Come by Night 3: Kitsune No Yomeiri

Chapter Twelve - The Auction House

*zori - Japanese flip flops

I cannot believe my eyes. How can such a horrible place exist in the divine realm? Everything I ever learned was a lie, I suppose. When I was little, they taught me the gods were good and demons were bad. How did everything get so turned around?

The building reeks, and no wonder. The smell of urine and feces is awful and I want to cover my nose, but I can't or I'll ruin our disguise. Mitsuaki can handle it with his sensitive nose, so I resolve to do the same. We walk past the poor creatures in their cages, and my heart is filled with pity. I would be terrified if I were imprisoned in one of them. My heart squeezes tight in my chest to think that Tsukiko is here.

Yet, there's no sign of her. I find this both encouraging and disappointing. I just want to find her and get out! But I'm just as glad she's not lying in one of those cages, too. This is no place for a little girl. I wish I could ask Mitsuaki what we should do, but I'm afraid to speak. I don't know if shinshi make small talk with one another, but I can't imagine they would where anyone could see or overhear them.

So, I keep my silence, growing more fretful with each passing second. My nerves are frayed and I have no idea what we will do if we are caught. I dread that they'll confine Mitsuaki in one of these grated boxes. We can't find her, and I don't believe she's here. I don't how to explain it, but I've always had this sense of her, since she was in my womb. There's no trace of her in the auction house. I want to leave and figure out something else. I'm about to get Mitsuaki's attention, hoping we will get out of this pit of despair before it's too late, when our luck runs out.

"Hey, you — you there!" a sharp voice cries out. I turn towards the sound. I see guards. And beside them are two real lion dogs. I feel my belly tighten, my limbs tingle and go numb. I can't breathe.

"Get them," the guard shouts to another one down the aisle behind us."Those aren't Raijin-sama's lion dogs!"

"Run!" Mitsuaki urges, and I do. Our zori slap the ground side by side as we duck down a side aisle, past the staring faces that peer at us in excitement. My heart pounds, There is a door ahead, partly open, and I see the bright daylight outside beyond it! I can almost smell it, taste it...we are nearly there!

My hope is destroyed when a huge, white dog-like creature bounds out of the next adjoining aisle in front of us. We come to a halt. Lightning crackles in its fur and dances in it's pale eyes. It sniffs the air and growls at us, long and menacing. I shake, unable to move.

"Go, Hotaru!" Mitsuaki tells me.

"I can't leave you!"

Without warning, the lightning beast lopes toward us at full speed. I scream. Mitsuaki places himself between the monster and me. I hear the sound of his sword being drawn before I see it in his hands. Tears sting my eyes. I am so afraid, but I admire him. Can I be as brave?

"Isamu!"

"RUN!" he roars, blue flames and lightning erupting around him as he faces the beast in battle.

The creature ignores me for the threat Mitsuaki presents. I remember what happened when I lingered at the river. If I stay, I will do more harm than good. So I do what my husband tells me and run for all I am worth. I flee into the open sunlight and past the startled beings who were walking down the street. I am so afraid. I want Mitsuaki to be with me. I don't know where to go or what to do. I have no magic. I am neither divine nor yōkai. I hope he'll catch up soon.

I hear a deafening roar. I turn back and see a lightning beast, its white fur stiff, blue eyes gleaming with divine fire. Is it the same one, or another? I cannot tell. Mitsuaki! Is he alive? I clutch my side and take off as fast as I can. I lose my zori, but I run faster without them. It's no use, though. The monster is bigger and faster. It closes the distance behind me before I take more than a few steps.

The divine beings in the street part and look on. One in particular takes note of a terrified 'lion dog' running down the middle of the street with a lightning beast about to eat her. I'm too afraid to look back. I have never been so frightened! My hairs raise, and I feel the charge of lightning. I keep running, expecting to die at any moment! My side hurts, I can scarce breathe, but I'm not stopping. I don't dare! I hear the roar behind me. The hot breath of the thing pants down the back of my neck! A brilliant light fills my vision—

And then, there is nothing.