The Final Chapter
For some odd reason, Rachel wanted to go to Tonga for our honeymoon, so I obliged. It was a nice romantic getaway. We fucked, relaxed and fucked some more. The Tongan people were very accommodating as well. We had a nice cabin by the beach with all the privacy we could want. It was well stocked with food and wine so Rachel and I didn’t have to leave for much except to see the sights of the small island kingdom.
When we returned, I had to attend a serious business meeting with the two remaining elders to determine who would head the Tiger clan.
Yazmat and Ikazi stood in front of my desk with their hands clasped behind their backs.
“My apologies for killing your brother,” I said sadly. “I know there is no restitution that can match your loss.”
Ikazi snorted. “That man was a fool. A hot headed fool. He was so blind he didn’t see that Miko wasn’t his legitimate heir. Only the offspring produced by those who wear the sacred rings are able to accept the full power of the irezumi.” I rubbed my golden dragon ring as he mentioned it. “You did us a service. We sign over temporary leadership to the Tiger clan to you, until you choose one of your children to take over.”
“It will be your second born,” Yazmat interjected. Hopefully, I have a second kid then, huh? “Your first will be destined to lead the Dragon Clan, as you do, but your second son will be Izami’s replacement in our high council. He will be the youngest, but when you killed Izami and extinguished his flame, part of his life force entered you to be passed on. Don’t worry, we will treat him kindly after he reaches the age of majority and joins us,” Yazmat said.
I was stunned. My second born son will reach a higher status than my first born. That was new. Probably has to do with the fact he’ll be conceived after I killed Izami. Whatever, it’s still quite an honor either way.
“Has Miko’s body been found yet?” I really didn’t want any of the police, coast guard or, God forbid, Americans getting a hold of it.
“Yes, we found it a few days after you went on your honeymoon, floating around Tokyo Bay. One of our boats scooped it up and brought it to us for study. It was most impressive. She wasn’t decayed and none of the marine life fed on her. It was almost like the irezumi caused her body to go into some kind of stasis as she tumbled off of you. Hate to say it, but she’s still alive.”
“Wait, what? She was electrocuted and fell almost three miles into the bay. Nobody could survive that.” I was gobsmacked. I thought if she wasn’t a full shapeshifter, me stabbing her through the heart wouldn’t be needed.
“Sorry, Kintaro,” Yazmat replied. “She is still alive, unconscious, but alive. You need to end this before she wakes up and escapes.”
Ugh. I didn’t want to kill a defenseless person, even if it was Miko, who had gone completely feral. I sunk my face into my hands. This was one of those calls as a leader I really didn’t want to make. It seemed so cruel and heartless. “Can’t we keep her for science? Study her, maybe use her to figure out a way to get the sacred irezumi on women? It’s going to come up a girl eventually, you know.”
“Unfortunately, we can’t. We can use her body to study, but we can’t do it while she’s alive,” Yazmat replied.
“Then why the fuck can’t you do it? Why does it have to be me?” I might be the head of the oldest Yakuza syndicate but I wasn’t a cold blooded killer. The night I rescued Rachel still haunts me even though it’s been three months since the incident. I wake up in cold sweats some nights hearing Izami's pleas filling my ears and soul.
“Because it’s not our job,” Yazmat said sadly. “You are the muscle. If you want to keep Rachel and your child safe, you need to go to our temple and end Miko’s life.”
I sighed again, because really, what else is there to say when you were just told by the main patriarch of your family that you had to go kill someone who was laying on a dais in some musty temple, completely knocked out from falling a few thousand feet and smacking the water of Tokyo Bay? You know, someone you thought you’d already killed. Jesus Christ, why can’t anything be simple?
Oh yeah, because I’m a shape shifting crime lord, that’s why. I looked helplessly at Yazmat and Ikazi as the realization that I actually had to go and kill someone, myself, in cold blood, not self defense, came crashing down on me. I would do it, though. I had to, just because she would come after Rachel and the baby when he was born. “Fine, how long do I have?”
“We don’t know how long her torpor will last,” Ikazi replied. “The monks are tending to her while she sleeps in a cell we have beneath our citadel. She has been showing signs of stirring because she has been there for two months already while you and your new bride were off getting acquainted.”
I nodded. So I had to head to the temple soon. “I guess it will have to be tonight. I need to tell Rachel I won’t be home after work and to start supper without me.” I was hoping to no longer work late nights after we returned from our honeymoon, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“It will just be one night, child.” Yazmat tried to comfort me. “After she’s gone, you can get back to doing what you do best. Sitting on your ass and raking in money from all the racketeering you’re involved in. Now you’ll get double the profits because you took over the Tiger clan.”
Ikazi was smirking. “You know, if you have a daughter one day, you could pledge her to Ori’s son.” Ori was the head of the Kitsune clan. Ah hell, why not. I know my kid won’t be as annoying as Miko was, is, whatever. “I’ll think about it,” I said with a smile. “The one that’s cooking right now needs to come out.”
“True, we shall return to the temple and wait for your arrival. Hopefully, it won’t be too late,” Yazmat said the two ancient men left my office.
I took a deep breath and puffed out my cheeks in an attempt to figure out how to tell Rachel the news. Ah, fuck it, blunt is the best way to go about it I guess; it’s worked great so far. So I picked up my phone and called her. “Hey Rachel? Yeah, I won’t be home in time for dinner. Errr...an urgent matter has come up.”
She asked me what it was.
“Well…you remember Miko? Well, she isn’t dead.” She went dead silent, that wasn’t good. “Yes, I know we thought she was dead when we went off on our honeymoon. I’m sorry, I have to go take care of this myself.”
She sounded worried when she asked me if I was sure about this. “Yes, I’m sure. She’s supposed to be still KO’d so it will be a simple in, out and done.” I hoped.
Rachel sounded dubious but what could she do, what could I do? I needed to do what I had to do in order to protect her and the unborn child that she had inside her. The ultrasound to determine if it was a boy or a girl was in two days and I didn’t want to miss it. “Look, I’ll be safe. I love you.”
I ended the call and put the phone down on my desk. I sat and thought for a bit on what I would have to do. The temple was located near Mt. Fuji and it was well hidden from the world despite its location near a tourist area. It would take me about thirty minutes to get there by train and bus, and another hour to walk there from the bus stop, or I could just fly there. That’s exactly what I decided to do.
I paged my receptionist to let her know I would be out of the office and I was taking the roof exit. She didn’t have to know that there wasn’t a helicopter waiting for me up there, as long as I book it up high enough no one will see me and notice me.
I climbed up the fire exit that led up to the roof and sighed as I felt my back burn and my flesh melt in that disconcerting way that made me want to scream each time I shifted shape. I stood on the roof of the one hundred story building, gleaming in the sun. I jumped into the air and flew towards Mt. Fuji. It was time for me to end this.
The countryside flew by underneath me as I tore through the skies in an attempt not to be seen. Hopefully, people who casually glance up would just see this red thing and think it is a balloon or a kite that had escaped its owner, nothing more.
Eventually, I came to the perfect cone of Mt. Fuji and flew around it and landed a good distance away in a thick patch of forest. Whoever said that Japan was just a concrete jungle hasn’t experienced its true beauty.
Shit, I thought, as I saw the warning signs all over the place. I forgot the temple was located at the heart of the Aokigahara, the suicide forest. Good thing I changed back into human form in case I found any unfortunate soul wandering in here to end his or her life.
The weight of the dead pressed heavily upon me as I trekked through the thick boreal forest towards the cave where our sacred temple was located. I nearly tripped on a skull that had been dragged onto the dirt path by one of the many wild animals that lived in this forest and fed upon the bodies of the dead before their loved ones could find them.
Out of the corner of my eye, a grizzly sight of a decomposing old man, hanging from a tree branch, caused me to grit my teeth in revulsion. All these people just came here to take their lives. It was pitiable, and very sad. The symbolism of hiding their temple in the forest of the dead wasn’t lost on me. Maybe there was magic from the temple that made the average person who enters this forest sink into a pit of despair so badly that one sees no other alternative but to end it? I don’t know, but if it was, that was one seriously good enchantment.
As I trekked through the darkening forest, the screeches of owls and ravens filled my ears as they came back to roost and feed for the evening. I needed to hurry because the creatures of this place were accustomed to the taste of human flesh. Also, I was told by Yazmat as a young boy that sometimes during a certain full moon, the bodies of the dead rose up. It was the first full moon of October tonight, and if I remembered, that was one of the moons.
The sun sunk below the horizon as I trudged through the thick forest. I shivered with dread as I searched in vain for the hidden cave. I guess if it was easy to find it wouldn’t be hidden, now would it. Ugh. Now I’ll have zombies all over me.
I heard shuffling in the foliage next to me and I decided it was high time to change back into my dragon shape. At least I’d probably be able to find the temple easier. I felt the familiar burn and melt sensations as I shifted into my dragon body. There, no zombies will fuck with me now. I flicked my tongue to taste the night air and picked up Yazmat’s subtle musk. I must be getting somewhat close.
I slithered through the trees, following the trail of Yazmat’s scent. I felt cold, lifeless hands grasp at my body, then fall away as their life energy slipped away at the contact. Must be my divine ancestry. Heh. Not like I had a problem with that.
I swatted an insistent zombie with my tail and sent it flying into a tree with a hard thud. I had enough of this crap. I was frustrated, hungry, and tired. I wanted to be home with Rachel, but no, the elders needed me to clean up their mess.
I turned around the trunk of a massive tree and saw a triangular mouth of a cave with a candle lit on each side. Finally. I changed back to my human form now that the zombie threat had past and walked into the cave entrance.
I grabbed a torch from the cast iron holder off to the side of the cave mouth and lit it with the lit brazier. I haven’t been here since I turned eighteen and got my sacred ink. I found the stone stairway that lead down to the depths of the temple cave and started to walk down when I heard an unholy mixture of a growl and squeak mixed together echoing from down below. Shit, Miko must be awake.
I rushed down the stairs as fast as I could without slipping or dropping my torch and I found Miko and Yazmat fighting. Yazmat’s silver dragon form was wrapped around Miko’s feral were-tiger form. I had to jump in and help him.
“Hey, Miko, I’m the one that you want!” I shouted as I changed back into a dragon. The torch I held clattered to the ground and extinguished with a hiss as it landed in a puddle of water.
I was met with a high pitched yowl that caused my ears to nearly bleed as she freed herself from Yazmat’s coils and leapt towards me in a flurry of fangs and claws.
I managed to dance away from her as she tried to pounce on my back like she did back at the compound. “Not gonna work, kitty cat,” I taunted. I smacked her with my tail and sent her careening towards the edge of the cliff that loomed over a caustic lake full of sulfuric acid. She clutched to the edge with her powerfully clawed hands and dragged her body back up from the precipice.
“You will pay for what you’ve done to me!” Miko screeched, her green cat’s eyes full of madness. She was no longer human, but she wasn’t tiger, either. Her brain was a strange mixture of the two and it brought her down to madness. I felt sad for her, to be honest. A wasted life was nothing to cheer over.
“You need to kill her yourself, you can’t knock her into the lake,” Yazmat said as he retreated down the stairs towards the inner sanctum. Best place for the old man.
She jumped on me and tried to dig in with her claws again, but I was prepared. I swung my body into the stone wall over the stairs and smashed her into the sharp basalt, stunning her temporarily.
I managed to whirl around and face the angry hu-cat and prepared for the kill but she got up and launched herself square at my face.
I managed to duck in time and avoid being blinded by the razor sharp flurry of claws that was coming at me. She did however, grip my back and the sound of her claws dragging on my metal scales set my teeth on edge. I had to get her off of my back and on the floor.
I twisted suddenly and sent her flying back into the wall with a hard thud. Her feline face was contorted in a snarl as she tried to rise, but failed. Her legs no longer worked.
“Looks like I broke your back, Miko,” I said as I stalked towards her. “What a shame. “
All that came out of her mouth was a mix of incoherent human and feline sounds as her humanity slipped further and further away from her. Now I really did have to kill her. Living a life of madness is no life at all, and modern medicine wouldn’t be able to alleviate the mental agony she would be in.
I stopped in front of the paralyzed cat woman and looked down at her with pity before gently placing my front foot onto her chest. “Sorry it had to come to this, Miko. You should have just left well enough alone and let Rachel and I be happy,” I said as I lowered my razor sharp middle claw into her sternum.
I felt Miko’s life shudder away as my claw pierced her vital organs. I really didn’t want it to come to this, but at least she didn’t beg for mercy in her final moments. She was completely and utterly insane.
I let out a sigh of relief as I removed my front paw from her now limp form and turned back into my human form. It was dark so I couldn’t see very well without the torch, unlike in my dragon form, where I was able to see her infrared signature. Being reptilian had its advantages, at least.
Yazmat and Ikazi came up from the inner temple sanctum and witnessed my handiwork. “You did it, good,” Ikazi said.
“She was completely insane by the end. It wasn’t Miko. I really had no choice,” I said sadly as I stared at the cat woman. She might have been a completely annoying and psychotic bitch, but she was one of the only constant friends I’d had since childhood. Of course her loss was going to sting.
“You did the right thing, Kintaro,” Yazmat said. I guess he was trying to console me, but it didn’t really do much to stop the ache in my heart from killing my only lifelong friend.
“You knew she had no chance,” Ikazi said. “This is why we don’t put the sacred ink on females. Their minds reject it. If the child is born out of wedlock, their bodies reject it as well, that’s why she went full on insane in half a tiger’s body.”
I just nodded mutely and started my way back up the stairs. “I just want to get back to Rachel. She’s probably worried sick by now,” I mumbled. I needed time to process this.
Ikazi walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder and looked at me with his wizened eyes. “She didn’t love you. Whenever the plans for marriage were discussed, she never showed any enthusiasm, not in the way women usually do when a wedding is discussed. She never mentioned you, and whenever you were spoken of, she never smiled fondly. I consulted the oracle of Ameratsu and she said that there was no hope for you two, that your destiny was tied with another. I knew this years ago, but Yazmat swore me to silence so I wouldn’t rock the boat.”
I looked at Yazmat, shocked. “You knew?”
“Yes, when Rachel came into the picture I knew that Ikazi’s vision was true as much as I didn’t wish it to be. I thought my vision of you bringing unity to the houses was to marry Miko. Now, I see fate had other plans.”
“Well hopefully I’m finished with being your pawn now. I need to get home to my wife,” I said as I stormed out of the cave, absolutely furious at these revelations.
I changed back into a dragon and flew back home to my penthouse. I needed to tell Rachel what had happened.
Luckily, she was still awake when I landed on my balcony. “What took you so long?” she asked as I came in through the patio.
“I had a hard time remembering where the cave was,” I snapped. I really didn’t mean to take her head off like that.
“OK, tell me what happened,” she said as she sat down next to me. She was clothed in a white silk robe that accented her expanding pregnancy stomach in a very sexy way.
“Well, Miko was awake, and insane. She wasn’t herself…” I said as I tried to choke back the emotions.
Rachel didn’t say anything. She just hugged me as I let my grief flow. “She hated me you know, she only wanted to marry me for my status, nothing more.” She was the only person I thought of as my friend for the entirety of my life up until that point, and the betrayal hurt worse than her death. I was angry and if I could kill her again, I would.
“Well, let’s have some tea and go to bed.” Rachel was so grounding, I loved that about her. “You had a long day and you need to sleep.”
I nodded and accepted the tea she offered me. I sipped it and the fresh taste of the green tea filled my mouth and calmed me down. “Thank you,” I said as I kissed her head. “How are you feeling?”
“Fat,” she said with a smile. “But not bad.”
I drew her in for a long hug. “I’m glad.”
*
It was seven months since Kintaro ended Miko’s life. I was sleeping peacefully and was woken up by a long cramping pain in my abdomen. Holy shit, what the hell was that? I thought. I decided to go out to the living room and let Kintaro sleep while I stayed awake to see if I was in labor. I was a week past my due date and the doctors wanted to induce me the next day. I hoped the baby heard the evacuation notice.
I stared at the clock after the pain passed and counted the minutes. It was the most nerve wracking five minutes of my life, as another contraction hit. Yup, definitely labor. I counted the seconds that this one lasted while breathing through it. About thirty seconds long. Jeez, there was absolutely no build up to this, like they said there would be in the prenatal classes.
I waddled back to the bedroom and shook Kintaro’s shoulder. “Hey wake up. It’s time.”
He sat bolt upright. “Really?”
“I wouldn’t have woken you up if I wasn’t serious…” I doubled over as an intense wave of pain washed over me and took my breath away. I felt a gush of fluid splash from between my legs as my water broke. “Holy shit, this is…faster than expected. I really don’t think we can make it to the hospital….” I gasped as I felt pressure build in my pelvis.
“What do you mean?” he said with panic in his eyes.
“Well, what I’m saying is...hhhggnnnnnggg” was all I could manage to get out as I squatted down on the tile floor next to the bed. The pressure in my pelvis was just too much, I had to do something. I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. The pain wasn’t pain anymore, just pressure. I looked at the mess on the floor next to our bed and was glad that Kintaro was so loaded he could get a cleaner up in here.
“Let’s get you to the bathroom,” he said as he got out of bed and helped me struggle to the bathroom. I felt fluid running between my legs as I waddled down the hall to the bathroom. “Oh, God, this is gonna be a bitch to clean up.”
“Are you sure you can’t make it to the hospital? I can call an ambulance and get you there…”
As we reached the bathroom, I squatted on the floor and felt the biggest urge to bear down. “Nope! Baby is definitely on its way.” I reached down between my legs.
Kintaro set his jaw and moved my hands way. “I’ll catch, you steady yourself on the bar in the shower, and you’re obviously more comfortable this way.” Smart man.
I grabbed onto the bar in the shower stall and squatted down and pushed with all of my might. I felt the burning ring of fire as the baby’s head crowned. I heard Kintaro on the phone with emergency letting them know I was in labor and birthing the baby right then and to get an ambulance here as soon as possible. I felt his hand on my bottom, supporting me so I wouldn’t tear as the baby slithered out of me.
I felt relief as the baby emerged from my womb. Kintaro whisked the baby from between my legs so I could sit on the shower stall without compressing the umbilical cord. I sat panting as Kintaro tied the umbilical cord with some dental floss and cut it with a sharp knife he had nearby.
“Why isn’t the baby crying?” I asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry, he’s breathing,” Kintaro said with amazement on his face as the baby stared at him with a serious expression on his wizened face.
“It’s a boy?”
“Of course!” he said as he handed me the squirming infant. “The ambulance will be here soon. The operator said that you should start nursing him right away to help move the afterbirth,” Kintaro said as he sat and looked at me with love and awe in his eyes.
I felt nothing but overwhelming love for both Kintaro and the baby I held nestled to my breast. I grabbed one of my full breasts and teased the little baby’s mouth open and was rewarded with a satisfying latch. “Well, at least he’s a natural at that,” I said with a grin.
Kintaro climbed into the shower stall with me and put his arm around me as I sat in my mess waiting for the emergency services to arrive. “That was nothing like the videos at the prenatal class.”
“Yeah, labor taking almost twenty four hours, my ass,” I said as the baby nursed.
“Fine by me,” Kintaro replied as he held me. I felt another cramp grip me as the baby nursed hungrily at my full breast. There was a buzz at the door and Kintaro grabbed his phone and activated the app that allowed emergency services into the penthouse access elevator. “Ambulance is here,” he said. “I have to go let them in, will you be okay?”
“I’ll be fine for the three minutes it’ll take you to get to the door and bring them in here,” I said. I was just completely in awe with this baby. He looked like a perfect mixture of Kintaro and myself. He had a fine down of straight dark red hair, a mixture of my fire red, and Kintaro’s jet black. I didn’t know how much he weighed but I was guessing about seven pounds or so. He was just so perfect.
The emergency crews helped me up onto the stretcher and took me down the elevator and to the hospital to be evaluated. They were kind enough to let Kintaro ride with me in the back of the ambulance on the way. He just looked so happy. I couldn’t have asked for a better husband. Sure, we might have married under less than ideal circumstances, and he was a crime lord, but in Japan, even violent crime was such a rarity that being with a high ranking member of the Yakuza wasn’t looked upon with revulsion or fear like it would be in the States. It was more like a deeper level of respect.
When we got to the hospital, the obstetrician on duty evaluated me, waited for me to expel the after birth and while he did that, they weighed, measured and did all the standard neonatal procedures on the baby. They were really efficient about it and handed him back to me in very little time.
“You are very lucky,” the obstetrician said to me. “First time mothers having babies outside of the hospital tend not to end as well as this, especially when there is no midwife present.”
“Well, doctor, you know, babies come when they want to. Next time, I think we’ll go with the midwife route.”
He smiled and nodded. “Good plan. Well, it’s on your chart for next time. You’re a fast one,” he said as he left the room.
“So what are you going to name him?” I asked Kintaro, knowing in Japan the father named the son.
He looked at me with confusion. “Seriously? I didn’t even think of a name yet.” He puzzled for a while. “How about Goichi?”
“That’s a great name,” I said as I stroked Goichi’s brow. He was dressed in a white sleeper and a matching cotton cap to help him stay warm while he nursed. “Shinno Goichi sounds really nice.”
Kintaro kissed me on the forehead as he marveled at the little person we had both created. “I guess it turned out pretty well after all.”
“I’ll say,” I said dreamily as I yawned. As Goichi nursed, I closed my eyes and fell asleep, content in knowing that I was safe, loved and wouldn’t have to peddle another stupid piece of tech to a monolithic company ever again.