Clocks (Akura Ou x OC)

Chapter 37: Akura Ou's P.O.V.

That was a wildly unsuccessful attempt to protect Raya. I groaned as the snake familiar wrapped bandages around my waist. He had opened the windows and lit an incense burner in an attempt to clear out and overwhelm Yatori's fog. Yatori was sleeping. He was weak from his injuries. 

He had been singled out as inexperienced in group combat and ended up taking on fast twin snake yokai and an agile tiger yokai. Tomoe had three yokai with water manipulating abilities trying to drown him. I had been surrounded by four strong, brutish yokai, but they had hardly been my worry. The issue was that yokai with the knives. He was quick and he had perfect aim that I had to throw off while avoiding being knocked around by those four strong yokai. In the end, I had been taken off guard by the twin snakes, who slashed my stomach and nearly cut off my head if I hadn't found a stray knife to pierce one of them with. They had both panicked and run off once they realized someone could injure them and the large yokai were distracted by Tomoe and were starting to stumble from Yatori's poison. The water yokai were weak to the poison and had already passed out. I was feeling lightheaded myself, but the yokai with the knives had run inside with the unconscious Yatori. I had picked up more of his abandoned knives and thrown them at him, hitting his arm and neck, which seemed to throw him off balance. I was taken off guard one final time when I was hit on the back of the head. That coupled with Yatori's poison, which rapidly filled the enclosed space, finally took me out.

I had woken up and Raya was gone. The snake yokai was still half asleep and trying to wake up his mistress and Yatori was trying to bandage his stomach, but he was extremely pale and shaky. The snake caught sight of me and looked down at the ground as he tried to stand up. He stumbled, but managed to find his balance and picked up his mistress. He stepped over to me and let me pull myself up on his shoulder and lean on the wall. Tomoe came in from outside, a little bruised on his cheek and holding his shoulder. He had blood stains all across his clothes, but from what I could tell, his own blood was only on the left side of his stomach. The snake nodded for us to follow and led us to an empty room. He set his mistress down and started laying out mats for us to rest on. He laid his mistress on one first and then put one down for each of us. After we were laid down, the snake went out of the room and came back helping Yatori walk and laid him down and fixed his poorly done bandages. And now I sit here with the snake bandaging my stomach, Tomoe sitting by his mistress smoking, and Yatori passed out from blood loss.

 "That was too well coordinated," Tomoe said, "There was a weakness for each of us, even Yatori, and he's been hiding for five hundred years."

"And they only took Raya, even though Nanami is also a god," the snake said.

"This attack was set up solely to kidnap Raya," I said.

"No. Also to kill you," Tomoe said, "You took the worst of it next to Yatori. This was meant to capture Raya and kill you."

"Who would actually send someone to kidnap a god?" the snake asked, "Wouldn't they fear the wrath of the Divine Assembly?"

"Or they're confident the assembly won't find them," Tomoe said, "We've speculated that there is a liar amongst the gods who knows of Raya's origin and predecessors. How many of the gods know about Akura Ou's Resurrection?"

"She said earlier that she wanted to speak with someone named, Ookuninushi," I said, "She's certain he knows something."

"Maybe we should talk to him," the snake said, "I will admit, he's one for gossip and he would know everything about anyone if it was interesting."

"I think a mysterious disappearing god is interesting enough," I said, "Let's go."

"We need to be smart. We need a plan," Tomoe said, "If you charge in without thinking and anger the gods, they may not only not answer our questions, but attempt to kill you in the process. It would be best no matter what we do to have you stay here until you have Raya back by your side."

"What? I'm not going to stay behind while she's in danger. Are we even sure she's with a god?" I asked, "What if she's still with yokai."

"I have an idea!"Yatori said. When did he wake up?

"What's your idea?" I sighed.

"Master Tomoe can go with the Land God to question this Ookuninushi guy and Master Akura Ou can go to the World Over Yonder and see if she's there. If she isn't, then he can meet back up with Master Tomoe."

"That's actually not bad," I said.

"There's only one problem, and that's that no yokai is allowed in the Divine Assembly building without a god," the snake said, finally finishing the bandages and sitting near his mistress.

"I don't care. I can get in whether I'm welcomed or not," I said.

"It's not a terrible plan," Tomoe said, "I wish we could think of something more certain, but we can't risk waiting too long when we don't know what Raya is going through. It will have to do."

"I'm going to start searching the World Over Yonder," I said.

"You're still seriously injured. You should rest," the snake said.

"Don't insult me. I'm not weak. I'm going."

I walked out and then started running to the World over Yonder. 

As I approached, I immediately recognized the smell of blood and it wasn't my own. It's only a few miles from the shrine. I stopped when I found a group of dead yokai. Among them was the twin snakes and the tiger. So they had brought Raya here for someone and then that someone killed them.

I returned to the shrine and found the snake waiting outside.

"You're back already?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Did you find anything?"

"Whoever took her killed the yokai that brought her to him. It would have to be a strong yokai or a god. Where's Tomoe?"

"He already went ahead to Izumo."

"I'll join him."

"Wait! Hold on!" a female shrine spirit came out.

"What?" I asked.

"The Land God received a call from Lady Raya. Lady Raya said that under no circumstances should Akura Ou come to Izumo. And he must leave the shrine."