[Inari Standoff]: The Final Gamble

The strangest thing happened to Osamu. He woke up. He found himself in his bed, the curtains reaching towards him as a slight breeze whispered into the room through the opened window. It was like he woke up from a bad dream. He actually wondered if anything he remembered going through ever even happened.

"Am I in...heaven?"

He tried sitting up, but his entire body ached and screamed in pain. He looked down to see his entire body wrapped in gauze, from his thighs up to his neck.

"The wounds are still there. It wasn't a dream. How am I still alive?"

He suddenly remembered his last moments, the moment he offered his heart to Inari as he bled out on the tarmac. All of the arrow wounds were still there, peppered across his body He put his hand over his chest, almost scared to see if there was a heartbeat or not. Sure enough, there was. It was faint, but he had a heartbeat.

"What? She didn't take my heart? What's going on?"

Kagutsuchi came in through the door of the bedroom in white pajamas. She was absolutely spooked to see Osamu suddenly awake, her soul nearly jumped right out of her body.

"Osamu, you're finally awake! We were so worried! I'll go tell-"

"Kagu, wait!"

"Huh? You don't want me to tell them?"

"No, no, no. I do, it's just...what happened?! I gave Inari my heart, didn't I? Did she not take it? Where is she, anyway? How did I get back home, and how long have I been out?! What about Taeko and the others?"

"Of course...you must have so many questions. Inari said you would."

Kagu shut the door and sat on the bed besides Osamu. Just from the way her hands were clasped and her eyes were sunk low, Osamu knew Kagu was trying to find an easy way to say what she needed to say.

"You died. You really did die...for a while. Inari took your heart and ate it after you offered it to her. She was able to defeat most, if not all of the exorcists with ease."

Osamu smiled and sighed in relief. "Whew! That's good to hear! But, still...I clearly have a heartbeat. Why am I even still alive if she ate my heart?"

"That's...that's what's hard to tell you."

"What do you mean?"

"Osamu...the exorcists we fought were only the first wave. They had four more. Inari knew we weren't going to make it past four more battles. So...she ended the standoff the only way she knew how. She used blood magic to turn half of the invading force against itself. That bought us time. While the exorcists held themselves off, Inari asked me to carry her back to you. And then she..."

Hearing the story, Osamu was paralyzed by shock.

"Kagu...then...this heart...this blood...."

"It's all Inari's. She gave it to you."

(You fool...weren't we supposed to die together if we failed, and live together if we succeeded?)

"So, Inari is...dead?"

Kagutsuchi nodded, tucking her lips in to prevent herself from crying. "Yes. She's gone."

Yoko, Izanami, Tsukiakari, and Amatsuki all came into the bedroom, crying and smothering Osamu with hugs and kisses that were long overdue. Osamu couldn't feel the love being given to him through those kisses. It all paled in comparison to the magnitude of his grief.

"Osamu! You're alive! We all thought you weren't going to wake up!" Yoko sobbed.

"Thank god you're okay! We all worried about you!" Amatsuki said.

"Osa, I'm so glad you're alive!" Izanami cheered.

"Let go of me!" Osamu screamed.

Osamu pushed them all away, silencing the room. He clutched his chest, struggling to catch his breath. "Why did she have to die?!"

Izanami stepped forward. "Osamu...Inari sacrificed herself for you, because she wanted you to live, and to go home-"

"Please...Izanami...all of you...just...give me some privacy."

"Osamu..." Amatsuki murmured.

"Please!" Osamu cried.

Being out for four days meant there was so much he had to catch up on. They knew it was hitting Osamu all at once, too much for him to even bare.

"Come on, girls. Let's give Osamu some time." Yoko said.

Everyone left the room and Yoko shut the door behind her. Behind that closed door, the girls heard Osamu scream and cry in utter horror and grief. It broke their hearts so much that even they wept.

(This blood that flows through my veins...this heart that beats in my chest and keeps me alive...it was all Inari's. Every heartbeat that passed by was a permanent reminder of her, and the victories we shared...and the qualities we discovered in each other that helped us both...both remember who we were, and why we needed to live...and why we could gladly die.)

Taeko awoke to the deafening sound of metallic banging. Her back cracked and ached as she sat up, her foot cuffs and chain chiming in her dark cell. An exorcist in white robes tapped his baton on the bars of her cell.

"You have a visitor. Make yourself look presentable." the exorcist said.

Taeko's matted and disheveled hair obscured her face as she sat on her bed. The cell door flung open and Amaterasu walked through. She nodded at the exorcist, signaling him to give them some privacy. Amaterasu sat across from Taeko on the bed opposite from her. The first few seconds of silence between them told them all they needed to know. This was nothing but a miserable situation with no silver lining, no happy ending.

"Fourth day locked up." Amaterasu said. "I see they've been giving you the worst treatment. I'll talk to them about this."

Taeko sat cross-legged, partially exposing the lacerations on the soles of her feet. "Yeah. A little bit of bastinado is nothing to me. I've been through worse."

Amaterasu nodded. "When's your execution?"

"They didn't tell you?"

"...They don't tell me much of anything anymore. They're taking advantage of the fact I was held hostage. At least, on paper they are. I'm sure at least know that you and I aren't exactly enemies, so they don't tell me anything."

"Two days from now. Cyanide, Shinju, Maria, and myself. All of us."

"Right, but not Osamu. He was unconscious when they arrested you, so they couldn't put him on trial. As far as I know, he still hasn't woken up yet."

"Once he does, he'll share the same fate as us."

"...I'm sorry, Taeko. But what on earth were you thinking? Why did you take Inari's side during the standoff? I thought you were going to rescue Osamu and nothing else."

"I'm probably dead soon, so there's no point hiding it. It was my intent from the start to rescue Inari."

"Taeko!"

"She was my friend! One of the only true friends I had left in this world!"

Amaterasu leaned back and sighed. "So you were never really on my side."

"I just didn't want you to make the biggest mistake of your life."

"Well? Look at us, Taeko. Neither of us got what we wanted out of this. I didn't get Inari's blood and heart. You couldn't protect Inari's life. Now the situation is even worse than how it started. Because of you and Inari, the most fearsome power this world has ever seen is now trapped in my son-in-law's body.

“Heaven can't allow for such a power to be stuck in a mortal's body, but you guys won't allow them to take Inari's blood and heart because it can't be done without killing him. It's unbelievable. Inari's dying act did nothing but ensure that the standoff continues even beyond the airport. Do you have any idea how severe all of this is?"

Taeko smiled. "Inari checkmated the both of us. A final 'fuck you' to the world that tried to kill her for all this time. The only reason your son-in-law is still alive is because of her. Irony fucking hurts doesn't it? So, what will you do now? Like you said, if you make a move on Osamu now, Gekko and Izanami will burn your pantheon to the ground. You don't want a war with your mother and daughter."

"They're waiting until after your executions to decide what to do. The whole thing has spun out of my control. Damn it...That was well-played, Inari. So then, Taeko, is this really the end for you? Are you just going to rot in a jail cell until they hang you at the gallows?"

"No. I'm doing what I do best, Amaterasu. Gamble."

"Gamble?"

"It's all I've ever done all my life. My gamble is in the works as we speak."

"...Whatever you have planned, I won't help you. You lied to me. You betrayed my trust."

"I know. But it was you who betrayed our trust first. Your plan this whole time wasn't just to kill Inari. You wanted control over her blood magic."

"Because it's the equivalent of a felon running around with a portable nuke. Not only that, but unlike Inari, Osamu's just a human. He can't defend himself if someone comes after him. You forget that it's not just the pantheon that wants that power. Heaven has plenty of enemies that would love to get their hands on it."

"I doubt that's really what your compatriots in Heaven feel. You think this is about national security to them? Please. This is about having the power to bend anyone and anything to your will. You all saw it in action at the airport. Blood magic is the end of free will and dissent as we know it. If you had it, you'd make sure everyone obeyed you. No more infighting, no more massacres, no more stand-offs.

“But if someone within the ranks had it, who's to say they wouldn't turn that power on you and make all of Heaven comply with their will? What would stop them from turning exorcists into thoughtless killing machines? Your real enemy wasn't Inari. It's the snakes in your own ranks. People like Bishamon. People that have been waiting centuries to finally turn the tables on you. They used legal loopholes and exorcist protocol to shut you out of this operation for that exact purpose."

Amaterasu bit her lip. Taeko hit the nail on the head and she knew it.

"You're on death row too, Amaterasu. They just didn't throw you in here with me." Taeko said, glaring at Amaterasu with unblinking eyes. "You want to stop that from happening? Maybe you should lend a hand in my gamble, turn the odds against the house."

Amaterasu smiled. "Damn you. It's impressive you actually managed to think this far ahead. I don't know what your plan is, but you only have two days for it work. What do you need me to do?"

"For once, your daughter is using the pen instead of the sword. She's drafting something that I need delivered to the divine court. In case they reject her for her involvement in the hostage situation, I want you to push it forward. You have to sell the court on the plan."

"Your gamble is to use Gekko as a policymaker?"

"It's to make them an offer they can't refuse."

Amaterasu stood up. "I'll do my best. But even if this works, I still plan on making you answer for the chaos you've wrought."

"You threaten me with a good time. Thank you."

Amaterasu closed the cell door, leaving Taeko to fester in the darkness of her cramped, concrete cell. Meanwhile, everything was riding on Tsukiakari, who sat at the kitchen island at the house. She put pen to paper and drafted a twenty page resolution that she intended to present before the divine court in Heaven. Her fingers smelled of ink and her neck ached from staring at her paper for the past three days.

Finally, she put her pen down, the light of vanilla-scented candles flicking her baggy, scarlet eyes. She dragged her hands down her face and released an exhausted sigh.

"It's almost one in the morning..." Amatsuki said, coming downstairs to check on Tsukiakari.

"I'm just about done with it. Now that Osamu's awake, they'll want to try him. I won't let anyone get executed. Not if I can help it." Tsukiakari said.

"I still can't believe we're doing this. I mean, it's a hell of a plan. I expected Yoko and Izanami to reject it, but I guess they really don't have much of a choice, huh?"

"None of us do. That's just how all of this ends. No one gets what they wanted. Speaking of which...she's still safe, right?"

"Yeah. That was good thinking, bringing Inari's corpse to me. She's being held in a safe place until all of this blows over. Then we can lay her to rest. I'm...really sorry for your loss, Gekko. I know I've said it a thousand times, but it's just so horrible."

Amatsuki rubbed Tsukiakari's shoulders as tears welled in the goddess's eyes.

"All these years I waited to see her again..." Tsukiakari cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "And they kill her..."

"I know." Amatsuki whispered.

"I'm sorry." Tsukiakari said, wiping her eyes. "No crying until everyone's safe. I'll mourn her later. Right now, I've got to protect Osamu. I'm going to Heaven tomorrow. Watch over the house, okay?"

"You got it!"

"Thank you, Amatsuki. We'd be lost without you."

Amatsuki shook her head. "You don't have to thank me. You'd do it for me."

Tsukiakari stood and pulled Amatsuki in for a hug, the two girls rocking in silence for a few moments. Amatsuki's warm, tight embrace gave Tsukiakari all the courage she needed to press onward and avert the monumental crisis threatening her family.

Tsukiakari took a deep breath. "Well then. Let's hope this works.”