Chapter 32: 31. Karaoke Okami

Rin was sauntering, Kiko-san thought, he, she… they were definitely not moving with any urgency. They were strolling up the street, peering around them like a tourist.

“Hey Rin! Hurry up! Which bar did you leave Inari in?”

“Ehh, it was one of these, might have been the Peach Pit, or the Cherry Blossom Bar... something fruity.”

“You... you mean you don’t remember?!”

Rin shrugged, tapping a cigarette out of a packet, and lighting it with a smooth, practised flick of a brass zippo lighter. They took a long draw of the cigarette and exhaled a thin stream of smoke before shrugging again.

“Not... exactly. No.”

Kiko blinked, and then as Rin took another long inhalation, she brought her hand down in a blade strike across the top of Rin’s head.

“Aiya! Hey!”

“Stupid Fox! How can you forget?!”

Rin rubbed the top of their head, glaring at her.

“I was upset, emotional. My head was full of old memories. That’s why I went to the onsen, to clear my head. Didn’t know she’d arranged to meet you there, or I wouldn’t have.”

“You did too good a job of clearing your head. Start thinking! Or I’ll make sure your head is empty for a very long time!”

“What are you getting so worked up about anyway? It’s Inari, she’ll be alright.”

“She’s mortal now. She can die.”

“So? Her body dies, she doesn’t. She’ll just wake up in the Celestial Planes and find her way back home again in a few years..”

“Idiot! We don’t have a few years, we don’t even have months! She has to be at the Rice tasting ceremony this year or... or... well everything is lost!”

Rin raised an eyebrow at her, a cynical expression on their face.

“Hoi, dramatic much?”

“It’s the truth! Her home shrine is under threat; without her we can’t protect that, and without that she’ll be gone forever. The last kami... gone!”

“Not the last.”

Kiko looked stunned.

“What?”

Rin shrugged, leaning against the wall.

“Inari isn’t the last. Amaterasu is still around, so are some of the others. They just don’t visit the Mortal world any more. Good riddance I say.”

Kiko blinked at Rin for a few seconds, processing that, and then shook her head.

“Doesn’t matter! Without Inari, the plan to bring magic back and make a safe place for Others won’t work!”

Rin chuckled.

“A safe place for Others? Look around you little shrine maiden, nowhere’s safe for anyone! How are you going to do that?”

Kiko opened, and closed her mouth, then shrugged.

“I don’t know. It’s Paul-sama’s plan, not mine.”

“Paul-sama?”

“Inari’s Herald.”

Rin threw back their head and laughed.

“Inari has a gaijin Herald! Oh that’s rich! What a joke! The only remaining first rank Goddess taking up with a round-eye! Amaterasu will explode when she hears! Oh, I know, maybe I’ll tell her myself! She HATES the gaijin…”

The crack of Kiko’s palm against Rin’s face sounded like a gunshot. Rin staggered, and then slowly stood up, rubbing their face and glaring at her.

“Hoi. You know, that’s the third time you’ve hit me. Don’t do it again. My patience only goes so far.”

“Oh? And what will you do about it?”

Rin loomed over her, eyes glowing a fiery hue, like two hot coals, tail bristling up and cracking with malice.

“I can make you wish you’d never been born you stupid mortal gir… eerk!”

Rin’s eyes bugged out as Kiko’s foot connected with Rin’s crotch. Kiko watched as the silver haired kitsune let out a sound like a tire deflating and collapsed to the pavement, curling in a ball clutching at their private parts. Apparently that was just as effective despite the lack of balls, or perhaps Rin just kept them elsewhere?

Kiko shook her head. She wasn’t even going to start speculating on the anatomical arrangement of something she had no intention of going anywhere near.

Quickly she set to work while Rin was... distracted. Using a napkin she swiped from one of the street vendors, she folded it in half and tore along the fold, making a rectangle exactly three by five. Holding the first two fingers of her right-hand in front of her lips, she chanted a swift prayer, consecrating the rectangle of paper. That done, she took a toothpick and a soy packet, also swiped from the food vendor, pricked her finger, and dabbed some of the soy onto her finger, mixing it with her blood.

Kiko hissed as the soy stung, but using her forefinger as a brush she quickly she wrote out the kanji for ‘Obey’ and then sealed the white talisman she’d improvised by slapping it against Rin’s forehead, and with her bloody first finger against her lips, chanted a binding prayer.

The slip of paper glowed pure white, and seemed to dissolve into a shower of sparks as the magic consumed it’s corporal form and settled into Rin. She’d hoped the magic would work, but she was glad she was right.

Rin lifted their head, and glared at Kiko.

“What have you done?! You think this will work?”

Kiko studied Rin for a second.

“Rin. Punch yourself in the face.”

“Ha! As if.. OW!”

Kiko grinned at the angry fox spirit as Rin sat there, rubbing their nose.

“Looks like it works to me.”

“Won’t last. All it’ll take is a dead zone, or a few days... or you dying first.”

“Oh, right. Rin, you are ordered not cause harm to me, put me in harms way, or allow harm to come to me if you can prevent it. Nor will you prevent me from giving you orders.”

“Gahhh. Alright! Want me to call you Mistress too?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. But be polite.”

“Hey, you... it hurts when you give me an order! It’s like you’re carving it into my heart!”

“You have one?”

“Low blow you little… shrine maiden!”

Kiko smiled innocently at him, simpering just a bit, like she did when some tourist asked to take her picture for the thousandth time that day. She hated having to do her ritual chores in her robes. She felt like she was Mickey Mouse at Disney world, Tokyo.

“Now that I have your full cooperation I will ask you again. Which bar did you leave Inari in? Answer me truthfully.”

Rin sighed, and nodded up the street.

“The Plum Barrel bar, far end of the street, around the corner.”

“Ok, get up, if you can, and let’s go.”

Rin carefully and gingerly, stood… still somewhat hunched over.

“This way then… mistress.”

Well, technically he was being polite, Kiko thought, even though the word he’d used could also mean a woman who ran a brothel. She let it slide; she knew better than to pull her bow-string too tight.

The Plum Barrel bar was on the edge of Osaka old town, where the new construction began. It was an ugly, square concrete box, next to an empty lot, which served as a buffer to the more elegant Old Town buildings that started around the corner. There were motorbikes parked in the empty lot… large ones, and several flashy cars of the illegal street racer sort.

Kiko’s heart sank as she took in the appearance of the large, muscled and tattooed man standing at the entrance.

“You left her there?!”

“Yeahhh...”

Even Rin sounded uncertain of themselves. Rin pointed to the rear corner of the bar.

“Back door is this way, if you want to get in without being seen.”

Kiko nodded slowly.

“I think that would be a very good idea. I don’t think they welcome tourists here.”

“Noo… actually a lot of the gang members are only too happy to see tourists, of course, the reverse isn’t true.”

“Gang… RIN! Is this bar a Yakuza hang out?!”

“Um… sort of. It’s more like, it’s a bar several of the local colour gangs like, so they have an agreement not to start too much trouble here. The Big Boys just hang out here keeping an eye on the place, to spot any upcoming talent.”

“Oh, so it’s just local gang members and only some Yakuza, that makes all the difference! Rin! What possessed you to leave Inari here!”

Rin managed to look sheepish.. scuffing the dirt of the empty lot with a toe.

“I was really, really cross. She can’t die you know, even with that human body of hers. It would take more than these human punks to do it.”

“Maybe so, but what if she gets assaulted or raped!”

“It’s Inari, she’d probably enjoy… YIP!”

Kiko kicked Rin in the back of the knee, folding it forward abruptly, forcing Rin down on all fours, and then drove her foot into Rin’s crotch again, almost flipping them over with the force of her kick.

“Aiye!Aiye!Aiye!Aiye! Ah..hooo.. ouch... what did you do that for?”

“NO woman ENJOYS being raped you, you.. Gahhh!!! I will deal with you later! Or worse, I’ll tell Inari what you said, and let HER deal with you. Now get up!”

Rin glared up at her.

“I was going to say, she’d enjoy teaching them a lesson. Hmpf!”

Rin got up, wincing and standing crouched, somewhat bow legged. Kiko, blushing at her error, marched over to the shabby, nondescript door and then paused.

“Rin… Truthfully, what’s inside, how do I get in?”

“You twist the handle and pull on the door. It opens into a shadowy corner of the bar, out of sight of the front door. No-one guards it, there’s no security, why would there be considering who’s bar it is? Inari, if she’s in the same place, will be in the third booth from the door. They’re all along the back wall on the inside, so you can see out, but it’s hard to see in to one.”

Kiko took a deep breath, her hand on the door knob, acutely aware that her attire would stand out in such a place almost as badly as Inari’s. She could feel the raucous music vibrating though the thin plywood of the door, never mind hear it. She pulled the door open and slid inside, with Rin almost on her heels. She walked quickly along the line of booths, eyes on the floor, not making eye contact with anyone.

At the third booth Kiko stopped, and glanced inside. The table was littered with empty Sake bottles, of different brands, and a large number of empty glasses forming a pyramid.

But, of Inari, there was no sign.

“She... she’s.. gone… Rin where is she? Find her. I command you!”

Rin took Kiko by the shoulder, turning her around so she looked into the main part of the bar, and pointed.

“Found her.”

Kiko’s mouth dropped open.

Inari was on a table, in the middle of the floor, with a spot light shining on her... singing her heart out and dancing like a sixties ‘go-go’ dancer to thunderous cheers and whistles.

Kiko stood and stared for moment, then without thinking, walked forward through the press of the cheering crowd. She was only a few strides away when Inari saw her, despite the spotlight shining in her eyes.

“Kiko-chan!”

Inari’s glad cry rang above the music as all around her, burly, scary-looking men turned to stare at Kiko. Those nearest to Kiko took a step back away from her, leaving a clear space around her that extended as far as the edge of the table Inari stood on.

Inari took two long steps and leapt, flying from the table towards Kiko. For one moment, time seemed to slow for Kiko, as Inari appeared to drift though the air towards her, seeming to sparkle as the gold threads in her yukata caught the light.

Then reality, and Inari, hit Kiko like a freight train.

Kiko fell backwards, instinctively catching Inari, and pulling her to herself. Fortuitously for both, reflexive muscle memory from years of Aikido training kicked in, and Kiko positioned them both to land without injury.

Well, mostly without injury.

Kiko exhaled gaspingly as the wind was knocked out of her by Inari’s landing. For a moment she couldn’t breath… partly because her diaphragm wasn’t listening to her brain, and partly because Inari was sitting astride her hips, kissing her quite thoroughly, to the accompaniment of cheers and whistles.

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Kiko was quite dizzy, and only partly from the lack of breath, by the time Inari stood up and hauled her to her feet.

“Honoured Gentlemen! May I present my girlfriend, Kiko-chan! And that unworthy one over there, slinking towards the back door, is my oniisan, Rin.”

Rin, who’d been sidling towards the back of the club, suddenly found themselves surrounded by a ring of very large and tough looking men, all glaring at Rin as if Rin had insulted their mothers…

“Oi, Inari...”

Rin didn’t get much further, as they found themselves being propelled towards Inari by a large hand wrapped around their neck, a hand missing a finger, and belonging to a man Rin recognised as one of the more volatile Yakuza with a reputation for violence in quite creative ways.

Rin managed to squeak out a small pleading sound while looking panicked at Inari.

The man forced Rin to their knees in front of Inari, growling into his ear.

“Oi! You. Mind what your imouto says, or you and I will have a little meeting. Brothers should look after little sisters, not leave them in strange bars.”

Rin swallowed hard, suddenly remembering that a lot of the Yakuza, being traditional families, ran to lots of children… and that meant most of the men glaring at Rin would have sisters of their own at home.

“So stupid brother, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“I..I’m sorry?”

“Not good enough! You ruined my date! Because you don’t approve of Kiko-chan! You dumped me here and you stole my pantsu! You pervert! I had to borrow a pair from Akahana-san over there!”

Both Rin and Kiko looked at where Inari was pointing, at the tall, curvaceous, red-haired woman wearing a tiny thong and a sprinkling of body glitter, who was currently hanging from a pole and glaring at Rin.

Kiko swallowed and glanced towards Inari, mostly down towards her hips which were considerably slimmer… Inari blushed, adding in a quiet voice meant for Kiko’s ears only.

“Bikini bottoms, I tied them so they’d fit me. They’re not her at-work pair, they cover more than the ones I was wearing!”

Rin tore their eyes away from Akahana-san and looked pleadingly at Inari.

“Imoto-chan.. please..”

Inari glared at Rin for few seconds, no more than a heart-beat or two, and then sighed.

“Aiyah… what is one to do when one’s Oniisan is such an idiot?!”

“It was just meant as a prank Inari-chan. Please, I came to get you… just... it took longer than I thought. Kiko caught up to me, so I had to wait until she finished beating me up.”

“Maybe I should let the honourable gentlemen here teach you not to play at being an anime bad boy so much.”

“Inari-san! Please!”

Inari glared at Rin for moment longer, then shook her head. Reaching down she grabbed Rin by an ear, and twisting lifted Rin to their feet, although Rin had to bend over as they stood, or risk losing an ear.

“We are going straight home, and I am telling mother and father what you’ve done… and then you are going to apologise to Kiko too for ruining our date. Understood?!”

“Yes Inari-san!”

Inari let go of Rin, although not before a final hard pinch, and turning, bowed towards the assembled gangsters, villains, scumbags, bar-flies and other low-lifes.

“Thank you for having me here, you have all been wonderful and I’m sure you make your own mothers and sisters proud.”

There was a chorus of ‘thank you’ and ‘please come again’ from the villainous looking horde, some of whom were blushing. Akahana-san blew Inari a kiss from where she was hanging upside down.. causing Inari to blush, giggling, and glance shyly at Kiko. Catching her cue after a small delay, Kiko scowled jealously at the well endowed dancer, and put her arm around Inari, much to the red-haired dancer’s amusement.

Once they were outside, and some distance from the bar, Rin sagged against a wall and grinned.

“Nice, Inari... I thought for sure I was going to get a beating there...”

Inari laced her fingers together, flexing, making her knuckles crack.

“What makes you think you’re not?”

Alarmed, Rin started to back up, obviously about to bolt. Kiko shook her head.

“Rin, stand still..”

Rin froze, glaring at Kiko. Inari glanced between them, then looked at Rin, holding up her hand and making a circle with her forefinger and thumb so she could look though that.

“Huh! You bound him Kiko-chan! I didn’t know you could do that. How’d you manage it?”

Kiko shrugged.

“Oh, I knew the forms from my studies… all I had to do was improvise a white talisman, but a napkin torn in half and a soy-sauce packet did that. I didn’t know if it would work, it never has before.”

Inari shook her head.

“It wouldn’t, not with so little magic around normally… but you’ve been at the shrine for several days soaking in mana, so now it would. If you have the ability, which you do.”

“Not everyone can do magic then?”

Inari shook her head.

“No... Although purely human mages were rare even in my day, they did exist; nowadays they might not even realize they are one… but the ability is much more common among those that have a bit of Other blood in them. Like you.”

“I do?”

Inari nodded.

“Yes… I mean, I wasn’t certain before, but having … ah.. tasted you, now I am. You have a tiny trace of kitsune in you.”

“Oh… OH! Wait! You knew my many-greats ancestors, am I your… am I of your line?”

Inari tilted her head, looking at the wide-eyed Kiko, and shrugged.

“Possibly, but it’s too faint to tell. Not that it would matter after so many generations. But it’s equally possible it came from someone else in your family tree. I’m not the only kitsune… I mean, I wasn’t… oh.”

Rin spoke up, quietly.

“There are still other kitsune, Inari, not of your line. There are descendants of the black fox still living up in the north, and on the mainland. The children of the yellow fox-spirit live in America now. Although they’ve interbred with Coyote’s lot to the point you can’t tell them apart… and I think there’s still some of the red foxes in Europe, but I haven’t heard of them in several decades.”

Inari gave Rin a look of gratitude, but Rin just shook their head.

“I… kept looking, for you, for my siblings… but we’re the last of the white foxes. I think.”

“Shoko lives with me now..”

“Shoko’s a golden fox, well half.”

“She’s still family. Even if her father was of another house… although properly, she’s also the last golden fox too. But her mother sent her to stay with me, just before the end of the war.”

“Where did her mother live again?”

“At the shrine in Hiroshima.”

Rin nodded slowly.

“Oh. Yeah, that would do it. I hadn’t heard where she went, I just knew they both disappeared during the war.”

A pall of awkward silence fell over the three of them, until Rin sighed.

“So… now what mother Inari? I can’t go anywhere or do anything until your mortal lover lets me go or the binding fails of it’s own accord.”

Kiko shook her head.

“More likely the latter, I don’t know how to undo a spell like that.”

Rin glared at Kiko.

“You bound me, when you knew you didn’t know how to undo it?! I don’t think I like you.”

Kiko shook her head.

“Everything I read on the subject said, well more like warned, that the spell didn’t last, that it would fail within days. Which is why I suppose there was no mention of an unbinding. There was no need.”

“Idiot! Binding spells fail because the kitsune eventually wears away at them with their magic… and I’ve got almost zero magic! I’ll never break something this strong!”

Inari shook her head.

“Not here, no...”

Kiko looked at Inari, doubtfully.

“Are you suggesting Rin comes back with us?”

“Well, it is supposed to be a sanctuary. Besides, Rin is right, I did abandon them. I didn’t mean to, I couldn’t help it at the time... but it happened. It is past time to make up for that.”

Rin tilted their head.

“Well, I guess I could spend some time in Kyoto...”

Inari and Kiko both looked at Rin in surprise. Then as Kiko giggled, Inari shook her head.

“Oh Rin.. Rin.. that’s not my home shrine… no we’re going home to my shrine in Mikata.”

Rin blinked.

“Where?!”

“Mikata district, Hyōgo Prefecture … it’s about an hours train ride from here to the North and West. My shrine is up in the hills a couple of miles away from a town on the coast called Kami.”

“There’s a town called Kami?”

“It’s named that way because that’s my home... or it was a long time ago.”

Rin looked at Inari disbelievingly.

“You want me to go all the way up to the coast… and stay in some draughty old shrine in the middle of nowhere?!”

“Well, you were the one who was complaining I abandoned you! You can’t have it both ways now! You’re coming home with me.”

“Inari-san! I have friends here, a life!”

“And what sort of life is it? Whoever these friends are, they’re a bad influence on you! A few days in the country..”

“A few days!”

“...maybe a week or two.”

“A week!”

“Do you want to try for a month, Rin?”

“No.. no.. a week… is fine.”

“Or two. Anyway it’ll do you good, clear your head of any nonsense. Kiko-chan... dearest one, we are going back to the motel. You can show me how to use the shower, and then we’ll pick up all our things and head for the station. You said the last train runs at midnight?”

“Yes Inari-chan… if we want to do that and get to the station on time we need to leave the motel at eleven at the latest and it’s nine now. We won’t get our money back on the room though...”

Inari sighed.

“Can’t be helped, I’m sorry.”

Rin frowned.

“You know, technically they can’t do that. If you cancel on the same day, as long as it’s before midnight they’re supposed to give you a refund. I... ah... might have used that loophole. A time or two..”

Inari gave Rin a level look, and then shook her head.

“Bad influences. Kiko, order Rin to collect up whatever is needed by them for a stay of at least two weeks, and meet us at the station at eleven forty five.”

Kiko looked at Rin.

“You heard Inari… do it. Platform seven, be at the gate.”

Rin sighed.

“I hear and obey, oh mistress. Two weeks in the country... I should’ve let you drown me in the bath.”

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