Changing of a Myth

Explanation:

The legend says that there are nine Bijuu, or tailed beasts, five of them are elemental gods. The elemental gods were said to have been imprisoned by deities called the Eight Immortals. It’s said that they were released from their prisons by Yamato no Orochi, an eight tailed snake demon, in myth he is commonly associated with being the “Devil” of the Bijuu.

However in this world Yamato no Orochi was imprisoned as well as the other tailed beasts. This is a world where demons live in the underworld or ghettos of cities; demons and mankind live together though not in total harmony. Akira is a 23 year old mob boss. Although she was born human, she had gone down the wrong path. This led away from the way her deceased parents wanted her to follow. Akira’s planning to resurrect the beastly elemental gods.

Story:

There she stood, looking down at the village. The wind whipped her long, dark hair about her petite form as she looked up at the starless night. She knew that what she was going to do would condemn her to hell, well if she were Christian that is. The scene to come was playing in her mind. She knew it was her time as well, but the thought of having humans on the earth any longer disgusted her. Long ago she would've believed in second chances, but that time ceased to exist. Exactly five years ago they took him from her, the only person that she believed to be truly good and just, suddenly disappeared.

What happened? She didn’t know, she just knew that he was never coming back. Akira knows she’s becoming just like those who have taken the lives of her family, and him.

"Akira?" an all too familiar voice alerted her from her reminiscing. She turned to look at her bodyguard. Being a mob boss in Tokyo , Japan does have the side effects of people wanting you dead.

"Raito is everything in place?" she asked, narrowing her eyes she looked past him.

"That's what they all said," said Raito gesturing with his thumb back towards the camp. Of course the people she had employed knew the legends just as well as she did. Most of them scoffed at her, the thought of doing what she was trying.

Six years previous to this night she had bore witness to the awesome strength of immortals. She had not become a top mob boss by asking people politely to gain the title. She alone knew that the things legends were made of were real. Of course all children listened to their elders warnings about such mythical beasts but one was also told of the Eight Immortals, especially the demon slayer. Everyone knew that he had vanquished the world of all evil.

She was dragged into the underworld, she had gotten so mixed up with the affairs of demons that the only person that kept her weighted down, the only one who supported her was him. When he left she threw every piece of her being into the finding of the immortal pieces, the tools of power. By now she could barely tell what the mortal part of her was and what wasn't. The time was nearing and she could feel a searing pain in her right arm. Right, if I couldn't tell what part of me is which all I have to do is go near an Immortal relict and I remember. She bit her lip; she had turned from Raito so he couldn't see her pained expression.

"Akira, you know turning you back on me won't do any good," he said, his voice emotionless.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting you're lack of mortality," Akira looked back at him and smiled, the tireless and fake smile that she had perfected since he left. Akira had started looking for the tools of power since the disappearance. She had met up with Raito in the underworld, the code name for demon dwellings. He was the demon who stopped the demon slayer. Its true Lu Dong-Pin was powerful and invincible, but Raito's strength wasn't physical strength. It was his intelligence. What good was it having a stupid body guard? He was able to part Lu Dong-Pin from his legendary katana and since then Raito had held onto that katana. When she met him she was on the ground, beaten and bloody, though oddly enough she had won. Her right arm was then replaced with that of a neko. From then on he never left her side. She had just recently acquired the Fan of Chuan Chung Li, the first Immortal.

Since she knew the Christians judgment day would never come, she decided she was going to initiate one. The day immortals, demons, and half breeds would live without the mortals. Her family had all been slaughtered one night many years ago. She had sworn vengeance on all humans. Of course her society was blaming it on some half breed that couldn't control himself. She knew that it was a human who killed her family; the families around her house knew the killer was human. The society just didn't want to admit that everyone is capable of murder. That is what started her to her own self destruction. Only a determined human would force a transmutation, from that of a human body to a demonic one. She was going to destroy the world with the help of the tailed beasts. She knew the demons existed, everyone who visited the underworld would know that. It was only the matter of releasing them. She had enlisted religion majors from around the world to help her. Only now did she realize that she should've employed half breed people that would actually live after all the energy was going to be released. She soon realized she was deep in thought again when she felt warmth. Looking forward she had a close up of buttons, the scent she quickly recognized.

"Raito," she put her head on his chest, hearing his slow heartbeat, his arms were around her and she felt calm. The calm before the storm she thought bitterly. Sighing she completely gave in to the hug and put her arms around him, wincing as she stretched the right one. Ratio must have noticed because he placed a chaste kiss on the top of her head. Before she knew what happened he was already halfway to the camp. Raito? Just as his name meant he was the light in her dark. Though she was going to make her name come true as well, dawn. Yes the dawning of a new age, led by the tailed beasts. She started walking back when pain seared through her leg. This part of her was also demon, the closer she got to the tools of power the more pain her immortal parts were experiencing.

The only way she could've completed the ceremony of bringing the Bijuu back from their prisons was to become a demon herself. The transformation had taken some time, but she could now touch the eight tools of power, whereas she couldn't as a human for fear of death. She started walking back to the campsite. Looking over it she noticed that all the shrines where set exactly as they were supposed to be. Hmmm, I really do have some good help. I wonder if Raito had to threaten them? She glanced around and saw everyone looking at something. That’s when she saw it. A young male she recognized as Thomas was convulsing on the ground his hand was black and his arm was turning purple.

"The idiot," she yelled as she ran over to him. Telling everyone to step back. Foam was now coming from his mouth. "I told you, mere humans can't touch these! Any of these! They're venomous!" she screamed at the rest of them before turning complete attention to the boy in front of her. Whispering she said "You're pain will soon end. 自由死んだら、死を恐れてはいけない。私はあなたの精神が方法および平和を見つけることを望む。May your soul find peace." (translated at bottom)

His veins started showing through his skin as a dark blue color, his skin was also paling. The poison was running through his body. He wouldn't last much longer. She was clutching him tightly to her own body until his body gave a final shudder. The grasping for breath and the blood that had foamed out through his nose and mouth stopped coming up as he stopped trying to force breath in and out. Everyone was turning away.

She stood up, "Don't turn away, Thomas was an idiot, no one touches these! Next time any of you want to go against something I say let Thomas be a reminder of how you may end up." Raito walked up to the corpse and threw it over his shoulder. He nodded and walked from the camp. In a few minutes the ceremony would begin, Akira hoped that Raito wouldn't be gone long. She walked over the alter in the middle of a circle. There were shrines at the north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest directions with their respective tools at each interval. She looked at a metal blade in front of her. The Kusanagi no Tsurgi, the legendary blade of the Kusanagi Clan. The blade forged in darkness for darkness. She ran her left pointer finger down the blade. Soon she'd have the end she wanted. Truthfully she wasn't sure if she would even live. Glancing up she noticed Raito was back. He's the only one I truly need here, she thought. Looking around she saw everyone was still spooked by the whole venom incident. She looked over to Raito again and went into a daze. She only stopped dreaming again when she felt eyes on her. Raito, he never stops trying to get inside my mind. She didn't need to look over at him.

The time came; she breathed a sigh of relief releasing pent up nerves. She picked up the Kusanagi no Tsurgi and brought it up. The moon straight over head disappeared behind dark clouds. When did the moon come out? She thought she remembered seeing a starless night. Energy ran down the tip of the katana to the hilt. She sliced it down so it was now slightly behind her in her right hand. A black line was still visible in the air, where it was brought down. She first walked to the katana of Lu Dong-Pin, she brought the hilt of her own weapon down upon it shattering it to pieces. Five beams of light sprouted from points around the campsite. They were a good distance away from the shrines sites, but in the middle of them all. The points forming the prefect pentagon. Next, the castanets. With every symbol broken the power grew more intense. The light became increasingly blinding and some of her employees were gasping for breath. She really didn't need to smash all of the symbols the last two were starting to break as it was. She walked over, and smashed the iron rod. The last one was the flute. She brought her katana down, she stopped. Just beyond the light she saw him, Hikaru. He was looking at her, he was frowning. The words she never thought she would hear him say coursed threw her mind. The flute disintegrated and sent her flying. At first, I didn't care if I died. But he just gave me a reason to be. To live, I did live for Hikaru, now I can live for someone else. She skidded to a halt within the circle; a blinding light came out of nowhere. She got up and ran to Raito without thinking she threw herself in front of him. In that moment she knew she was going against what the tools of power were meant for. She was disrupting the balance between light and dark. Bringing about more dark would cause a shift in everything. She brought the katana up in front of her as a white katana came down. The man holding the light blade was old, he had long white hair and needless to say he was intimidating. She knew who he was, Lao Tzu keeper of the tools of power. He stared at her and she knew that she would die; he was the first immortal, the first to take the way and bring it into human use. She knew the way, as did her family before her. She had taken that and manipulated it in her mind that humans needed to be extinct.

Lao Tzu, the legend said that he had left civilization because he was disappointed in people. Their thoughts of greed and fame had discouraged him and he left. Upon leaving he left his doctrine and soon after that people had followed. Instead of taking the right path, she steered herself down one of anger and vengeance. He looked into her eyes, into her very soul. Seeing something there, he smiled. This was truly frightening. The next thing anyone saw was light, a light that could blind. The sounds suddenly came to Akira, the noise of the tailed beasts coming out of their imprisonment, the screaming, roaring, an intense pain shot through her. The following silence was deafening. She somehow knew that the beasts were imprisoned once again. After all the tools of power weren’t as powerful without their owners, but some how Lao Tzu was more powerful then the previous Eight Immortals. Was he able to trap them so easily back into the shrines?

The next thing she knew she couldn’t hear nor see anything. That’s when she realized her eyes were closed. She opened her eyes to be welcomed by sunlight. She winced. What? Where am I? Trying to calm down she inhaled deeply, that’s when something underneath her rose and fell. What the hell am I on? Tilting her head back she looked right into a pair of golden green eyes. She rolled off as quickly as possible.

“Raito? What happened, where are we? Why are we…?” she cut herself off feeling weights at both her sides. She looked down and saw two pure white hilts. She reached down crossing her arms and pulled the short swords out. She instantly recognized them as butterfly swords. She looked at Raito who was staring at her intently. Ignoring his eyes she finally found what she was looking for. A white staff lay at his side.



The immortals had all died out; the new breed of immortal would be smarter, stronger, and cursed to be the force of good people would pray to.





Translation:

Do not fear death, once you die you will be free. I hope that your soul finds the way and peace.