She remembered everything.
She remembered the flames, and the screams of pain all around her. The smell of burnt flesh and fresh blood filled her nostrils.
Somewhere in the midst of chaos, she heard an anguished voice imploring for mercy.
Before she could make sense of what was happening, she heard a tremendous growl followed by a deep voice that filled her with ice cold terror.
"Welcome to hell, Kana. Shall we begin your journey?"
And then she had looked up and screamed.
The old man poked her knees as they walked. "You like to keep secrets, eh? Holding on to them now will do you no good with a yokai on your tail."
Kana glared at him. "It's all a dream," she said to herself. "I fell and injured my head. After that all that I see and hear is merely a hallucination."
The old man chuckled. Regardless of the long strides Kana took to rid herself of him, he managed to skip and keep up with her. The clanging sounds he made with each step was making her head throb.
"Leave me alone!" She screamed.
"I can't do that. I've been waiting to make contact with you for a long time."
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"You first." He looked amused. When she didn't reply and instead hastened her steps, he sighed. "Fine, at least tell me about your encounter with Hachishakusama. You must have met her before since she preys on children only. I'll leave you alone after that."
Kana eyed him shrewdly. She didn't think this possible figment of her imagination was going to leave her so soon but she was willing to try.
And so she told him.
She told him about her trip she had taken when she was young and was playing in the woods when she heard the Po...Po...sounds.
She told him how she had told her grandmother about her encounter and how she had paled and called up her parents to pick her up immediately. They couldn't arrive until the next day and so she had spent the night alone in a locked room with bowls of salt in every corner that turned black when she heard an eerie voice beckon her outside.
She had made a promise to her grandparents that she wouldn't leave her room and so she hadn't. Morning came and so did her parents who took her back home. After that she was forbidden from going to visit her grandparents again, even to pay her last respects when they passed away.
"I was told the eight foot tall lady only stalked children. So I know I dreamed her calling out to me."
The old man shook his head. "No. I saw her. She was right behind you. You felt her touch, did you noy? My prayer has temporarily guarded you against her attacks but she will come again." He reached up to point at her scar. "She can sense this. The mark from Hell. Now that you were dragged out from it because of my spell, the gatekeepers will send their lackeys, the yokai of this realm, after you and try to bring you back."
Kana said nothing. She forged ahead, unsure where she was going. Should she even go home? Her father would be furious and may try to kill her again. But her mother...she must be worried sick.
"You've met the gatekeepers, I assume."
Kana stopped suddenly and felt sick to her stomach as the memories had rushed in.
She had heard stories of Gozu and Mezu and how anyone who uttered their true origin tale, didn't survive. But she had heard they guarded the gates of hell.
When she was young she had imagined that a man with a cow head and a man with a horse head would simply look too absurd. Nothing prepared her for their true form when they appeared in front of her.
She had never felt such pure terror before or the resigned feeling that she must obey their strictest demands.
"You're trembling. You have seen them."
"You said you would leave me alone if I told you my story," Kana repeated. She couldn’t bring herself to talk about the gatekeepers or the terrifying glimpse she had taken through the gates of hell.
"I cannot do that when you will need my help." The old man carried on with her as she resumed walking.
"I assure you, I do not."
But that was when she heard the deep masculine voice again.
Po...Po...Po...
The voice was getting nearer.
Kana stopped and felt the air get cold again. And then, right next to her ear she heard, "Po..."
Kana turned her head slowly and saw the grotesque, pale face of a woman in a white hat. She grinned, revealing a mouthful of needles.
Kana screamed.
*****
Hiroto thrust open the front door and almost stumbled inside.
Azumi woke up with a start. "It is you. What's the matter?"
She was sleeping on a chair by the door waiting for her daughter to arrive. And when she hadn't, she had sent word through one of her husband's friends to inform Hiroto of their daughter's absence.
"Have you found Kana?"
Hiroto closed the door behind him and locked it. Then he advanced towards her.
Azumi repeated her question and then her eyes fell on his hand clasping a dagger.
"Whose blood is that?"
Hiroto stood before her. "She has brought shame to this family so I killed her."
"No!" Azumi whimpered. "It cannot be true."
Hiroto scowled. "She was with another girl. I killed her too."
"Hiroto, please tell me this isn't true."
"But it is. And now it seems you have some secrets of your own, don't you?"
Azumi took a step backwards and her eyes darted around the room to look for something to defend herself from her husband whose eyes were filled with madness.
"Everyone in town is talking about your affairs."
Azumi choked on her breath. "It was a mistake. It was just this one time...and..."
"So, it is true! Who? Give me his name!"
Azumi quivered. "It was a long time ago. He never wanted to see me again."
"Give me his name!" He bellowed.
Azumi gasped. "Emperor Akihito."
Hiroto was stunned for a moment and then he burst out laughing. He couldn't believe the emperor would want anything to do with a commoner like Azumi. She may be beautiful but surely an emperor wouldn't have an affair with her?
Azumi didn't seem to notice that he didn't believe her. She went on to tell him about the time he had travelled to another city to look for work. Since he hadn't left her enough money for food, she had begged for a job at the palace as a cleaning woman.
One night, she had been tirelessly sweeping the weapon room, when the Emperor had returned from battle and entered the room. She had stepped back immediately, keeping her head bowed.
The emperor laid down his sword and then come to stand before her. The next thing she knew was that he had thrown her over his shoulder and taken her to his room.
That night Kana had been conceived.
"It was hardly an affair. He was tired and he wanted a woman. I was lonely." Azumi sniffed. "He was kind to me afterwards but when he learned I was with a child, he had me thrown out of the palace."
Azumi put a hand on her mouth when she realized what she had said.
"So my suspicions were true. Kana was never my daughter."
Azumi retreated to a corner as Hiroto raised his dagger. "You will join her tonight."
He brought down the dagger again and again. Azumi's pleas for mercy did nothing to quell his hatred or rage.
After he had grown tired of stabbing her, and satisfied with the amount of blood around her, he got up and headed towards the door.
He no longer had any interest in living in this town anymore.
It was time he began a new life.
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