Kusuriuri looked around, left, right, front, back, up, down. He sensed the Mononoke approaching.

The scales he had now started to gather at the floor in lines. He held one scale on his hand.

There was silence. No one said a thing.

Kamakura was scared of what would happen, so was Nene. Okiku was crying softly. Kuro held the sword at his waist in hand.

Kayo could only stand still with her hands clasped tightly to herself. Otome stood calmly, however her eyes were narrowed.

Suddenly, Kusuriuri felt something very ominous and looked behind. The scales behind constantly tilted, rapidly.

Otome looked behind, her eyes widened and suddenly, she pushed the person beside her harshly. It was Kamakura.

"What the-" he didn't get the chance to say anything as he saw a force hit Otome, her eyes turned red.

Kusuriuri felt a coldness spreading to his entire body as he looked at Otome.

"Shit."

It was possession. And it was on Otome. Her fangs were visible, she turned hostile. Her voice changed completely. And she wasn't herself anymore.

Kusuriuri placed ofuda talismans all around her. She breathed heavily. In her eyes there was pain and restraint.

"Run...before...I hurt...you..." her hoarse and strained voice, which was now a few octaves deeper, spoke up within laboured breaths.

Kayo and Nene had long since stepped back with fear, Okiku cried in despair and hid behind her husband, who was equally afraid. Kamakura was the only one who seemed to be in a daze.

Kusuriuri knew that sentence was directed at him. He knew that it was her telling him to not be near her. His grip tightened on his sword.

"You...! Nogitsune-me!"

Clink!

"How dare you?" he gritted his teeth, anger visible on his face.

"What is your truth? What is your regret?" He questioned as he held the sword in front of his face, "Let me ask you!"

He pitched the scale towards her. But Otome, no, the Nogistune screamed out, her eyes slitting like an animal's. Her long nails were vicious and she sat on the floor, not able to get out of the barrier of ofuda talismans.

Kusuriuri looked at the household members, "What happened here?"

Nene answered, "Nothing..."
"Answer me truthfully." he sounded impatient to his own ears.

"It's true, Kusuriuri-san." Okiku was trembling and crying, she despaired, "Nothing has happened here."

Kusuriuri heard screeches from behind, and her attempts to break the barrier were apparent. He looked back, and somehow even after expecting what was going on, he still felt a pang in his chest.

Otome was there, coming conscious at times. She was fighting the possession to her best abilities as well. Her eyes switched between crimson and deep maroon. And she looked at the man before her, when she did, she stepped back. But when the Mononoke took over a little, she scrambled to escape again.

Kusuriuri could feel the force of the Mononoke clawing at him. He extended his right hand to keep it in place, more ofuda talismans coming out, as the previous ones burned.

Kayo cried, "She is going to come out!"
Nene held on to her even though she was just as scared and shaking, "Have faith, things will be alright!"

They had to be.

Kusuriuri could feel the pain searing through his body to keep this Nogistune in place. They were extremely dangerous kitsunes known to possess humans.

As his veins were pulsing, the blood tried to push out of his skin. Kayo knew what was happening and warned, distressed, "Kusuriuri-san, your hand!"

That warning seemed to reach the other end to Otome, she screeched out, her voice changed to her light pitch for a while. As she scrambled back, the redness in her eyes was increasing again. She gritted her teeth, and her long nails finally dug down at her hands, scratching them painfully. The Nogistune screamed in pain, but the hands wouldn't stop the scratching. Blood, deep red, came pouring out of her arms.

Kusuriuri's hands could finally feel the ease, but the scene he saw in front of him made him want to rather let his hands be bloody with pressure.

Otome rasped out in her smile, "I won't...let...you... ah!" the last painful scream was of the Mononoke. The self harm stopped. But only on her hands.

The pointy fangs the Nogistune had given her bit her lips violently. It gargled, "You- HOW LONG WILL YOU RESIST ME?????"

Kusuriuri regretted letting her come with him.

How could he think an assassin would be afraid of pain? Of course she wasn't.

Her hands were now a dyed completely crimson. Kusuriuri feared that she would cut her wrist vain by mistake.

"Let me know your truth and regret! Quick!" he turned around, "Unless you want that child to die, you have to tell me quickly! First, did anyone here go anywhere on Kyoshu island before?"

"I did. For business purposes." Kuro answered, as calmly as he could in between the jolts and shakings of the Mononoke. Kayo looked at Otome, "She is still scratching herself raw!"

Kusuriuri closed his eyes for a second, as if wanting to shut down the sound of her screeching and scratching. But his ears were sharp, and he could hear them perfectly and with clarity.

"Nogistune dwells in the Kyoshu island, it probably saw you somewhere. Did you go to a remote place on the island?"
"Yes. For sight seeing."
"Some sight seeing it was." Kusuriuri sarcastically answered with building frustration.

There was another shake, Otome had already scratched most of her skin on her arms and switched to her legs instead. The Nogistune roared out in anger, "STOP RESISTING ME!!! YOU ARE ONLY HARMING YOURSELF!!!" it felt the pain of her body and kept writhing in anguish. The floor turned a dark crimson.

"It must have followed you from there, and found Kamakura to possess to its liking, but Otome saved him and-"
"Got possessed instead." Nene finished the sentence. Her eyes seemed to gleam in determination, "You need to help her, please."

Kusuriuri looked at the bloody scene surrounded by the talismans, he set up more of them as he announced lowly, "The truth has been found."

Clink!

"Otome is a strong person, someone the Kitsune like Nogistune would like to possess. Even though usually they first make the victims suffer through an illness, this time the Nogistune is desperate enough to not possess the person slowly, as that is how they continue to exist."

"That is your regret!"

Clink!

Otome's lips were bloody with her biting them over and over again. Her eyes were bloodshot red, not the calm and deep maroon.

Kusuriuri looked at her near death state one last before he finally set the sword up. Kayo knew what was going to happen, and spoke up excitedly, "He is finally going to exorcize it!"

Kamakura, who was quiet until now, gritted his teeth, "Hurry up and do it already!" his conscience was weighing him down at this point.

"With the shape, truth and regret gathered, my sword shall be unsheathed!" his voice turned from slow and low, to a loud and commanding one.

"Unsheathe!" came the hoarse voice from the mouth of the sword.

Kusuriuri's body switched to his other form, and as he unsheathed his sword, he looked ahead to see the Nogistune.

...Except it wasn't there. Even Otome wasn't there.

Kusuriuri's heart immediately picked up its pace horrendously as he looked behind. He was reminded of the fact that Otome could enter the planes of the Ayakashi with him.

'Please let it not be too late.'

Fortunately, it wasn't. She ran, and ran, an expression of focus on her face. Even in the hands of death, her eyes were a calm maroon here. From roofs of furniture to chandeliers. The horrendous fox creature chased her soul, frustrated, angry, as it couldn't reach her even after finding her.

Kusuriuri stopped the chase with one slash of his magical sword. Otome landed beside him, panting as softly as she could as he stepped forward, fast movements surrounded the Mononoke as they clashed.

"Ha!" the last slash completely eradicated the Nogistune and thus, the exorcism was complete. Kusuriuri looked at Otome, who was only smiling at him with her ever present stillness.

But he didn't feel any reassurance as he saw it. And knew what was the reason for his uneasiness.

As they came back to the real world, Kusuriuri swiftly ran towards Otome, who was a bloody mess from the self harm. Her consciousness was teetering on the edge of losing. Kusuriuri took her head and grasped her, "Oi, get a grip. Look at me." His own wounds had long since healed from his powers, but this girl, this little, small child had none of that power.

It was ironic, she was an assassin, someone he had kept his guard up against the entire time. And yet, she looked like a tiny person to him now. A tiny person with such a lonely life, nobody could look after her, nobody was there to.

And thus, she could never ask for help, even in the door of death.

Kusuriuri laid her down slowly on the mat and pulled out a pair of small, purple earrings and placed them quickly in her ears, taking off the initial gold earrings that she was wearing.

As soon as he did, her wounds started to heal slowly, Otome still tried to keep herself awake.

"You..." her voice came. Kusuriuri responded, "Don't talk. Heal first." he clasped her left wrist to see her pulse.

She didn't listen to him as he had expected, moving her lips in an attempt to speak her mind. Kusuriuri was ready to stop her, but the next words that came out of her mouth made his mind dysfunction for a second.

"Are you...okay...? Did I...hurt you...? Your hand...was...bleeding..." she whispered slowly to the best of her abilities to him when she was able to speak after a little while of healing.

"That's the first thing you ask after coming back to life from the hands of death?" Kusuriuri was gobsmacked. People would be traumatised for life after such an experience. And this was what she asked? Whether he was okay or not?
"Are you looking at yourself? Do you have the condition to ask whether I am fine or not?" his eyebrows furrowed in disapproval.

Kayo also moved forward and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Bring the medicine box here, please." he sounded more desperate than usual to his own ears.

Kamakura and Nene slowly approached the both of them, Kuro and Okiku staying behind to watch.

"Is she alright?" Kamakura asked in a low voice as to not disturb them much.

Otome was the one to answer in between her harsh breathing, "I..am fine...don't-" she coughed out more blood before being able to finish her sentence.

Kusuriuri gently reprimanded her, "Don't speak. Heal."
"Your hand..."
"My hand is fine. It's healed already. Stop fretting over it. Heal yourself. Who knows what you would have done just to stop me from getting injured." he grumbled out. He was already used to such injuries. It was unnecessary for her to go to such lengths.

She smiled rough, and pained, "I am...glad...you are...alright..."
"Stop talking, please. Or you yourself wouldn't be alright." he made a clear point, striking it with a firm voice.

"Are you...angry?" she still asked.

'...This woman is not going to listen to me, is she?' he thought out, annoyed.

He was more annoyed at the situation than at her. Something like that, he wasn't used to being protected or cared for in any way. In this particular matter, they were both similar, he understood.

"You didn't answer...so you...are..." she lamented a little.
"I am not." Kusuriuri cleared the misunderstanding. His face was not giving away his thoughts so no one knew whether he was lying or not except the person lying down on the mat. She grinned, "Alright. That's good..."
"How is it good? You got yourself hurt to this extent."
"It's better...than you getting...hurt..." her voice was now a bit more clear.

Kusuriuri finally couldn't hold it inside anymore and asked out with an angry expression, "How? I am used to incidents like this already. I have my powers to heal me. You don't have to go to such lengths."
"Doesn't matter...I don't want...you hurt..." her mind was still delirious from the after-effect of such a possession. She spoke her heart more than ever now. Her body began to give away to the exhaustion as it was healing. Her consciousness was cloudy.

"Are you saying you would rather die than seeing me hurt for something that I do all the time?" he asked angrily, although his voice was low. Why would someone even do something stupid like that?

"Yes...I would..." Otome looked at him one last time before her consciousness faded away. Kusuriuri stilled. How could a person as smart as her do something this idiotic? Why?

Why would she care so much for someone who dealt with danger all the time? Granted, she also dealt with danger all the time in her occupation. But this...he couldn't fathom why.

"Why...why would you?" his furrowed eyebrows turned into a somber frown as he caressed her head softly, "You are just a little girl, why do you not fear even death?"

There was a very calm but sorrowful silence in the air as Kusuriuri sighed softly. His hand kept caressing her head, as she was sound asleep.

Nene looked at her from a distance, "Will she be okay?"

Kusuriuri nodded, "She will. She just needs rest. Is there an inn nearby?"
"No need. We can help." Kuro stepped up with a rather stoic face, "You have saved us all from such a demonic entity. Let us help you."

Kusuriuri didn't refute the offer, he didn't have the energy to, "Then we will be in your care." he bowed his head slightly.