Captured! Threaded Trap at Kojiwaka Inn

[Taishou89]

"Oh!" A surprised Kojiwaka recoiled in surprise, seeming almost more like a guilty 'caught in the act' kind of surprise, as Koneko stopped the door in place and gently closed it. "Oh It's you Mr. Keiji!" the old man smiled as he regained his composure, his breath smelling even worse than it had before, though this time it had an almost putrid hint to it. The light trail of smoke that came off him smelled strongly of freshly burned incense and she would have noticed that on his balding head there appeared to be a discolored spot on the top, almost appearing to be a bruise of sorts. "You gave me such a scare, I Thought you might have been a demon!" the old man gave a hearty laugh that sounded almost forced as he polluted the air with his breath.  His laugh finally subsided and returned to that awkward toothless smile at her. If she hadn't noticed what little remaining teeth he had before, it would appear now that he was missing a tooth or two more now. It would have also seemed to been an unusual thing to say that he thought she might have been a demon, as there didn't seem to be any reason to suspect so.

"Mmm... Master Keiji... such a strong character you have... I can't wait to taste of you..." A voice remarked in the distant shadows of her lair.

"With our Guest leaving so suddenly, you'd have thought we had a demon in our presence." The old man laughed a little more before quietly listening to her attempts to explain Mitsuyoshi's noice, though little did she know that he was fully aware of the reasons and it would seem so. "Ah well Spid-ERs..." the old man's voice seemed to shift to a higher pitch briefly before he gave a loud hacking cough and cleared his throat and continued. "... My apologies, this winter weather always gets to me. I was going to say we have unfortunately had a bit of a bug problem and I thought that might have been the case, but Please don't mind me. Please tend to your companion and If you need anything you know where to find me!" He gave another hearty laugh, and that awkward smile but this time his eyes seemed to peer right into her before coughing again as he turned and began to walk away. As his back turned, she would have noticed a strange dark spot on his back that almost looked like dried blood.

In his dream as he held his love faded through his fingers, his dream started to rapidly turn dark. The castle rapidly aged and all plants had withered and died, the sky grew dark and a shadowy figure appeared like a cloud of black smoke but in the shape of a person. As it approached him, it's pair of red orbs formed in what would be the face of the smokey figure, like a pair of eyes. As it approached his instincts kicked in and, though still distraught at witnessing Ayame's death and decay, he sprung to his feet with his claws and fangs bared. "Mitsuyoshi!" Koneko's voice could be heard like a faint echo in the background. "Mitsuyoshi! Wake up" As the dream world began to shake violently like an Earthquake. Suddenly he was torn from the dream, and in a Flash of fright he leapt at Koneko with his claws, fangs bared, and his eyes flashed a demonic red just briefly. Fortunately her quick reaction to parry his right hand and dodge to his right, as he lunged at her, combined with his recognition of her within that split moment that he lunged from his dream directly to the world of the living, he ended up crashing to the floor just behind her.

As he lifted himself off the floor, he turned around to look at her, looking much like the Mitsuyoshi that she had known, albeit still looking extremely exhausted and worn. "Forgive me Koneko I didn't mean to..." His eyes were tired and still glazed from the emotion of that memory in the dream. "Are you ok? I didn't hurt you did I?" he moved closer and looked her over to make see if she had been hurt, but was relieved to see no sign. His face seemed flushed a little, but not in embarrassment this time. That and his recent ailments seemed to suggest that he may be feverish, and that is precisely how he was feeling at the moment. His skin was hot to the touch and it appeared that it was his body and his hanyou blood that was struggling to fight not just the toxins of the prolonged exposure to the miasma, but the spider venom of the spider bite. If it weren't for the Miasma, the little spider bite probably wouldn't have affected him at all. Little did either of them know at the time, but the two toxins went together as a series of how their Mysterious midnight visitor assumes control and lures her prey directly to her. The fever that Mitsuyoshi was now suffering was actually a positive sign that his hanyou body was attempting to fight the effects of the toxins and recover. His little outburst of violence would also be a sign that his youkai side was fighting, and was a natural reaction to what he perceived as a threat.

Rubbing his eyes, he began to sway slightly as his head began to ache again and the world seemed to spin. As he tried to move toward his bedding to lie down again, "Oh curses.." he suddenly collapsed from the dizziness. "Remind me to refrain from drinking so much again next time..." He muttered in defeat that maybe it was because he drank too much, as she helped him to bed again. "I'm sorry Ayame-" realizing his mistake he quickly back tracked. "I mean I'm sorry Koneko, I didn't mean to lose myself" As he lay with his eyes closed, still awake, but bordering again on sleep. "It's funny... I've slept for 90 years, but yet... I feel so tired..."

"Good... Good... That wolf hanyou is coming along quite well... It's always the ones that still have a strong attachment that make this so much easier... Now... Why isn't my Miasma having much of an affect on young master Keiji..." The Jorougumo questioned in it's lair, whilst watching through the eyes of another spider that was conveniently sitting in the room of the two ronin. "His youkai powers must be really strong... Maybe it'll take another day of stewing before I can make a move. Heh heh heh" The Jorougumo chuckled, just imagining the power she'd assume from the blood of both a Hanyou and a powerful Youkai. "At least the Hanyou is ready, he should last a couple of days, more than enough time for my miasma to wear Keiji down..." As she shifted her gaze to the lifeless body of the Inn Keeper. "I should have kept that other Ronin alive... It's getting harder to keep animating that old man's corpse let alone hide the stench of his decay...."

[Koneko]

Before sliding off into the room, Koneko had a few moments of internal recoil and panic in her conversation as he'd mentioned it was as if a demon were around, yet managed to hold her composure with how desperate the circumstances felt. Yet she was unable to help slight surprise breaking through her expression at the momentary shift in Kojiwaka's voice, now extra of all the new oddities she picked up about him, let alone his seemingly deteriorating breath. There was so much wrong about that old man, but her concern to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with her companion was her first priority before she could allow herself to really mull on it, having already taken in so much in a short time.

Still shaking Mitsuyoshi to wake him, she noticed him jolt with just a momentary change to his scent as his claws came swiping towards her. The feline pulled her hand quickly from it rested to shake him, using it to divert the attack off, then darted to the right, spinning around to keep her eyes on him in worry with his look he might lunge again, though soon felt a little second-hand embarrassment on his behalf, seeing him collide with the floor. Finally letting go of her disguise one again as she saw him seem to become more normal, she shifted over closer to help peel him from the ground, meeting him in the middle as he picked himself up. "It's fine, don't worry about it, I'm fine too," she tried to reassure him while he checked he for injury, more concerned about how he seemed progressively worse than before he'd laid down earlier. Seeing how flushed he looked, she placed a hand on his forehead and was unable to hide the worry that overcame her, now realizing he was practically burning up and this was far beyond being some hangover. 'I've only ever known Yuzuki to get sick anything like this because she was a human... With all the strange things happening here, I don't know what exactly could have made him sick like this except for another youkai... Now that I think about it, it's like the geezer can see through me, the way he even mentioned thinking I might've been a demon when I cut him off from the room...' It stirred discontent in her just thinking about it, knowing she needed to start piecing this all together, and quick before the situation had a chance to get much worse.

Pulling her hand down as the hanyou rubbed his eyes, she moved to help him back to the futon as she saw him sway, only to end up catching him before he hit the floor. "A-ah! Don't be hasty! Let me help you move," she insisted gently, not wanting to scold him too hard in his current state, then admitting in her own defeat, "...Besides, I... think you were right about this not being from drinking... I should have listened and maybe you wouldn't be feeling like this." Helping to guide him to lay down and situate him to at least be comfortable, she knew from what she'd seen and from her own occasional moments of imbibing too much that this had evolved far beyond the possibility of a hangover. In fact, she could guess by now he would have been feeling a bit more energetic and like himself after getting more sleep, but he only seemed to keep getting worse.

Then there was that name again that slipped out of him and gave her curious pause: Ayame. "Who is-" The question almost poured from her mouth as a natural reaction, wanting to know who the owner of the name was, but she retracted just as quickly any attempt to ask, "N-nevermind, it's not the time or place with you in this condition." With what she had come to know about him the short time they'd gotten to know each other, she could at least piece together the name likely belonged to a human woman and was someone close to him, perhaps even loved, but he'd not mentioned her before now which led her to believe asking would be another sore topic and now wasn't the time for asking what might be deeply personal questions. Instead she diverted to once again try to keep him from beating himself up, "no hard feelings, you aren't in the greatest shape right now and I can handle what you throw at me." Then his next words hit her a little hard despite the joking nature of it.

"It's funny... I've slept for 90 years, but yet... I feel so tired..."

Her look turned gloomy for a moment before she put on a faint smile. Koneko knew it was meant to be a bit of irony of the situation, but, with all the little inconsistencies she'd been finding that day making the fact they were in danger apparent, let alone him more so than herself, left a foreboding feeling in the air. Placing a gentle hand on him, she found the ability within herself to keep her response and even voice lighthearted, "we'll make sure the next stop is a bit more lively, ne?" After her response, her tail laid over him in a defensive manner as she held back a growl that threatened to escape her. 'I took him in under my protection and I'll be damned if I let whatever manner of creature is doing this get away with it or much worse. I'll make sure it meets every last bit of my fury the moment I have the chance. I won't be taken for a fool...' Having little choice but to suggest he rest more in hopes it would start to clear up until she actually could figure out the source itself, she decided leaving the room again would be too risky with how close a call it already had just been. "I'll be right here by you keeping watch, rest for now and let me know if you need anything." Turning around and staying very close by to him, she finished her thought, 'and I'll be trying to figure this out so I can put an end to it before whatever is lurking can make you disappear too...' With her back turned, she was once again gritting her teeth, beginning to think over all she'd seen. "Oh, before you drift too far, we can't trust the old guy... He's definitely up to something and I don't like it."

'That old fart, I'm pretty sure somehow he knows I'm a demon given how he brought it up, but I'm not sure what it is about him... Not to mention that breath of his... It got worse, if I have to smell that again perhaps I will have to answer a call of nature to empty my stomach, it was so rancid! Maybe it's making him lose more teeth too, I swear there were more before, though maybe he lost more munching on more incense since it seemed like he'd eaten more, and freshly from the sight of that smoke. I'm surprised he'd not burned his insides eating it like that at this point. What was up with that bruise on his head and the dark spot? Was it blood? I couldn't smell-' She gasped and shifted lightly as she realized something. "The incense... I can't smell much past it except that disgusting smell from his mouth..." A few dots were connecting in her head, the missing guest with all his items left behind, the fact there was no trace of him, the old man not doing as he said and just moving the guest's sword. There was no doubt to her the other guest was long dead at this point, likely a meal, but, unless Kojiwaka was playing absolute hard ball in a human disguise, was it possible he was not really alive and they just couldn't smell it well? And then the spiders, he even seemed to stumble over mentioning them and there were three already, all smashed, but. She flinched and looked at Mitsuyoshi, realizing his condition worsened after he was bitten.

"This is bad..." she muttered to herself, unable to contain her growl this time. If it wasn't the old man, but he still wasn't trustworthy, then who behind this? Her tail flipped back and forth as she tried to remember what they'd been told when they got here, wasn't there someone else? "Damn it!"

[Taishou89]

Even as he began to teeter on the brink between sleep and consciousness, he began to agree with Koneko's suspicions of the old man. "All warfare is based on deception..." He said softly as his mind recalled his own education. Interestingly because of his hanyou status, most of his physical training and weapons training was instructed upon him by the masters of dojo at Nishino castle, but his actual education was conducted by Akari and as such he had some instructions on warfare from old Samurai teachings and doctrines to some from older sources, originating from outside of the country. "Perhaps... you should pay a visit to Kojiawka-san's office..." he muttered as his words began to slur as he fought to stay awake. When a thought came to him as he heard her struggle to remember there being another at the Inn. He gasped as the thought broke through to him of the old man's daughter "His- Ow!" he exclaimed as something he flinched lightly, but his arms felt too heavy to reach over and swat what caused the small piercing pain on his left arm.

"Rest your mind... my handsome hanyou warrior... don't fret over such things... it won't be long now Heh heh heh" He heard a voice softly say to him in his mind as he fell unconscious.

As Koneko would investigate Mitsuyoshi's sudden expression of pain just before falling fast asleep, she would notice a small lump approximately the size of a person's palm just under the covers over Mitsuyoshi's arm. Suddenly though another small spider would appear on the floor approaching her from her left appearing to have come from the doorway of their room. It seemed to be making a beeline straight towards her. Undoubtedly Koneko likely would react by swatting at it, but in this moment of distraction, a larger spider the size of person's hand, much like a large Tarantula, would quietly emerge from under the covers from Mitsuyoshi's arm. It quietly advanced at Koneko while she examined the now dead smaller spider. Within sufficient range, the larger spider leapt onto her forearm, clinging to her as it sank it's fangs into her skin and injected it's toxins. The smaller spiders venom might not have affected her much, despite the permeating and almost invisible miasma that lingered in the room, but the larger spider would inject a larger dose of it's venom that even Koneko might begin to feel some of the intial symptoms that Mitsuyoshi felt on the first night from the miasma, but also work to make her drowsy and sleepy.

"That should do it... rest now Master Keiji... Rest and tell me who dwells in your heart... Let me comfort that strong persona of yours... Lower your guard... You can trust me..." The Jorogumo softly spoke from it's lair whilst watching her prey through the eyes of the spider that clung to her arm as it injected it's venom. It was only a very brief matter of time before Koneko would likely kill it, but seeing Koneko's wince of pain, pleased the Jorogumo and she couldn't wait to have the fine man in her arms with her own fangs sunken into his neck. After Koneko would kill the spider with ease, the Jorogumo's vision of their room remained through the shadowy figure behind the door to their room. The door, cracked open just barely an inch, but a shadowy figure filled the small crevice and blocked the light from outside and a single, creepy, eyeball watched as Koneko began to succumb to the venom.

[Koneko]

As she listened to what Mitsuyoshi managed to add, Koneko turned around fully to hold at least a slight conversation with him as he struggled to keep conscious. "I think you're right, it might be worth investiga- What happened?!" His cry of pain and then her eyes locking onto the lump beneath the blanket near his arm now had her on high alert and fully growling while a sinking feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. Her adrenaline building, she then noticed the the blur of the smaller spider charging her from the corner of her eye, turning to smash it quickly as her ears fell back in anger and her irises began to glow brightly. Like hell she was going to go down without a fight!

Lifting her hand to make certain she'd smashed that spider, she wanted to make sure she'd really killed it beyond ability to attempt another bite when she then felt a larger one latch to one of her arms. The moment it's fangs sank in, she let out an irritated hiss and her face twisted in pain, nearly falling back from the shock. "Sh-shit..." she snarled out, knowing things had just gone from bad to worse as she tried to swat it off, a sudden dizziness hitting her. Managing to remove it, she jabbed her claws through it and then slammed the scales of her tail down hard over it just to ensure it was killed before holding her head. 'No... This is bad, this is really, really bad...' the feline thought in heavy panic, feeling an exhaustion slowly start to creep through her from the dose of venom, 'I can't fall asleep! I have... I have to... Fight it...' She could feel the venom hitting, stumbling as she attempted to get to her feet a couple of times before staying sunken to the floor, soon bending over on her forearms as a drowsiness was taking hold. "I'm sorry... I should have listened and... protected you better..." she uttered sleepily, shaking her head aggressively to push with every inch of herself to remain awake. 'No, don't fall asleep! Don't fall... asleep... Don't...' Her mind went hazy and she slumped over on the floor panting lightly from all opposition she put up. Her eyes tried to focus, but even the glow of her irises faded out when her eyelids became to heavy to stay open, drifting out from the waking world.

Finding herself standing in one of many forests she'd wandered through as her dream enveloped her, Koneko could feel the heat of a summer afternoon in a shaded patch of clearing and hear the rushing waters of a nearby stream. Her head tilted off to the side, the oddly soothing environment brought a sense of nostalgia with it before she heard a female voice call to her. "Keiji..." Spinning in place as her ears swiveled to locate it's source, she looked around the immediate area from where she stood. "Who's there?" She wasn't defensive yet, but slightly on guard as her eyes grazed over the area curiously. "Keiji! Over here..." The voice called again and her ears locked on it, dashing off in the direction of it, it's sound more familiar this time. "Yuzuki?! Is that you?!" A desperation filled her, now darting in and out of the trees to find the exact location as quickly as possible. "Yuzuki! Where are you?!" As she leapt on past more of the trees, then she'd hear the response, "I'm right here, Keiji!"

The daiyoukai stopped dead in her tracks and her heart pounded: it was her voice, the one she'd been longing to hear for so long. Turning towards the voice, her eyes glistened as tears threatened to bead and spill over, seeing the feminine figure peer out from just behind one of the trees. Her body not missing a beat, she pulled the short woman into a longing hug and nestled her face into the black hair at the top of her head. "Yuu-Chan, I've told you so many times not to go running off too far on your own without me," Koneko scolded lightly, "I shouldn't have to remind you just how many youkai would love to make a meal of you." Pulling away slightly to tilt Yuzuki's head up, she planted a gentle kiss against her forehead before sweeping her off her feet and making her way back towards the slight clearing to sit. "You know I'll be alright, I have you to defend me after all," Yuzuki giggled cheerily, leaning into the feline with her head on her shoulder, her purple eyes staring up at her with a cheerful smile. She held on as they found a place to sit, the daiyoukai sitting cross-legged before setting the human gently in her lap and relaxed there, leaning into each other. They sat like that, relaxed for quite some time before a small ache in the hybrid's heart needed to be asked. "Where have you been anyways, Yuu-chan? I've been worried sick looking for you for such a long time... Why did you run off like that? Without me or... Kai...to...?"

Something started to feel wrong about this place, about the woman she held. Where was the scoundrel fox? Why wasn't he here making crude comments to both of them or at least nearby catching food? "Huh? I hadn't gone that far. What's wrong Keiji?" That finally made Koneko flinch. 'That name...! Why didn't I realize until just now?!' The feline's eyes drifted to stare at the face of the woman in her lap, "she... never called me that... not ever once." Her gaze held such confusion, this started with looking for Yuzuki, that was true, she had been looking for her. Seeking her for a very, very long time, yet the woman in her lap still seemed in her twenties, and if she was that old, then the third in the group should have been making his presence obnoxiously known. "What do you mean? Keiji's your name, so of course I would call you that." One of her hands moved to her head in slight frustration and agony as her voice turned to a dangerous hiss as she spoke next, "you would dare! You would DARE use her visage against me!" Grabbing the human in her lap, she shifted their positions and pinned her against a tree just behind her, fangs bared and eyes now red in fury, snarling out, "just who are you?!"

Outside of the dream, Koneko had gone from laying still for quite some time to shifting about, her tail even thrashing wildly once in awhile. Her body was desperately trying to fight the venom yet she'd not escaped the deep sleep she'd been trapped in, growls and hisses even escaping her mouth as she moved here and there.

[Taishou89]

This time, in Mitsuyoshi's dream, he found himself sitting by Irori in the room of the Inn, taking first watch as Koneko slept in her bed. The setting seemed very much like the first night when they arrived, and he could even hear the sound of the rain pattering outside. His ears would perk up and turn slightly as he heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching. By the sound of the steps, he could tell it was that of a man, a warrior no less. The steps promptly stopped outside their door as Mitsuyoshi moved placing his foot on the floor and resting on his left knee with his hand on his tanto. "Please Excuse, sir." the voice announced from behind the door, he recognized it instantly as the voice of a lower ranking samurai. "Enter...What is it?" He asked as his posture eased. The door slid open and a young lower ranking samurai kneeling and bowing his head. "Lady Ayame has returned and awaits you in your quarters." The voice responded. He was a bit surprised, but as it was his memory seemed to fade of Koneko and everything that had occurred since he was awoken. "Thank you." He bowed as he stood and moved out into the hall, he could see the Tenshu of the castle as the rain came down. As he followed the hallway, the young samurai followed behind him. Little did he or Koneko know that in the real world, Mitsuyoshi had risen up as if he were sleep walking and had been actually talking to Kojiwaka, and it was Kojiwaka who guided him down the hallway towards the basement.

As he descended the steps in what he perceived to be Nishino castle, Guards bowing as he passed them in the hallways until he came to their room. "Ayame?" He called as he slid the door open gently. Little would he know that what he perceived to be as guards were in fact bodies wrapped in spider's silk in the basement and as he entered the storage room, before him sat the Jorougumo, Mistress Chi. "Ayame..." A smile forming on his lips for all he saw was his beloved. Lady Chi sat there in the room in human form, her long black and silver hair unbound and parted in the fashion of the ladies of the old Imperial Court. Her kimono was black with red and gold embroidered flower patterns, she wore a bright red lipstick which matched the irises of her eyes. "Mitsuyoshi, my love Please come in." she beckoned to him. The entranced Mitsuyoshi stepped in. Behind him, the body of Kojiwaka would collapse to the floor unnoticed, all color of life would fade from his body and eyes.

She held out her arms to welcome him into an embrace which he was all to eager to accept, collapsing into her arms and wrapping his own around her as he nuzzled into her cheek. "Ayame, I've missed you so much. I never want us to be separated again, Let me come with you next time." He pleaded as she nuzzled nipped lightly at her ear lobe. Her hand wandered up to his head, brushing lightly through his hair and scratching just behind his ears before gently massaging them and scratching them. "Arrrr" an uncontrolled vocal note flowed in response to the action as his dream like state continued. 

As Mistress Chi held the hanyou in her arms, she gentled pulled him away just enough to look into his bewitched eyes before pulling him softly into a kiss. as her spider legs began to extend from out of her back and wrap around him. Breaking the kiss lightly as she looked down him. "Oh how I wish I could just keep you all to myself as my own personal pet... but a girl's gotta feed." she spoke softly, as her fangs began to extend from her mouth.  "Relax... my love... it will only hurt for a little" she spoke in Ayame's voice as she gently pierced the skin on his neck, Mitsuyoshi instinctively but impotently recoiled in pain with a soft yelp sounding similar to that of a dog or wolf as her fangs sank into his his artery, his ears twitching and his body trembled weakly from the pain that it felt. "Mmmm..." A moan escaped her as his blood flowed, and she sealed her lips around the wound and began to drink his blood. 'Mmmm it's like a gourmet meal compared to the blood of all of these commoner humans...' She thought to herself as she continued to drink, slowly pacing herself and savoring every drop, fighting the urge to consume it all since the night was still fairly young.

By the early hours of the next morning she would finally stop, leaving just enough blood to keep him alive, but significantly weaker and obviously looking more ill. His skin was an almost deathly pale color and even she couldn't rely upon the weakened decaying body of Kojiwaka to carry him back to his room. At some point during the short distance from her lair in the storage room of the basement, Mitsuyoshi had completely lost consciousness and even his dream would have seemed to have disappeared. Carefully Mistress Chi laid the hanyou in his bed and pulled the covers up over him. "Rest easy my dear... We've another night to go... maybe a 3rd if you last that long" Softly saying as she caressed his cheek with her bony fingers. Before leaving the room, she turned to see the other tossing and turning on the floor, obviously in distress. A look of irritation crossed Mistress Chi's face. "He's fighting it even in his sleep???" annoyed that this one was playing hardball and succeeding. Then Her eyes focused in as a thought occurred. "...Perhaps this one is really really strong... Maybe another night of Miasma and another bite of venom might bring him to submission." 

As she walked over to Keiji, taking the blanked from his bed, placing it over him as she knelt beside him whilst in human form. "Mmm.. You really are a cutie too in your actual form when you're not disguised as a human.." her hand gently reached down to feel Koneko's ears. "Relax Keiji..." She spoke in Yuzuki's voice as her fingers trailed along the side of her face. When Koneko suddenly swatted the hand away, whilst still stuck in sleep, Mistress Chi recoiled slightly in shock, but slightly in anger at the resistance before she began to blow a dense cloud of her miasma from her mouth directly into Koneko's face in insult. "You'll submit like a good boy as well or I'll...." She raised her hand to slap the defiant Youkai below her until she stopped herself, taking a moment to recompose herself before she, Carefully and quietly, rose and stepped back to the door. "If you want to be that way, then I always love a challenge from my prey as well, the adrenaline does add a bit of a nice spice... Heh heh" as slipped out of the room, closing the door as she went. She had yet to identify or even suspect that Keiji, was actually a female and that was one of the major reasons her Miasma didn't work to enchant her. The Spider venom, however was a different story, but even that would wear off eventually and lose it's effect and she would undoubtedly gain an immunity towards it as a powerful Daiyoukai/Dragon Hybrid.

As the night came to a close and the Sun rose albeit behind a set of a dark overcast sky, a fierce snow storm had begun to roll in, bringing a pair of sisters from the village just past the mountain where Koneko and Mitsuyoshi were originally heading. As they entered the safe confines of the Inn's awning just as the wind and snow began to pick up, they were ecstatic to have found the Inn and were pleased to see it was still in operation as they were greeted by the old man Kojiwaka, his initial stance was one of smiling and Kindness. Kojiwaka would be taken aback as the two greeted him "Hello Kind sir, my sister and I would like to rent a room, we can pay." However upon noticing that they were women, his demeanor suddenly changed as he coldly told them "We have no vacancy, You must leave." as he tried to shoo them off. "But Sir! The storm is turning for the worse to go out there is to mean certain death. Can't you allow us to stay here even in the awning we are prepared to compensate you even for that?" one of the young women pleaded. "No! Leave." Kojikawa shot back. The two women, in desperation, dropped to their hands and knees and bowed low, their foreheads toching the cold earth beneath them. "Please sir! Have you no heart? We won't trouble you if you let us stay here even at the entry! Please have mercy!" the women pled loudly and desperately. Kojiwaka went back into his office and retrieved the Katana of the previous guest. "Leave Now!" He shouted at the two women as he began to batter the two repetitively with the sheathed sword. "Leave now or a Beating is the least of your concerns and I will take your lives!" their screams and cries pierced the silent halls and confines of the Inn enough that even Mitsuyoshi would stir awake, but feeling so weak he couldn't even pull the cover's down or barely move. "K-Ko-Ko-Konekoooo....!" He called to her, his voice coarse and barely audible from the trauma to his vocal chords the previous night. With his blood count still low, his body had yet to repair them as it focused on producing more blood. Even the bite marks on his neck would still be remarkably visible, like bruise surrounding the puncture marks on his deathly pale skin. Kojiwaka then flew off the scabbard of the sword and raised it high above his head as he prepared to cut the older sister down.

[Koneko]

"It's just me, Yuzuki!" The human woman's hand outstretched without hesitation despite the threatening display in front of her, reaching to touch Koneko's ear, then slid it softly down the side of her face in a motion to comfort the half breed. "Relax Keiji, you can trust it's really m-" The feline swatted her hand away, a low hiss escaping as her lips curled back to reveal her fangs further, on the verge of deciding to transform while a slight aura picked up around her. "You are NOT her," she snipped slowly before suddenly their surroundings seemed to blink out. There was nothing left around them but an unending, near pitch black expanse and a creeping, rolling fog sneaking in to envelop them.

In that moment, the half breed stood and stepped back, peering into the nothingness around her at all sides. While she turned, the figure of the human woman faded out and vanished, bringing her attention back to the spot she had been as the shadowy fog slid in closer, seeming to start swallowing her. A chorus of whispers began from every angle, speaking out of sync the same words: "She abandoned you. Deplorable monstrosity." Koneko stared down at the fog, her look had returned to to normal, but the look on her face was now distressed as her hands gripped to herself, "that's not true... She... She loved me no matter what and I'll find her to prove it!" Large red eyes, much like her own opened in the void behind her, the golden slits in them staring down at her while noises of a large creature could be heard before her own voice spoke back to her, "did you really think a human could continue to love you after you admitted all you've done?" The shadows moved in a sudden burst to devour her entirely when the shouting of Mr. Kojiwaka and screams of two unfamiliar women penetrated into her dream, catching her attention despite the seemingly dangerous fog thickening quickly, her body stirring and trying to snap to. "K-Ko-Ko-Konekoooo....!" Then the call of her name from Mitsuyoshi's weakened voice echoed above her, then brought her back to reality, shooting up from where she laid and leaving the blanket that had been placed over her to slide off suddenly while accidentally leaving claw marks in the floor from moving so fast. "Mitsuyoshi!"

Sweating slightly and a headache ringing in her head, she looked over at him in panic, seeing he was alive but in very poor shape and then noticed the blanket barely draped over her lower back and tail. "What ha-" Then another scream met her ears, the feline bolting to her feet and dashing to the door in a desperate hurry, shouting to her weakened companion, "F-Forgive me!" Managing to at least shut the door behind she dashed quickly and nearly forgetting to change her appearance until halfway to towards the racket in her rush, she thought, 'I hope you'll be okay, but this sounds like I need to stop something bad...!' Her very disheveled-looking masculine form slid into the office, seeing Kojiwaka draw and raise the blade over two defenseless and cowering women. Without further hesitation, she leapt forward and outstretched an arm, catching his wrist in her hand before the blade could come down on his intended victim. "Gramps, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" The words came out of her in a snap before she easily pulled the katana from his grasp and kept it in her free hand, shifting to hold it in a manner to show it was no longer a threat. "What's going on here?! Are you two ladies alright?!"

With the sword removed from the old man's hands, she got between him and the women and looked them over, seeing the indications he'd been attacking them before he drew the blade. Koneko's eyes then shifted to glaring at Kojiwaka, narrowing angrily as she offered assistance to the women to help them up but kept herself as a barrier between them and the inn keeper. "What have these women done you felt the need to assault them like that?! I can't imagine it's a very good one unless your mind is deteriorating right before us, old man." Her general attempts to be polite in most circumstances normally had started to evaporate the more suspicions she had about him, let alone his sudden change in behavior to lashing violently at newcomers that had clearly just gotten there. Only for a moment her eyes darted back to the women, as if telling them without words they could at least trust her to keep them out of harm's way in the situation.

[Taishou89]

"Ehhh?!" The surprised Kojiwaka blurted out looking at hand that grasped him, upon looking her into the face he gasped loudly in surprise, sending a cloud of his foul breath right into her face. Kojiwawa himself looked pale and worse for wear since she had last ran into him and Despite the apparent ash stains on his sleeves from incense, even now it did little to mask the faint smell of decay, but only noticeable by Koneko's enhanced senses. She would noticed upon grasping his wrist, that it felt soft and a visible bruise remained when she removed her hand when she took the katana from him. The area around his eyes were sunken in and he had a light grayish bruise like coloration around his eyes. 'Grrr!! Keiji's Meddling and his resistance to my powers is starting to annoy me...' Mistress Chi thought as she had Kojiwaka stagger back in shock. 'this body is becoming useless as well' She thought as she had Kojiwaka quickly hold his wrist to cover the bruising and feign being hurt.

"My sister and I only wanted a safe place to wait out this storm, we offered to pay but he wanted us to go back out there to our death!" the youngest of the two spoke as she helped her older sister who held her head as she'd been struck there while attempting to react. "Keiji-dono!" Kojiwaka replied as his facial expressed bordered on turning to anger, but the Jorogumo soon changed it to a neutral one. "I-I Thought they might have been demons! Since our guest's mysterious disappearance. It is said that Demons often disguise themselves as women to entrap unsuspecting men, particularly fine young men like yourself or Mitsuyoshi-dono..." As he then bowed. "... It was only my intention to protect you sir."

"you didn't have to beat us! You might be a demon yourself, you foul smelling geezer!" The younger sister retorted with a flare of rebelliousness. It would later be made quite obviously that of the two sisters, the younger one had a mouth that often would get the pair in trouble, and the older one would normally be the one to do all of the talking. As the insolent younger sister spoke Mistress Chi felt a renewed aggravation and it began to show as Kojiawaka's expression showed the same while the younger sister spoke. '... The insolent little wench! I'll teach her later..' She then forced a smile across Kojiawaka's face and bowed. "My sincerest apologies... I shall prepare a room for you and your sister..." Kojiwaka would bow and depart, leaving Koneko with the two women. "Thank you Mister, how can we ever repay you for saving us?" The older sister spoke as she looked up into the face of the ronin. "I am Shiori and this is my younger sister Kayumi. We were on our way to pay our respects to our father's grave near the old castle when this storm set in." As she lowered her head into her hand and rubbed the small bump that had begun to form from the strike. "Mister you better not have perverted thoughts about us for repayment! We're not those kind of girls! I know your type! You ronin are all alike!" Kayumi shot an angry look at Koneko. "Kayumi! Stop being rude! The Gentleman just saved us from being killed!" Shiori scolded her.

[Koneko]

While she defensively talked with the old man, it took every ounce of strength in Koneko to keep her arm from moving to cover her nose and keeping her face free of a nauseated expression from the rancid smells she picked up. Her eyes and hands also noticed the subtle changes to his look and the unusual feel to his body, as if he was actually deteriorating this whole time. 'Augh!! I can smell it now... Kojiwaka is rotting in some way that isn't just that awful breath! That might explain all the incense eating, but between the pain in my head and that smell of rot I might actually be sick... I hope my stomach can hold just a little longer...'

As the younger sister spoke up, it was just enough of something to concentrate on to hold herself together for a little longer, glaring at the old man before he spoke. "Is this true?!" she snipped as she scowled at him, then hearing out his explanation. Catching his facial expression, it was enough to put together he was lying. 'He's full of it! There's no doubt he must know I'm a demon and he might already even know about Mitsuyoshi as well since it looked like I got knocked out last night... But why reject and attack these women...?' As he gave the final excuse of trying to protect herself, she gave a slight snort, opening her mouth to retort before the younger sister again spoke up, putting a slight smirk on her face to have another person around willing to tell off the geezer.

"You better!" Koneko barked after Kojiwaka as he dashed off, soon happy to have a slight reprieve from the disgusting smells, soon muttering under her breath, "what a ridiculous excuse, I'm more than capable to defend myself!" With the inn keeper gone, she turned to the women as the older sister now spoke, meeting her gaze. 'On their way to a grave near the...? They were going the opposite direction of us then,' the feline thought, raising her hand with the intent to wave off the idea of repayment given she was already deep enough in her own personal issue with the old man currently. "You can call me Keiji. There's really no need-" she started, before her expression changed to shocked with Kayumi suddenly tossing out an accusation of perversion. "H-HAAAAAAH?!" the daiyoukai exclaimed in a mix of offense and confusion, an irked look on her face as she stared back at the woman, "Look, I don't know what you take me for, but I wasn't going to ask for anything! If I really was looking for something so degenerate as that I'd have at least tried to flirt first!"

'I can't believe this! I save them and I get one that's grateful and the other accusing me of being some pervert! I'm nothing like that scandalous fox, I'm more polite even! How could I get accused of being something so depraved as him?!' Had her features been visible, it would have been noticed that her tail would be up in the air and her fur ruffled all over it while her ears would have been pressed flat to her head in irritation. Noting that Shiori scolded her sister, she at least decided she'd snipped her piece enough even though she snorted again with a fist against her hip before she glanced at the sword in her own hand. Looking to the floor for the saya, she picked it up and placed the blade away inside of it and held it out to the women. "Since I have the opportunity, here. Keep this close, and watch your backs, don't even leave the room you're taken to unless you have to until the weather clears. Once you can leave, get out of here fast because there's something not right about this place..." Koneko hadn't had a real chance to take in the severity of the weather outside in her rush, but given the women had been mentioning it was dangerously bad out there, the only thing she could do was give them the best chance they had to defend themselves here. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but don't trust the old guy. I'll make sure you get to the room safely before I get back to my friend."

After she mentioned her companion, she internally grit her teeth, remembering the quick glance she'd gotten of him before she left the room and the way he sounded. 'I hope you can hold on a little longer, Mitsuyoshi. I want to check on you, but I think even you'd agree I have to at least do what I can to give these two at least a chance to survive whatever youkai is here causing trouble...' The half breed was now realizing just how complicated this situation had become as well with the arrival of two more while she needed to be tending to her weakening counterpart. 'I have to end the source of this soon, for Mitsuyoshi's well being and these two humans now as well... I can't let anyone else go missing or die while I'm here!'

[Taishou89]

Kayumi stepped forward and took the sword from her, still slightly distrusting the disguised Koneko and giving her a stern glare. "I hope your words are true..." She begrudgingly said. Almost immediately after, Kojiwaka had returned. "Your room is prepared, please follow me." He said with a smile, his scent had begun to even alert the two sisters as they both seemed to cover their noses as they followed the Inn Keeper down the halls to the room that had belonged to the Samurai who had disappeared. It had been hastily cleaned and prepped, but was in good condition. 'Damn that Keiji... He's watching over them...' Mistress Chi grew even more annoyed. Knowing now that she couldn't just slay them as she originally planned to have Kojiwaka do once they were led to the room. Though, drawing their blood likely would have alerted the youkai, so perhaps it was best. She'd have to subdue this troublesome Keiji first before she killed the two women.


As Kayumi entered the room first, Kojiwaka disappeared down the hall back to his office without saying a word obviously seeming disturbed and deep in thought as he left. Shiori stopped short of entering the room, to speak to Keiji. "Please forgive my younger sister, she has a great distrust of Samurai and Ronin after being assaulted by 3 ronin a year ago while out in the woods gathering mushrooms. She would have been left for dead if it weren't for the interference of a strange Priestess who came upon them in the act, and had shot down all 3..." Shiori spoke as she recalled the day. "... The Priestess had carried Kayumi back to our village and tended to her, but some wounds do not heal so easily." Shiori then looked up into her eyes. "Keiji-dono, We're very grateful for you kindness at saving us today. If you happen to pass through our village, mention us and what you have done and show the Village headman this..." She smiled as she handed Koneko a simple, old wooden comb. "... You will be welcomed warmly." before Kayumi could be heard inside "Are you two done yacking already? I hope you aren't falling for him..." as Shiori sighed and proceeded into the room.


When Koneko would return to their room, she would find that Mitsuyoshi lay in his bed, fast a sleep again, but without the alarm of the incident between Kojiwaka and the two sisters, she would be able to take more notice of Mitsuyoshi's present, almost ghostly, appearance as his skin remained pale, causing the bruising around the bite marks to stand out on his neck. His body appeared to be struggling to repair itself, likely weakened by the venom as well as the low blood count. By the end of the day his color would return as his blood was replenished and the bruising around the bite would slowly fade, but the venom and the miasma would continue to intoxicate him as the air remained foul.  Later that day right around dinnertime, Mitsuyoshi would awake, his body having recovered his blood count enough to give him some strength. "Koneko..." His voice was altered, but much better than it was in the morning "... What happened? I heard a scream..." he asked as he rolled over to look at her, his eyes still sunken in and appearing extremely exhausted. His head ached, but his mind was clear enough to talk straight as his fever appeared to subside a little, but he was still weak. "Is everything alright?" He asked, realizing the distress and concern in her face.

[Koneko]

Koneko allowed the sheathed sword to leave her hand noticing that she was still getting a disapproving stare from Kayumi before looking back to see the old man show back up to lead the women to the room. Unable to resist covering her nose as well this time, she escorted the women to the room, her eyes firmly set on Kojiwaka until he finally took back off toward his office and disappeared inside. Once she heard Shiori speaking to her, she turned to face the woman, a perturbed look on her face hearing what had happened to the younger sister, but her expression perked at the mention of a strange priestess. 'Another potential lead!' She thought as she listened eagerly, then adding out loud as it became apparent the lashing out had a purpose to it, "I see, I understand."

Once Shiori looked up at her, she returned the woman's gaze, continuing to listen as she was thanked and gently reached for the comb, taking it into her hand and studying it before giving a slight bow to the woman and returning her smile slightly. "Please, think nothing of it, but I am grateful for your gift," the disguised feline said politely before hearing the younger sister pipe up, causing her to scratch her face a little. "Stay safe," she remarked courteously before the room door slid shut and she proceeded to make her way back to her own to finally check on Mitsuyoshi. While walking, she looked over the comb, a determined look coming over her face as they'd just found another lead and a little extra help. 'This gift is worth a lot to us too, especially if this can at least get us through a village unhindered, then we'll be in really good shape!' she thought, sliding the door to her own room open and slipping inside before shutting it again and letting her eyes trail over to her companion. She could see he seemed to be pretty worse for wear, bringing her back to the reality of their situation with some frustration on her face as she let her disguise drop, 'but I suppose all of us have to leave this situation alive first...'

Moving further into the room, she placed the comb in the basket with the scrolls to keep it safe before going to sit by the wolf hanyou, now taking the time to really examine the extent of his state, her expression turning sullen. "He's deathly pale," Koneko commented quietly in concern, then noticing the marks and bruising on his neck, lightly touching her fingers over it, "it looks like something fed on him... If I can't catch the youkai doing this, he might not survive another night." It irritated her deeply that he'd been getting caught so deep in a trap and she'd yet to be able to stop it, that it was all slipping past her making her feel powerless for as strong as she was. Finding a cloth nearby, she dipped it in the water she'd drawn up the day before and at least wiped off his neck and face before resigning herself to just keeping watch over him, lighting the irori to keep some heat in the room. 'I have to think how I can catch it... Maybe there's an answer in everything that's happened so far if I just take the time to consider it all.' It was a little hard to think as her head still buzzed lightly, something she didn't experience often, but it did stand out to her she'd been fairing far better than Mitsuyoshi had after being bitten. Since even before that when she really reflected on it. Then there was the reaction to the women earlier and the fact she could definitely smell rot and decay from the old man, the thought of the stench still making her stomach turn as her hand covered her mouth from a slight gag.

That's when it hit her: was it seemed to be men that were significant to everything. Even the old man seemed to at this point be a puppeteered corpse and he seemed to hint he knew she was a youkai herself, but turned and used an excuse the women might be demons and before that had attempted to drive them off. For what purpose could that serve if not to just remove the women from it's path? And perhaps because of her disguise! 'Maybe I'm in a better position than I think, but now I need to find it and trap it in my favor since I've yet to see it face to face...' She tried to mull over anything else she could think of until late when she snapped to hearing her friend wake and call to her. Turning quickly to face him, she wore a concerned and upset look as she checked again on how he looked, "Mitsuyoshi!" It was hard not to feel distressed seeing him still recovering so slowly when he should have long by now been upright and full of energy even as a hanyou. "There's new guests here, a pair of women," the feline started to explain, shifting to sit facing him, "the geezer attacked them, was gonna kill them if I hadn't made it there in time. There safe right now in the room that previous guest was in and I left them the sword they were attacked with to at least hopefully defend themselves so I can keep my focus on you here." When he questioned if things were okay, the uneasiness in her seemed to become more apparent, "it looks like you've been looking deathly ill all day, I think whatever this demon is it's been feeding on you and if I can't find a way to stop it..."

Her words lingering on that noting alone gave off a sense of foreboding when mixed with how her ears fell back, but she then continued, "I think it intends to feed on me as well, I've just been more elusive to it's hold and I have a feeling I know why. And then there's-" As she once again thought about the old man and the stench of decay on him, she couldn't help but gag and cover her mouth once again, her body disliking the sheer amount of times she'd been putting up such putrid smells let alone the fact every time she encountered it, it had gotten worse. "S-sorry, don't mind that, I'll be fine... I was just going to say the old man has probably been dead for awhile and is likely just a puppet, this last time he smelled rancid and just the thought of it has been making me queasy." The half breed jumped away from the thought quickly to try to relieve the nausea, focusing attention back to her friend's own well-being, "you're looking at least a little better than earlier, how are you feeling?"

[Taishou89]

As he listened to her explain the distressful noise that woke him earlier, he started to share in her concerns about the old man, as it was very unlike the kindness he had expressed earlier, completely out of character for even a normal human, especially one trying to make a living by providing a service to travelers on these harsh mountain roads. Though his head still throbbed in pain, he would soon become fully suspicious of everything that has occurred thus far as Koneko explained her theory further. "My head still hurts and I still feel tired but..." he reached up as he felt an itch where the bite mark sat, intending to scratch it but stopped just as she mentioned it and instead rubbed it and felt it. The thought of having been fed on, horrified him. 'How!? How have I let my guard down so far as to be vulnerably taken and fed upon?' As he wracked his brain, it was shameful enough to be taken so off guard, but when the thought began to dawn on him of his dreams of Ayame.

"Could it be?!" he blurted out loudly and unintentionally. Recalling every action that had occurred in his dreams of Ayame, he began to blush as he now started to feel a sense of violation. "Ugh!!" He grunted angrily as tried to rise out from under the covers to move for his sword on the kake(stand). Block spots came over his vision as he crashed right into the floor half ways out of his bed. His body had yet to fully replenish all of his blood and the sudden movement caused his blood pressure to drop, combined with the weakness he still felt from the paralytic venom. "Kuso..." he cursed as he tried to lift himself up, reluctantly accepting Koneko's assistance as she had undoubtedly rushed to help him. Sitting on his futon, with his arms crossed and bearing a sour expression, he couldn't hide the blush on his face as the thought still plagued him. "I can't believe I could be so foolish... I can't believe... she... touched my... Argh!" He roared in anger.

Awkward as it sounded and by the look on Koneko's face, he realized that it indeed sounded very wrong without the context. "Eh? It wasn't like that!" now embarassed at how it was perceived, he tried to clear the air. "... She touched my ears... kissed me... Worse yet she impersonated Ayame..." Though it was a dream, there was a faint image of the real woman who was behind this act, it must have been a brief glimps as he recalled her moving in on his neck and the contact of her bite. It was a very brief glimps likely some part of him had tried to wake just moments before, but had been subdued. "The dream did seem so real... I swear I could feel it... But In a brief moment, and I barely remember it, but I think I saw a different person instead of Ayame..." he continued not realizing that Koneko didn't know who Ayame was. He started to rub his temples as his headache seemed to have worsen. "I will kill this demon... if it's the last thing I do before my life is drained from me." he solemnly swore to Koneko. 

[Koneko]

Koneko's full attention was on him as he suddenly burst out in exclamation, tilting her head curiously as he seemed to think and blush. Though she quickly changed to diffident and shook her head with a sigh as she watched him scramble to get up and collapse into the floor again, quickly making her way to help him back up off the floor and back to his futon while she wore a bemused smile. "You really ought to take it easy even if the situation is making that difficult. I know you're eager to end this, I am too, but you're going to wear yourself thin pushing so hard like this," the feline scolded lightly, though traces of some giggles, amusement and concern could be heard mixed in her words. With him sitting up at least, she took her seat back down facing him while observing the slight red-tinted scowl on his face, hearing the anger in his voice as he spoke. Yet her own face soon began to flush entirely bright red with his enraged words, which were vague enough to lead her to believe the yokai they were opposing had been fondling him against his will: a notion in and of itself that brought out a nervous shyness in her when it came to men. The half breed's hand raised her sleeve to her face near instantly, trying to cover how deeply she was blushing while steam could practically be seen rising off of her head and she stumbled to find words, "Y-y-you mean sh-she?! Sh-she a-ah... Etou..."

With his stare meeting her and seeing him realize what he'd just implied, she bashfully watched him fidget and rush to clear the air about the misunderstanding he'd laid out. "... She touched my ears... kissed me... Worse yet she impersonated Ayame..." Once Koneko heard the clarification, she let out a massively relieved sigh, a little embarrassed herself at the misunderstanding and her arm dropped back down to relax. "S-souka, it was your ears and a kiss..." But it stood out he'd said that name again: Ayame. Listening has her tail shifted in waves behind her curiously, she listened with interest as he explained what he remembered and felt, her own dream coming to mind with how everything had felt, except she'd managed to break free. Pondering the slight revelation, she heard his pledge to make certain this demon found it's demise, a smile meant to soothe him coming across her lips. "Well let's try to not make it the last thing you do, I'd prefer an outcome that keeps you breathing since the company has been rather refreshing. Besides, I want her to pay just as much for trying to use Yuzuki's likeness against me too. It sounds like she's keen on keeping her own appearance hidden to keep her victim's guard down."

It hit her then this was as good an opportunity to ask, at least it couldn't hurt since he seemed willing to talk about the woman's visage used to bewitch him in this whole predicament. "Mitsuyoshi, who is- etou, was Ayame? I assume she was important to you since yesterday you were calling out for her desperately and even called me her name, but you've not mentioned her at all before this situation." She had to change her initial phrasing, reminding herself of the likelihood the woman he was mentioning was a human and would regardless have passed long ago, but she tried to ask also as gently as she could, this time wanting to have the answer with hope of not pushing too sensitive a subject. "I've been curious since you first said her name, but I didn't want to upset you by asking," she admitted fairly openly, putting it out there she did want to know even that little bit more about him.

[Taishou89]

"It's strange...  This demon must be strong if it has successfully hidden itself for so long even before we arrived. I didn't sense or smell anything unusual except the overwhelming..." Then it hit him. "...The incense! Do you think that perhaps the demon's scent all this time has been disguised by the permeating smell of incense we've been smelling? Add to that the actual incense that Mr. Kojiwaka has been using." He put forth to Koneko as he tried to get back to the original topic and get away from the embarrassing and improper thought of being violated by the demon, but then Koneko asked him about Ayame and it finally dawned on him that he had never told her about Ayame in the first place.

"Oh... I'm sorry... I didn't realize..." He averted his eyes as he remembered Ayame's face. "Ayame, was my wife and the one and only woman I have ever known and loved but..." He sighed as he summoned the courage to speak of that tragic memory. "... She was killed." the images of his fight with the shinobi in the hall and the very moment that he thought he'd killed them all when one slipped in and delivered the poison dart that took her life, replayed in his mind.  Swallowing and suppressing the emotions that tried to come out, he explained further. "A larger and more powerful Daimyo had tried to use her against me by holding her daughter as a hostage, but when she failed, his fail safe was to use assassins to silence her and prevent his schemes from being known." A mix of sadness and anger still burned within him over the memory and his feelings for Ayame were still raw "That cowardly Daimyo got what he deserved in a puddle of his own urine and my brother had his head displayed for his treacherous and cowardly ways." His tone changed to lighten the mood and finally stuff the rest of his emotions away to spare Koneko any discomfort of seeing him once again in a display of indignant emotions, but she would get a hint of it in his last remark. "I took her daughter Hanako to live with me, but I suspect that she's long gone after all these years."


"It's almost time... My dear... you appear to have regained much of your strength back and no doubt replenished most of your blood..." Mistress Chi licked her lips, also running her tongue along the side of one of her fangs as she watched Mitsuyoshi through the orb floating in front of her. "But You're getting a little too warm for my liking, perhaps this will be your last... Yours too Keiji!" she said as Koneko's face came into the orb. "You're getting much too clever to marinate and wait any longer... It's unfortunate because I bet you'd taste really delicious if I let you sit and stew a little longer... Oh well... When I finish Mitsuyoshi off, you will be the 2nd course, if not my dessert." The Jorogumo let out a cackle as she imagined all the ways to subdue Keiji before feasting on him.

[Koneko]

Once the incense was mentioned as perhaps a main catalyst of hiding their adversary's presence, it was then the thoughts about the old man had crossed her mind again, once more a small gag hitting her and forced her to recompose herself. "You mention that and all I can think is, if I'm right and that old man is dead, it may have also masked them smell of decay on him. His seemingly delusional behavior of eating incense... What if this is more than just incense to the youkai?!" The thick clouds of the incense around undoubtedly at this point had dulled their ability so smell the scent of any other nefarious presence given they couldn't detect the old man deteriorating before them. Though the feline remembered effects seemed to hit her companion fairly quickly after they'd arrived while she still barely had felt anything until she'd been bitten. It wasn't beyond reason that the incense itself had a part to play in his consistent deterioration of what should have been a fairly unhindered healthy state. Deciding to consider it a bit longer, she let her question of curiosity be answered first.

"It's alright, we're still only just getting to know one another for as easy we've had it getting along," she reassured as he turned his face away. With Mitsuyoshi fairly willing to explain the person behind the name he'd been mentioning, her full attention had been given once more, though Koneko could quickly pick up on the fact his memory of her was fond, but the circumstances around had not been nearly as tender. 'So he had someone, but it sounds like their time together was short, he really has had happiness ripped from him,' she thought, listening intently as he continued. The revelation she was intended to be used against him even stirred some sympathy in her, memories of her clan's betrayal against her father and the fact they'd still come after herself years later only for her mother to sacrifice herself instead flashing in her mind, though there still remained no vengeance for their demise unlike in his case. Her thoughts moved quickly to thinking of thoughts of how she would have taken something similar happening to Yuzuki, knowing she very well would not have held back on anyone taking her life, let alone attempting, remembering even many youkai she'd rushed in to tear apart for even looking at her love with nefarious intent. If she'd been in the situation he had, she didn't think she'd have such self control, yet it seemed the human responsible paid for it all the same, karma for his deplorable actions. Looking away to hide some of her own mulling, she spoke up, her words coming out in more of a snarl than she'd intended, "the human got what he deserved, he paid as he should for taking her from you."

Returning her eyes to him as he seemed to move on quickly, whether it be shoving his own emotions down or attempting to spare her discomfort, she seemed genuinely shocked to hear about a child. "So you had a family of your own too? A-Ah! Forgive me if that was rude seeing as so much you had is... gone..." Koneko apologized, even giving him a slight bow to emphasize she felt bad making him recollect such painful memories, "I'm just genuinely surprised you had some semblance of a family before you were put to sleep under that spell since I get the impression you're fairly young even now. At least it seems so from how you mention you grew up among humans." It seemed clear she didn't want to seem like she was insulting the fact he had one, nor talk ill of any aspect of his family with how they'd generously helped her in death and for him tried to at least provide some kind of happy life. Even thoughts of human mortality she realized might be difficult for her if she could find her missing beloved, but she wanted to cross that bridge when she'd get to it. "Maybe... Maybe there's a chance you can still have closure if she too went on to have a family," the feline said much more delicately, not wanting to stir emotions in him too hard yet wanting to give him a hopeful sentiment that perhaps he could have a shred of what he had then, "If she was fond of you, I can't imagine she'd want your name forgotten."

Even with the moment of benevolence, it soon wasn't all that lost on the hybrid they were still in a struggle of survival currently and they'd need to get out alive if that chance was truly to be found. "I'm going to make sure we get out of this mess... I was thinking, perhaps this incense has been what's been keeping you weakened, and, if that's the case, we need to figure out a plan to make sure I can catch this demon. I'm sure there's going to be a risk no matter what we come up with, but I think at this point it's a race to stop her before she can drain the life from you." Pausing for a moment, she thought again before laying out a little something for a plan, "I have a feeling I may know why she didn't want those women here either, and there's undoubtedly a reason tied into it for me to be able to resist her so strongly apart from being powerful. All the victims I can think of at risk of being fed on have been men, but I think we can use it to our advantage." The way she left the implication in the air, she tried to make it known her hunch was on the fact she actually was a woman despite how she disguised herself. "There's no question she's been after me too under the impression of how I look, and you said earlier warfare is based on deception, maybe how I keep my appearance is what helps turn the tide for us here."

[Taishou89]

"Lord Yasunobu Kashiyama was a cowardly man who amassed power through scheming and blackmail and though his armies were larger than our own, and his allies even larger, it was his own schemes and shady reputation that led to his downfall as even his most powerful allies turned against his clan. His son and heir was no different and a poor military commander who marched his armies right into a trap laid by my brother and his Generals and when all was lost, he abandoned his men to their fates and fled. He too would fall a coward's death, slain by peasants for his armor and weapons and left to rot." Mitsuyoshi softly spoke, as the thought of Lord Kashiyama still lingered and bothered him. It was not that he had almost been taken perversely taken advantage of himself, but the very fact that such a pitiful creature would blackmail Ayame and threaten to kill her child, A child, for his own purposes and to take the life of his beloved wife by using assassins. Telling of the Kashiyama's downfall did help lighten his thoughts though and ease the darker desires within him that craved to slay more. "the human got what he deserved, he paid as he should for taking her from you." He heard Koneko remark. "He definitely got what he deserved and his name will forever be looked upon in shame." he agreed with her as he let the topic of that despicable daimyo rest.


"So you had a family of your own too? A-Ah! Forgive me if that was rude seeing as so much you had is... gone..." 

"Eh? Well, I- uh, I  guess so." The question caught him off guard a little, but it wasn't bad at all. "It's ok, no need to apologize, I just never thought about it..." he waved at her to show no offense was taken. "I took her in because she was Ayame's daughter and I could not leave her alone in frightening world." He hadn't ever really thought about it at the time or the years since, of them being a family because Ayame had passed, although he did officially adopt her and it was documented in the Castle's records, she never really called him father nor did he call her daughter, even though they were officially father and daughter. He allowed her to call him whatever she wanted, and so she was the only one to ever call him 'Yoshi-sama', even though he had initially tried to remind her that he wasn't really worthy of such an honorific, he would come to tolerate it and no one in the castle took offense. "She was a sweet child... She could chase the rain away just by existing. Something the world seems to need more of in this age." He smiled as he recalled her innocent and warm smile and her strangest ability to change the air around her with a bright and positive like energy, even after learning of her mother's departure, she managed to seem to purify the gloomy air and breath a renewed sense of life into those who happened to be around her. 

 "Maybe... Maybe there's a chance you can still have closure if she too went on to have a family, If she was fond of you, I can't imagine she'd want your name forgotten." It was indeed a possibility, though so much time had passed, would her descendants even know about him? It might be a hard topic to share with your offspring in a world beyond Nishino Castle that you were rescued and raised by a half 'demon'. "Perhaps... I suppose if Fate should align my path with Hanako's descendants, then I would be glad to hear of her life since." he pulled out the small wood carving of a cat that she'd given him. "I certainly do hope she had a good life after me..." His thoughts wandered, although nostalgic, he had a feeling that she would have been ok even after the Castle fell. He had always sensed she had her mother's courage and strength, but also her own positive energy would have aided her along the way, of this he was quite confident.


"I'm just genuinely surprised you had some semblance of a family before you were put to sleep under that spell since I get the impression you're fairly young even now. At least it seems so from how you mention you grew up among humans. His ears perked up at hearing her remark about him being young. "Eh? Young? I don't know... I was 43 at the time... though I didn't look it and probably don't look it now despite being..." Taking a moment to do the math in his head, "...133 years old now? I'd say I'm quite the elder!" He joked, even though he really didn't feel like human man of such age with no wrinkled skin and he still had all of his hair to say the least and they weren't even white or gray with age. "I feel old now..." he sunk his head as he thought about his age.


As Koneko brought their focus back onto the more pressing situation at hand, he listened intently as she presented and explained her theory "... but I think at this point it's a race to stop her before she can drain the life from you." Mitsuyoshi undoubtedly and whole heartedly agreed with that remark. "Ah yes... Not being someone's dinner definitely sounds like a great plan to me..." he responded with a grin. As she continued on to explain the strange disdain towards women being here, and how the victims thus far had been male, add to the fact that Koneko's male disguise ensured that she was spared any ill treatment from the Inn Keeper. "...It could be... Maybe the air here or the poison that this demon uses is specifically tailored for men..." he thought for a moment as he analyzed all of the information presented. "But... If so, then why has this demon only come after me? I mean... I know you're probably... uh... more stronger than I am, but..." Then a thought hit him. "... The spiders!" as he recalled that he had been bitten twice so far that he could recall.

"Damn! They're getting much to aware!" Mistress Chi cursed in her lair as she drove her 8 legged servants forward. "It has to be now or it'll be too late..."

"Have you been Bi- AHH! Damn!" he arched backward as he felt a sharp and piercing pain on the back of his neck just above the collar. He slapped and instantly felt the familiar body as he looked down into the gooey and smashed 8 legged arachnid. Koneko split into two and then three as his vision soon began to cloud and fade. "Daaam-" Mitsuyoshi's curse slurred as he collapsed. Just like before, a small spider raced toward Koneko from her left as a distraction, while another large spider came from her right but slightly behind her. As Koneko would kill the smaller one with ease, the larger one leapt toward her arm, but ended up clasping onto her hand as it was in motion and sunk it's fangs into her, injecting it's tranquilizing venom. Koneko would have to think and act fast as time was of the essence as their very lives were now threatened as their foe was on to them.