Kana From Hell: Part Twenty One

 

Ren watched with mounting horror as Toshihiro nimbly attacked Kana. He no longer appeared to be encumbered by the cooking pot around his body. 

But it was the expression on the old man's face that made Ren's heart skip a beat. He didn't think Toshihiro had a kind face, but the expression he now wore could very well belong to a wild animal.

Ren looked around him and found a piece of wood from a broken table. He picked it up and advanced towards Toshihiro.

He assumed that the reason Kana was not attacking the old man was because he was her grandfather.

Ren charged at Toshihiro. While he did not want to hurt the older man, he did intend to disarm him and retrieve his sword. 

Toshihiro was surprised by the sudden attack and gasped when he fell.

Ren bent to pick up his sword, but Toshihiro was surprisingly swift. He grabbed the sword before Ren could and swung it. Ren jumped just in time before the blade got his leg.

Toshihiro went after Kana again.

"Fight back!" Ren advised.

Kana ducked the sword attack, then used her left hand, and it caught Toshihiro's hand. The old man was unable to free himself. Kana used all her strength to push down his hand.

The sword fell with a clatter. Ren moved fast and grabbed it before Toshihiro could reach for it. Kana pushed Toshihiro, but her strength was far too much, and the old man went flying through the window.

Ren's mouth agape, he acted quickly and rushed out to grab the old man who was knocked out cold.

Kana came running out. "Is he alright? What's gotten into him?"

"A yokai, no doubt." Ren sighed and reached into his pocket for rope. 

He tied up Toshihiro's hands around his cooking pot body.

"Yokai can possess people?" Kana asked.

"Among other things. He will need to be exorcised."

"And then he will be alright?"

Ren hesitated, but he owed Kana the truth after all the lies. "Not all of them make it."

Kana's face fell, and Ren regretted telling her the truth. Toshihiro was the only family she had left, and she may lose him, too.

Kana sat on the ground next to Toshihiro. She touched his forehead.

"It's all because of me. The yokai possessed him to get to me."

A man approached from behind and bowed. He addressed Ren, informing him that the man he was searching for had left the yukaku.

Kana looked at Ren questioningly, and he explained that he had found Hiroto.

Kana was perplexed. She wanted her revenge. But she didn't want to leave Toshihiro in his possessed state.

Ren assured her that he would keep an eye on Toshihiro. 

"I know a yamabushi.  He might be able to help him."

Kana swallowed uncomfortably before nodding. She stood and eyed Ren's sword. 

He understood. 

"If this is what you really want." He spoke solemnly and handed her the sword.

"I do. In any case, I am condemned to hell."

She wanted to say more. She wanted to tell Ren about Sakura but couldn't bring herself to. He would hate her for hiding when she should have tried to fight against the man who had assaulted Sakura.

Kana felt ashamed of her actions, but she realized she couldn't change the past. What she could do was get her vengeance from the man who killed her mother. And Michi.

She took the sword and advanced towards the direction the stranger pointed to. He appeared to be taken aback to see a woman wielding a sword but a quick glance at Ren, a tied up cooking pot who was also an old man, and a woman with a strange scar on her arm, he decided not want to intervene.

He duly stepped back as Kana walked determinedly down the long road out of the village.

***

Hiroto was drunk and could barely walk straight. But he had to get out of the village quickly.

The woman he had spent the last hour with had demanded money for her services, which he not only declined but used violence to make sure she knew her place.

After he pushed her, she hit her head on the floor. There was some blood, and the woman would not get up. 

He decided to escape the yukaku as soon as possible. 

Hiroto entered the forest, deciding it was an easier place to hide. He found a large rock by a tree and sat down, closing his eyes, and began to doze off.

The sun was getting hot when he heard a metallic clink.

Drowsily, he opened his eyes and blinked. 

He had to be dreaming.

In front of him was his daughter, or rather the girl he raised, who he wanted to kill for having an affair. 

No doubt the liquor he had consumed was playing with his mind. 

"Get up!" Kana commanded.

Hiroto snickered. "My hallucination can talk."

"You killed my mother," Kana said. 

Hiroto felt a jolt. Kana would not have known that. He had killed his wife after he had witnessed Kana die.

Kana repeated her order, and this time Hiroto scrambled to his feet.

He couldn't believe she was alive. He had watched her contorted body and all the blood.

Another thought struck him, one that made his blood run cold. This wasn't Kana, but a yurei.

"Get away from me," he flapped his arms at her, but Kana didn't flinch.

She pressed the tip of the blade against his chest. 

"Should I run this sword through your chest because you're a heartless man. Or should I cut off the head that thought of such malicious deeds?"

Hiroto gulped. "You're a ghost."

Kana gave half a smile. "You have no idea what I have become."

She pierced his skin, and Hiroto yelped. A bright red spot appeared on his kimono.

Surprise and fear flashed in Hiroto's eyes, pleasing Kana. 

Before she could plunge the sword further, he slapped her suddenly.

Kana stumbled back, surprised. The man before her grinned. He struck again, this time at her arm. The sword fell from Kana's hands.

Anger rising, she reached for it, only to be kicked in the stomach.

Kana fell to her knees, enraged. Hiroto charged at her, ready to kick her again, but Kana used her left arm to catch him mid-air and then flip him.

Hiroto fell in his back, the breath knocked out of him. He cursed at her as Kana rose.

"I was wrong," She told him. "I no longer need a sword to kill you."

She grabbed him by the front of his clothes and pulled him to his feet. She shoved him hard against the tree. Hiroto cried out in pain. 

The powers surged through her arm. Kana grabbed his neck and squeezed.

"This is for what you did to my mother." She squeezed harder and felt the man struggle. She twisted her hand and heard a crack. "And this is for murdering Michi."

Hiroto crumbled to the ground. His neck was twisted. His eyes were bulging. He was gone.

Kana felt the power diminish as her rage settled.

She fell to her knees, beside Hiroto. The man was dead, and she didn't need to feel his pulse to make sure.

Kana was astounded by the numbness. She didn't feel pleased nor sorrow for the man who raised her. There was simply nothing within her.

She heard a rustling of leaves and stood. 

No doubt it was Ren, following her, making sure she was alright. She knew he was concerned for her, but while she valued his companionship, she couldn't bring herself to feel the same way he did.

"I am fine." She said, as footsteps grew closer. "He, on the other hand, is gone."

The figure stepped forward and Kana realized she was wrong. It wasn't Ren, but a young woman in a pink kimono and flowers in her hair.

Kana gasped. "Michi?"