allow us to win." Inari said.

"Inari...what do you have in mind?"

"Just follow my instructions, Osamu.”