Ichigo stared at the magnificent landscape of the ancient city that once served as the country's capital as well as the former residence of the royal family.

However, his gaze was not admiring, but rather, hard and extremely irritated.

He was not taking in the scenery.

He was preoccupied with the sheer amount of power running in the earth beneath the city, pooling in certain points within the ancient capital.

A level of spiritual energy that was completely unheard of in his reality's human world.

Not even Karakura, which had been built right on top of the Jureichi, had such a strong concentration.

If Hollows existed in this world, they would be swarming Kyoto in droves.

Kuou had been weird and a trouble magnet in its own right, but with this much power right beneath Kyoto, he had a hard time believing that the Three Factions hadn't tried occupying the ancient capital.

Unless it had already been claimed by another Faction.

And judging by the number and variety of non-human reiatsu scattered throughout the city, it probably was.

This…was very far from the relaxing vacation he had in mind.

He turned to glare at the one who suggested that they start their holiday here.

Deus Xiphos looked like she was barely holding in her laughter, her cheeks puffed up as she tried not to let a sound out.

"Really?"

In hindsight, he should have seen this coming.

As kind as she usually was, she did so love pulling these practical jokes on him every so often, like she had when she crashed the class visitation.

Especially when she was bored.

And being cooped up in the apartment for the last week or so to avoid Azazel's detection would cause no end of boredom.

"Oh, relax, would you? I admit, they used to be a wild bunch back when they had no clear leadership and the Shinto Gods cared little to reign them in. But, after close calls with some very dangerous Youkai, like Yamata-no-Orochi, Tamamo-no-Mae and Emperor Sutoku, Amaterasu finally got tired of their antics and established the two Youkai Factions to keep them in check, one led by the Kyuubi Clan, based here in Kyoto, with jurisdiction over western and southern Japan, and the other led by Nurarihyon and his Hyakki Yakou, based in Tokyo and governing eastern and northern Japan. Since then, they've become a rather passive and reclusive lot. They've holed up in secluded settlements either far from human civilization or in their own little pocket dimensions, and the few of them who actually live among humans do a good job of blending in. As long as you don't go looking for trouble, we should be fine."

Oh, he didn't think that was the problem.

He never went looking for trouble.

More often than not, trouble found him.

He would have liked nothing more than to get back on the Shinkansen and go anywhere but here, but the tickets didn't come cheap, and he had to admit that Kyoto was a beautiful place whether it was a supernatural hotspot or not.

"…Fine. Just know that any mess we get into is on you."

"Stop being such a sour puss. Now, we're going to the hotel to put down our bags, and then we're going to have fun! Nothing bad is going to happen, you'll see!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

He really wished he could be that optimistic.

Kunou, daughter and sole child of the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, the venerable Kyuubi Yasaka, destined to one day take the helm from her mother and govern the thousands of Youkai living in the western and southern regions of Japan, was experiencing a conundrum.

One that she could see two solutions to, but neither of which particularly pleased her.

She stared at the source of her problems, a quaint traditional Japanese restaurant located in a secluded part of Kyoto.

In spite of its less than optimal location, it enjoyed a fair bit of popularity among both locals and tourists, its tables almost always filled up at lunch and dinner hours, and had prospered for the better part of a century.

It was her favorite restaurant, better than even the 'master chefs' that her mother employed in the palace in her humble opinion.

Because it served an absolute favorite of Kitsune: tofu.

Tofu was like the food of the Gods to Kitsune, and Kunou was no exception.

If she had the choice, she would have nothing but their tofu dishes for all three meals every day for the rest of her very long life.

Unfortunately for her, her mother, possessing a far greater degree of self-control, forbade their chefs from serving tofu more than twice a week.

There were far worse foods she could be addicted to, but a growing girl like Kunou needed a far better diet than one consisting of nothing but coagulated soy milk.

Kunou did not particularly mind the infrequency of their chefs' tofu.

After all, having it too regularly would only mean more time spent bemoaning their inferiority to those served in the establishment before her.

This restaurant served what were probably the best tofu dishes she ever had in her life, especially the aburaage and their signature tofu hotpot, somehow surpassing the Kitsune chefs who devoted their considerably long lives to cooking tofu despite having an all human staff.

And they guarded their recipe, passed down from the previous generations to the next, jealously, not a single outsider having any idea what ingredients were used to enhance the flavour of the tofu to such a degree.

Their Kitsune chefs had tried replicating their dishes with little success, and had on more than one occasion been tempted to use Youjutsu, the mystical arts of the Youkai, to trick them out of their human competitors.

The only reason they hadn't was because her mother had reigned them in, stopping them before they could stoop to the level of their mischievous and less civilized ancestors from the days of yore.

Thanks to the quality of its tofu dishes, the restaurant was not only popular among humans, but was also frequented by Kitsune in human guises.

Including Kunou and her mother.

The mother and daughter pair came to this restaurant at least once a month.

Today was not one of those days.

Her mother, Yasaka, was nowhere nearby, still in her palace deep in their mystical realm, handling the many responsibilities that came with being the leader of what was essentially a small country on its own.

In fact, Kunou herself was not supposed to be here.

At this time, she was supposed to be in the palace, under constant watch by the guards her mother had assigned her.

Kunou's position as the princess of the Kyoto Youkai and Yasaka's heir apparent placed her in much danger.

She had a target on her back from the moment she was born.

The Kyoto Youkai had not thrived for 4 centuries under Yasaka's leadership without stepping on a lot of toes on the way, making plenty of enemies who wouldn't hesitate to use her as a way to get back at her mother.

Even discounting personal enemies, there would still be plenty of people who wouldn't hesitate to abduct her if given the opportunity.

Like unscrupulous mages, for example.

Kitsune were a powerful species, and the Kyuubi were the strongest among them.

Their fur, their flesh, their bones, even their blood was infused with magical energy, which made them very potent magic reagents and catalysts that could be used for any number of spells, curses and rituals.

In terms of magical power, the only species that could confidently boast superiority over them was probably just Dragons, which were accurately described as 'power incarnate'.

However, Dragons were creatures that practically lived for combat, their species evolving over time for that singular purpose until they were capable of fighting from the day they were born.

Even the weakest Dragon had power equivalent to a Middle-Class Devil, meaning that new-borns were no easy targets, especially if they were being watched over by their older and far stronger family members.

And in modern times, Dragons were practically non-existent in the human world, most of surviving colonies moving to the Underworld to live under the protection of the former Dragon King, Tannin the Meteor Flame Dragon, who had been reincarnated into a Devil and now ranked as one of the Underworld's prided Ultimate-Class Devils.

The chances of ever acquiring a Dragon were about as good as a snowball's chances of not melting in the waters of the Phlegethon, the Burning River.

That wasn't to say that the odds of acquiring a Kyuubi were much higher, considering that the number of Kyuubi alive today could be counted on one hand, and one of them was the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, famed for being unparalleled in Youjutsu and a master of Senjutsu, but unlike Dragons, Kyuubi, and all Kitsune for that matter, were not born battle ready.

They had to train both their body and their spirit to fully tap into the immense power within them.

Yasaka only obtained her current power from training relentlessly for several decades, and even now, she had to keep up her training to prevent her body and spirit from atrophying.

Kunou, who was only into her 20s, still a mere child by Kitsune standards, had not yet undergone any formal training.

As a result, she was physically no stronger than a human child of her physical age, and could not yet tap into even a sliver of her true power, barely able to conjure more than a few sparks of Foxfire that would not be enough to so much as light a candle.

The peak of her Youjutsu abilities was being able to hide her fox ears and tails to make her look like a human child, albeit one with an uncommon hair and eye color in Japan.

She was practically a human child in terms of combat capability.

And that made her the easier target from a tactical standpoint.

Even discounting magicians…well, there were plenty of twisted individuals out there who would love nothing more than to get their hands on a pretty little thing like her, whether they knew or not her true identity.

Yasaka had been born in a much more turbulent and violent time, had been aware of the dangers to her since a very young age, and had trained from said young age to make full use of her innate power.

In comparison, Kunou was born in the much more peaceful modern age and had lived a very sheltered life thus far, kept away from the dark and gritty aspects by her mother.

Yasaka did not have what could be called a happy childhood, and she did not want the same for her only daughter, which led to her spoiling Kunou a good deal.

That wasn't to say that she blinded herself to the potential dangers to her daughter, which was why she assigned a full guard detail to her, consisting only of those she fully trusted.

Unfortunately, her upbringing meant that Kunou could not fully comprehend the danger she was in simply by being born to her mother, and only saw her constant bodyguards as overbearing parenting on Yasaka's part, which led to her constantly trying to sneak away from them with varying degrees of success.

Her guards were trained to protect her with their lives, and could spot even the slightest out-of-place detail, which meant that her attempts to ditch them were often met with failure.

However, the sheer imaginativeness of a child could not be underestimated either, which led to the occasional success and subsequent panic from her entire guard detail as they tried to find her.

Today had been one of those successes.

She had not just snuck out of the palace, but out of the mystical realm it was situated in entirely, and had reached the human world.

There were just so many things she wanted to see!

She knew her way around Kyoto, of course. It wasn't like her mother confined her to the palace 24/7. On the rare days that she was free of any obligations as leader, Yasaka would bring her out to explore the ancient capital.

However, those trips were usually quick, and while she knew everything about the famous sights in Kyoto, like Ginkaku-ji, Kinkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera, those were only small parts of a very large city.

There was plenty more to the city and she wanted to know everything.

She had spent most of the time between sneaking out and now exploring, but by lunchtime, she had gotten hungry, and this restaurant was the first place she thought of.

Unfortunately, in her single-minded quest to get away from her guards, she had forgotten a little something that was practically mandatory in the human world.

Money.

She had neglected to bring her wallet, stuffed with her sizeable allowance, with her when she got out.

Which led her to her current conundrum.

She had no money, which meant she couldn't pay for a meal.

And she was quite famished, as evidenced by the constant growling of her stomach.

Now, she had 2 options as far as she could see.

The first was to sneak back into the palace, grab her wallet and come back here.

The problem with it was that her guards were probably searching high and low for her right now.

She barely got away from them when they were at their usual level of attentiveness.

There was no way she could get in and out undetected when they were all on high alert.

The second was to forgo her pride and plead with one of the patrons to pay for her, praying that they were kind-hearted enough to do so.

That plan was undoubtedly feasible.

She did have the advantage of looking like a human child, of course.

A little bit of convincing acting and crocodile tears, and adults would be putty in her hands.

Under normal circumstances, she would never debase herself like that.

Her, a proud Kyuubi and future leader of the Kyoto Youkai, begging mere humans for help?

She would rather die than be forced to endure that shame.

Unfortunately, these were not ordinary circumstances.

There was tofu at stake!

Pride had to take a step back and give way to gluttony.

So, she swallowed her pride and rehearsed the lines she was going to use on the next patron to enter the restaurant, preparing to eat her fill and then disappear before the adults tried to bring her to the police station or something.

Unfortunately, a certain problem had come up.

No one was coming by.

She waited and waited, but not a single soul walked by.

Hell, no one had even exited the restaurant yet.

How could that be!?

It was lunch hour! The narrow street should be filled with customers all wanting to get their fill of tofu dishes before returning to whatever it was they were doing!

But, against all reason, there wasn't anyone.

She waited for close to an hour, the protests of her empty stomach getting louder with each passing moment without sustenance, and she wanted to pull her hair out in frustration.

She couldn't even leverage her position as the princess of the Kyoto Youkai, because the all-human staff had no clue of the supernatural world and did not understand the weight of her title.

She wished she had some knowledge of Youjutsu, just a little, enough to cast a small illusion to fool the staff into thinking that she had paid her bill, but without any training, she wasn't even capable of something that basic yet.

And even if she could, her mother would give her hell for doing such a thing in the first place and risking the exposure of their world to the laymen.

Not even tofu was worth incurring her mother's wrath.

She could be downright terrifying when she was angry.

With a sigh and a slump of her shoulders, Kunou began to trudge her way back to the gate to the mystical realm that was her home.

She was so hungry at this point that she didn't care what she ate, as long as she did eat something.

And just as she rounded the corner to return to the main street…

"Oof!" She let out a sound of surprise as she bumped into someone and fell on her hindquarters.

"Hm? You okay there, kid?"

Rubbing her sore behind, she looked up to find a young couple standing over her.

The woman, some foreigner, had blonde hair, rose-coloured eyes and wearing a dress that showed more skin than she found appropriate, causing her cheeks to flush slightly at the foreign woman's boldness.

The man, the one she had bumped into, dressed in a simple casual outfit in contrast to his companion's more risqué attire, had Asian features, with neck length black hair that was quite typical among Japanese people.

However, his eyes were anything but ordinary.

They were red, a color that was practically unheard of among Japanese. They seemed to shimmer, and she immediately likened them to fine rubies, mystical and alluring to even her, a Kyuubi, and she felt like she could get lost in them for a long, long time…

"Hey kid, say something already. Don't just sit there. Are you okay? You sprain your ankle or something?"

The man's voice, a deep baritone, stirred her from her daze.

Her cheeks burned as she realized that she had been staring in a manner unbefitting her status as a princess.

She opened her mouth, preparing to berate them for not watching where they were going despite not having done so herself, when…

*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOWL*

Her stomach rumbled yet again, the loudest so far, protesting the lack of food in it.

"…"

An awkward silence fell over the three of them as they stared down at her abdomen.

Then as her mind finally caught up to the situation, tears began to prickle at the corner of her eyes.

She had willingly swallowed her pride, prepared herself for the indignity of having to seek aid from a human, and endured her hunger admirably.

But all of that coupled with the sheer embarrassment of her body making such an undignified noise right in front of a pair of lowly humans was finally too much for her to handle.

She couldn't help it.

She began to cry right there and then.

Ichigo watched as block after block of tofu vanished down the girl's gullet.

He and Deus Xiphos had long finished their meal, a tofu hotpot shared between them along with the standard bowls of rice and side dishes of aburaage and pickled vegetables.

The girl had already eaten about thrice as much as the two of them combined, and showed no signs of slowing down.

She was packing it away like a champ, and with how much she had eaten already, he had to wonder where all of it was going.

And boy, the bill was going to be huge.

Certainly a lot more than he had planned on spending on a single meal.

But, he had to do this to appease the girl.

He had intended to just leave her there once he had sensed her reiatsu and determined that she was one of the Youkai he was trying to avoid.

Even without that, it was fairly obvious that she wasn't some ordinary human, considering the blonde hair and golden eyes that were not at all indigenous to Asians, and her miko oufit.

He figured that her crying was just one of the many pranks that Youkai were infamous for playing on humans.

Unfortunately, the place where she had chosen to start wailing was right next to a crowded street, and a kid bursting into tears in front of you tended to draw the wrong kind of attention, and he had to think fast to get her to stop before she could get him arrested or something.

From the way her stomach had growled so loudly, which was definitely genuine, she had clearly been hungry for a while, so he brought her to the tofu restaurant that had been recommended to them by the locals, just around the corner from where they had bumped into her.

That might have been a mistake, because she was now on her 7th plate of aburaage, after scarfing down her 4th tofu hotpot.

He was already beginning to dread looking at the bill.

It wasn't like he was short on cash or anything.

He earned a good deal of money renting his physical abilities to Kuou Academy's many sports clubs like he did back in Karakura High School, more than enough to finance this trip, and there was a substantial nest egg sitting in his bank account, which would appear to be Shiba Kaien's inheritance from his deceased parents to anyone who snooped, plus the money that Deus Xiphos, or rather, Maria Eden got from her 'day job' as a 'stock trader'.

But, his sensibilities that had been cultivated by spending his formative years as an ordinary human, one that had been forced into a role of responsibility due to the early death of a parent, told him that he shouldn't be spending this much money on a single meal no matter how good the food was.

Well, that ship had clearly sailed.

Finally, the girl let out a sigh of contentment, which Ichigo dearly hoped was a sign that her hunger had finally been sated.

"A most satisfying meal indeed! I, Kunou, thank you for your generosity!" She exclaimed, puffing up in a pompous manner.

"You didn't exactly give us much of a choice, crying in public like that." Ichigo grumbled.

The girl named Kunou flushed bright red.

"I-Impertinent! Do not dredge up a lady's past embarrassments! Such discourtesy is punishable by flogging!" She declared, pointing a finger at him in outrage.

Ah, so that wasn't as much of an act as he had thought, huh?

"She's right, dear. You really shouldn't embarrass a young lady like that." Deus Xiphos chimed in, sounding entirely too mirthful.

"Seriously?" He asked her drily through their connection.

"Just funning you, my dear master. More importantly, I believe I have deduced this young lady's identity. If I am not mistaken, this is the daughter of the current leader of the Kyoto Youkai."

Ichigo pursed his lips.

Of course the first Youkai they could not avoid an encounter with had to be the second most important one in the whole capital, possibly in the half of Japan that was governed by her mother.

Thankfully, this was still salvageable.

Kunou did not seem to think of them as any more than tourists to her city, and she did not know that they knew that she was a Youkai.

Once they parted ways, it was unlikely that they would ever cross paths again in the few days they would be in Kyoto.

Sighing, he waved for the waiter and asked for the bill.

When it came and his eyes trailed down to the total amount at the bottom, he died a little on the inside.

Deus Xiphos looked over his shoulder and winced when she saw the number.

"Ouch. That's gonna hurt your wallet."

"Let me see that."

Kunou held a hand out, and after a moment of hesitation, not sure whether or not he should showing her the price of her gluttony, he passed the bill to her.

Her golden eyes quickly scanned it, and as she reached the bottom, her lips curled into a patronizing smile and her eyes gained a pitying look.

"Oh, you poor things. Is a paltry amount like this too expensive for you? My mother and I usually spend twice this amount when we dine here. The life of peasants is difficult indeed. Fret not, for I am neither a thief nor an ingrate! Once I am able to, I will properly compensate you for what I have consumed."

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.

He didn't respond well to patronization, especially when it was coming from a girl who looked to be half his age.

Well, if she really did intend to pay him back, then he supposed it was fine…

Settling the bill, the trio, looking rather out of place among regular Japanese, exited the restaurant.

"I will return home to collect my wallet. Wait here for me." Kunou said.

Ichigo really hoped that she was being sincere, or he was going to feel very stupid.

That was when he noticed four Youkai reiatsu signatures closing in on their location fast.

He looked up and saw 4 white-robed individuals, all wearing Kitsune masks, with 5 fluffy fox tails each, falling from above, landing around Kunou in a surrounding formation.

Sent by her mother to retrieve her, perhaps?

In the next moment, they vanished along with the Kyuubi princess.

Well, visibly disappeared anyway.

If he wasn't mistaken, this was something similar to the snake Arrancar's hiding ability that she had used while under siege from Quilge Opie.

Only it wasn't quite as sophisticated, as it only obscured them from sight, not from reiatsu sensory.

He could still sense all 5 of them inside.

Ichigo frowned.

Why go through all the trouble of using a spell, especially in front of two seemingly ordinary humans, who would definitely notice 5 people just vanishing suddenly?

It made more sense to simply pretend to be her family members who had been searching for her.

Something was wrong.

"Greetings, Kunou-hime, we have come for you."

Kunou blinked in confusion as she stared up at the expressionless masks of the four Gobi-no-Kitsune that had appeared.

Had her guards finally found her?

How strange.

Among the roster of her guard detail, she recalled that only one was a Kitsune, while the rest were an assortment of powerful Youkai, all handpicked by her mother.

Had her mother sent out her attendants to bring her home?

"Who are you? Did Okaa-sama send you?"

A palpable aura of rage manifested around the four as soon as those words left her mouth, causing her to flinch.

"Do not associate us with you pretenders! Only one has the right to claim the title of the Kyuubi Clan's leader, and it is not any of you human-loving fools! We serve only the one true Kyuubi, Tamamo-no-Mae-sama!"

The blood drained from her face.

She knew who they were.

She didn't usually listen to her tutor's boring history lessons, but the long history of the Kitsune race had always interested her.

And what had caught her undivided attention were the events surrounding the founding of the Kyuubi Clan of which she was heiress.

A few centuries back, when Amaterasu had formed the two Youkai Factions, the Kyuubi Clan that had been appointed as the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, led by her grandmother Nanami, moved to unite all Kitsune in Japan under the clan's banner.

While most Kitsune were not against it, some even welcoming the idea of uniting the species, there were others who had argued vehemently.

They were against the idea of living amicably with humans.

To them, humans were nothing but prey and tools for their entertainment.

The thought of having to treat humans as anything close to equals was gut-wrenching to them.

It was an ideology that was uncommon among Kitsune, even at the time.

They certainly found humans amusing to play around with, but certainly not to the point of malice.

The ideology of these few was inspired by a single Kitsune.

A Kyuubi, who was already dead at the time, but whose infamy spread even after and continued to thrive even now.

The sole reason why the image of Kyuubi had been so thoroughly sullied to those who were not in the know.

Tamamo-no-Mae.

She had been an outlier among Kitsune during her time.

A Kitsune, a Kyuubi at that, who treated humans with outright disdain, actively sabotaging them in multiple ways when she was alive, most famously by posing as a beloved courtesan of the Emperor at the time and abusing her position to subtly worsen their quality of life.

Until the legendary Onmyouji, Abe-no-Yasuchika, divined her true identity and led a small army to kill her.

Even then, she continued to haunt the plains where she had died as a cursed stone, the Sesshoseki, releasing a poisonous gas that killed everything around it, until a Buddhist monk exorcised her spirit and sent her to Yomi where she belonged.

Though most of the Kitsune race held her in contempt for her actions, a select few revered her as the perfect role model for how Kitsune should conduct themselves.

The Tamamo loyalists and the Kyuubi Clan clashed, but with vastly inferior numbers and the lack of any Kyuubi on their side, the loyalists were quickly defeated, rounded up and imprisoned.

However, a few had managed to escape, hiding in the darkest and most obscure corners of Japan, quietly spreading their ideology to any Kitsune that would listen.

They were now far and few between, but Tamamo loyalists were still very much an active problem with how they continued to poison the minds of impressionable Kitsune and drag the image of their race through the mud.

There were even rumors that they had managed to convert a few members of other Youkai species, touting the idea of complete Youkai supremacy over humans.

And four of them were here, in Kyoto, surrounding her.

She understood.

They were here to kidnap her.

But how?

Her mother's information network was second to none in Japan.

If Tamamo loyalists had set up camp right in the heart of Kyoto, she would have gotten word of it within the day.

The palace would have gone on complete lockdown, making it impossible for Kunou to have escaped the way she had a few hours ago, until they had been dealt with.

No, that didn't matter right now.

She had to get away, return to the palace to warn her mother.

Conjuring a small spark of Foxfire, she lobbed it at the closest loyalist and broke into a sprint down the empty street.

The main entrance to the mystical realm of the Kyoto Youkai, an out-of-the-way torii behind Kinkaku-ji, was too far away for her to reach without being caught, but there was a secret entrance nearby, one known only to a select few.

She wasn't one of them, but she had come across the entrance on the other side during one of her many failed escape attempts.

If she could just get to it…!

However, before she could even take more than a few steps, a hand seized her by her hair, causing her to cry out as she was roughly pulled back.

"Hmph, was that supposed to be Foxfire? Pathetic. Even a Nibi could do better than that. Has the Kyuubi lineage of the pretenders' bloodline finally waned? Is she even suitable for the ritual if she's this weak?" A voice sneered into her ear.

"No, sister. It's not that the Kyuubi blood runs thin in her. The little runt hasn't received any training yet. It doesn't matter. The ritual does not require a trained Kyuubi, simply one with the latent power. We should be grateful for the pretender's carelessness in allowing her untrained daughter to run around the human world unsupervised like this. It made our mission all too easy."

Tears welled up in her eyes.

She was in this position because of her wilfulness.

She should never have left the palace.

She had to get away, but how?

The vice-like grip on her hair showed no signs of releasing her any time soon, and with her meagre physical strength and magical prowess, she had no way of fighting back.

Was there…nothing she could do?

"It's time to go. Even with the subversions we planned, it's only a matter of time before the pretender and her dogs find out we have her daughter and come for us. We need to complete the ritual before they find us."

Fear gripped her heart.

Where were they taking her?

What were they planning to do with her?

Would her mother find her in time?

Would she ever see her mother again?

One of the Kitsune spread talismans on the ground beneath and channelled her spiritual energy into them.

They began to glow, the signs of a jutsu activating.

"Save me, Okaa-sama!" She cried out in her heart, hoping against hope that her silent pleas would reach her mother.

"Alright, that's enough of that."

Whatever was hiding them from the eyes of outsiders suddenly shattered, and the Kitsune who had been casting the jutsu was struck in the gut with a hard kick, sending her flying into the side of a building, where she slumped down to the ground unconscious.

"Wha-!?"

A sickening crack interrupted the Kitsune who was holding her by her hair, the fingers around her golden locks releasing as their owner was kicked in the jaw hard enough to break it, shattering her mask in the process.

She looked up at her savior.

"Y-You!?"

It wasn't her mother.

It was the man who had paid for her meal at the restaurant.

"Maria, take care of the kid, will you?" He said to his companion.

"Of course. Come here, sweetie." The woman said as she gently led her away.

"W-Wait, we have to-!"

"Don't worry. He's got this." She said with a confident smile.

"Filthy human! How dare you interfere with our sacred mission! You will pay dearly for-"

"You talk too much."

He closed the gap between the two of them with speed that was completely unbefitting of a human and slammed an elbow right into her temple, knocking her out cold instantly.

The last Kitsune still standing radiated fear, her tails flitting around agitatedly as she looked at her 3 fallen companions, and then at the human who had so easily taken them out.

Kunou didn't blame her. She didn't share their disdain for humans, but even she could not believe that one was able to overpower 3 Kitsune, all Gobi at that, with no effort.

The last loyalist reached up into her left sleeve and pulled out more talismans, throwing them with shaking hands.

The slips of paper sailed through the air, glowing with energy as they inched closer to her savior.

"Watch out!" She cried out a warning.

It had been unnecessary, because he simply maneuvered around them almost dancingly with impressive speed and footwork, reaching the last assailant and knocking her out with a punch to the gut.

She stared at him in awe.

A single human had taken out 4 Gobi-no-Kitsune without getting a scratch in the process.

"You alright there, kid? They didn't rough you up too badly, did they?" He asked as he walked back over to them.

Blood rushed to her cheeks, causing them to burn bright red as she quickly looked away, too mortified to meet the gaze of the man who had saved her.

"Y-YesIamthankyouverymuch!" She blurted, a jumble of words pouring from her mouth, all sense of decorum gone.

She blushed even harder as her savior and his companion aimed looks of amusement at her.

"Kunou-hime!"

Her eyes shot upwards, spotting an anthropomorphic crow, clad in Japanese armor and a katana sheathed at his waist, descending from the sky.

She recognized him immediately.

"Yogarasu!"

The Tengu was the second son of the Tengu Clan's current chief, a long-time friend of her mother's, as well as the leader of her guard detail, personally appointed to that position by Yasaka, having served her court for almost as long as she had been leader.

While not the physically strongest of her guards, he was unquestionably the most skilled, easily running circles around the rest during their training sessions.

Having never known her biological father, Yogarasu was the closest thing to a father figure she had ever known, though his overprotectiveness caused her no end of exasperation.

As it was about to now,

The Tengu took one look at the pair who had saved her, the pair who were very obviously not from around these parts, and drew his sword.

"Unhand the princess immediately, ruffians!" He demanded loudly as he held the blade in a stance.

"Stop, Yogarasu! Sheath your sword at once! They saved my life!" She commanded him hastily before he could start a fight.

As skilled as Yogarasu was, from the little she had seen of the very short fight, her savior might be just as skilled, if not more so.

And she did not want to see who would win in a serious fight between them.

The Tengu paused, some tension leaving his body.

"They…saved you?"

Kunou pointed to the 4 unconscious Kitsune on the ground around them.

"They are the ones who attempted to abduct me! Apprehend them immediately! They are Tamamo-no-Mae loyalists!" She spat in disgust.

Yogarasu let out a squawk of outrage as he redirected his anger at the four instead.

During the short war between the Kyuubi Clan and the loyalists, the Tengu Clan had already been one of their closest allies and joined them on the battlefield.

They won, but they had still suffered casualties in the process.

One of which had been the Tengu Clan's previous chief, Yogarasu's grandfather.

The loyalists were a very sore spot for the Tengu Clan, and whenever news of them popped up, they were always one of the first on the scene.

Yogarasu pulled out several talismans, channelling his energy as he threw them at the four loyalists.

The slips of paper turned into ropes of energy, binding them in place and keeping them from escaping.

"Scum…to think they actually dared to so brazenly enter our territory and make an attempt on the princess…! However, your safety is the most paramount now, Kunou-hime. I will contact the others to secure these heathens. You must return to the palace immediately. There may still be more of them in the city. We will need to organize a search and purge."

Kunou felt the hands of her savior's companion release their gentle grip on her shoulders, allowing her to go to Yogarasu's side.

The Tengu turned to her savior and bowed deeply.

"I apologize for my rudeness. My name is Yogarasu. Might I ask for yours?"

"…Name's Shiba Kaien. She's Maria Eden." Her savior replied after a moment of hesitation.

"Shiba-dono, Eden-dono, you have my gratitude for rescuing the princess. Might I ask you to stay around? We will have some questions about the attack."

The man named Shiba Kaien sighed, but nodded.

"Excellent. Then, we will see you soon. Come, princess. We must return to the palace and report to your mother."

Kunou nodded and managed one last demure glance at her savior's face before leaving with Yogarasu for the nearest entrance.

As she reached the end of the street, her ears twitched as she faintly picked up her savior's words to his companion.

"Like I said. All this is on you."

"…And then your leader arrived." Ichigo recounted the events of the attack to the guards who had arrived to apprehend the four rogue Kitsune yet again.

He was getting more than a little annoyed.

The looks of awe being directed at him would probably be tinged with a lot more scepticism if all they had was his word on how he, a seemingly ordinary human, had effortlessly incapacitated four Kitsune, each of which were Gobi with power that was more or less equal to a High-Class Devil.

However, the four actual unconscious bodies left in his wake and the testimony of their princess lent more than enough credence to his claim.

He swore that by the 3rd recount, they just wanted to hear it for the sake of it.

The two Oni, one red and one blue, were especially excited by the martial prowess he had shown.

Kitsune were creatures that primarily relied on Youjutsu and other esoteric powers, not physical abilities, but a trained Kitsune was still much stronger than a regular human.

The fact that he could knock all 4 out with just one blow each without getting a scratch spoke volumes of either considerable skill, strength, or a combination of both.

Those two were probably just a step away from directly challenging him themselves.

It was a good thing that the Tengu from earlier chose that moment to return, dismissing the other guards, who took the 4 Kitsune with them.

"Thank you for waiting. Once again, my name is Yogarasu, the captain of Kunou-hime's Imperial Guards. And once again, I thank you for saving the princess."

"Yeah, sure, no problem."

Yogarasu chuckled.

"By that flippant tone, I surmise you don't realize just the significance of what you have done today. Had Kunou-hime been abducted, her mother, the venerable Yasaka-hime, would have torn all of Japan apart searching for her, regardless of the consequences. As politically savvy as she is, there is nothing a mother would not do for her child. Needless to say, she would have incurred the wrath of many in the process, and may have even started a full blown conflict with other Factions. Your actions tonight did not just save Kunou-hime's life, but our Faction as well. Which is why Yasaka-hime wishes to personally express her gratitude."

Ichigo's expression stiffened.

Great, just what he needed. Going from meeting the second most important Youkai in this half of Japan to meeting the most important.

"It's okay, really. The sentiment is enough for me. I would rather not get any more involved with your world than I already have."

"Yes, we figured that was the case. Which is why Yasaka-hime is willing to come to you. No one will know of this meeting outside of us. One cannot maintain leadership over half a country and navigate politics for centuries without learning the importance of discretion."

"Uh…"

"Her gratitude is all she wishes to convey. Nothing more, and no strings attached."

Ichigo sighed.

It looked like there was no way of getting out of this, short of outright running away and that frankly was more trouble than it was worth, if he ended up offending the Kyoto Youkai in the process.

Well, if their leader was as discrete as he claimed, he might as well bite the bullet and get this over with.

And that was how he ended up in a function hall of the hotel he was staying in, sitting across from Yogarasu, Kunou, and a voluptuous, bewitchingly beautiful Kyuubi that far better matched Ichigo's impression of the species from the legends and folktales he grew up with than the more diminutive Kitsune did.

He could certainly see the resemblance between Kunou and her mother.

The venerable Yasaka, dressed in a yellow kimono that did little to conceal her considerable cleavage, sat regally in a chair on the other end of the table, her golden locks held up in a high ponytail by eight ornamental kanzashi, her golden gaze unwaveringly locked onto his face, as though looking long and hard enough would reveal the answers she sought.

The tension in the room, empty aside from them, was so thick that it was almost tangible.

Eventually, she spoke, breaking the silence between them.

"I welcome you to Kyoto, visitors. I am Yasaka, leader of the Kyuubi Clan and the Kyoto Youkai, appointed by Her Holiness, Amaterasu Okami-sama, to rule over the mythical realms of western and southern Japan. Though, I suspect you were already aware of that much." She began, her expression carefully kept blank, preventing Ichigo from getting a read on her.

Though, he could already imagine what was going through her head.

"Yogarasu has informed me of the situation. I thank you both from the bottom of my heart for rescuing my Kunou from those miscreants who dared to trespass into our territory."

She bowed deeply, a gesture that Kunou hastily imitated.

And also one that Ichigo and Maria quickly returned.

Byakuya always called him an uncouth barbarian or something along those lines, but just because he never bothered to use them with the prissy Head of the Kuchiki Clan did not mean that he didn't have any manners.

He figured that now was the appropriate time to display them, if he didn't want to start any more trouble.

Offending the older Kyuubi in front of him might lead to never being able to set foot in Japan ever again.

"That is why I ask you to forgive me if I sound accusatory or out of line. Please take this as the worrying of a mother. However, we have taken the liberty of looking into you two."

Her golden gaze sharpened, and he found himself sitting straighter as they got to the real reason for this meeting.

"Shiba Kaien, 18, born in the quaint town of Kuou, model 3rd year student in the high school division of Kuou Academy, only child, parents deceased, no living relatives, a normal background, a normal family and a normal childhood. Maria Eden, 22, born in Venice, Italy, emigrated to Japan with her parents at the age of 3, currently self-employed as a mildly successful stock trader, and again, only child, parents deceased, no living relatives, a normal background, a normal family and a normal childhood." She listed off casually, as though speaking of something as mundane as the weather.

"Please tell me how two seemingly ordinary people seem so calm in the face of what should be their first supernatural encounter, nde able to so easily defeat 4 Gobi-no-Kitsune."

And there it was.

The question Ichigo had been anticipating and dreading.

He didn't blame her, he would do the same in her position.

Especially if his kid had been directly involved.

Well, pretending to be an ordinary human was way out of the question at this point, so he supposed all he could do now was think of a convincing story and hope they bought it.

"…Well, I suppose there's no point hiding it now. Maria and I have been aware of the supernatural world for a few years now. And for a time, we involved ourselves in it."

"For a time?"

Ichigo's eyes shifted downwards, making no attempt to hide the pain he dealt with every day since his arrival in this world.

A very small gasp escaped Yasaka as she took note of the raw emotion in his gaze.

"…Eventually, we stepped on some toes belonging to very vindictive individuals. And they took it out on our parents, who knew nothing of the supernatural."

"I see…then, the accidents that your respective parents reportedly died in?"

"Fabrications we constructed. They were killed in revenge for our actions. And we avenged them in turn. After that, we vowed to never get involved in supernatural affairs again."

"If that was your intention, then I must say, Kuou is certainly not where I would expect you two to live. As I recall, the Three Factions have been making moves there as of late. Especially so in recent months, after the signing of their Kuou Treaty."

"We figured the best place to avoid trouble was where we could keep an eye on it. And right under their noses is the last place they would find us."

Yasaka smiled slightly.

"Well, I suppose I cannot fault that logic. But, why involve yourself in this case if you were so insistent on staying out of such affairs?"

Ichigo looked at her strangely.

Was she asking that in all seriousness?

"Because no decent person would simply allow a child to be accosted in front of them." He answered matter-of-factly.

Yasaka fell silent, her eyes once again searching his features for something.

Then, she smiled, the suspicion in her gaze alleviating somewhat.

Not completely, but it was a start.

"I apologize for overstepping my boundaries. You have the eternal gratitude of the Kyuubi Clan and the Kyoto Youkai for your actions. We will prepare an appropriate reward…"

"Oh, no need for that, really. Just, don't make any mention of our involvement, especially to the Three Factions, and we'll call it even."

"I see. That is very gracious of you indeed."

"Oh, but if you could…"

Ichigo reached into his pocket and pulled out a long slip of paper.

Kunou, who had been looking lost while they were in the middle of their conversation, turned bright red at the sight of it.

She looked like she was about to lunge for it, but it was already too late.

"Could you pay me back for what your daughter ate on my tab?"

Yasaka took the receipt from the restaurant from it and after giving it a quick glance, turned a highly unamused gaze to her daughter.

"…Kunou, did you force these nice people to pay for your meal? A meal you weren't supposed to be having?"

The younger Kyuubi let out a tiny whimper as she quailed under her mother's palpable disapproval.

She directed a teary-eyed look of betrayal at him.

It was so amusingly adorable that even he let out a snort at the sight.

Yogarasu didn't help matters as he clasped a hand over his mouth, trying his damnedest to not break decorum and dissolve into giggles.

The leader of the Kyoto Youkai sighed in a harried manner, sending her daughter a gaze that practically screamed that they would be discussing this in further detail later before turning back to him.

"I'm very sorry for my daughter's disgraceful behaviour. Rest assured that every yen you spent on her will be repaid."

"That's all I ask."

"Then, I believe that we're done here. We must return to our realm immediately. Capturing 4 Tamamo-no-Mae loyalists alive was an unexpected windfall. We have much to ask them. Such as the location of their comrades, for one. The loyalists have been a rather unsightly blight for a good long while now. We hope to finally excise them this time."

"Good luck with that. Hope you find the rest of them."

"We do as well. Now, Yogarasu will show you out. Thank you for coming."

They bowed to each other one last time and the two of them left the room, Yogarasu holding the door open for them.

"Now, young lady, I do believe that we need to have a talk about your conduct…"

Ichigo heard Yasaka speaking very crossly to her daughter before the door closed.

The kid was safe and sound, and none the worse for wear after the experience.

It was over. There was no longer a need for him to get involved.

Or so he thought.

Ichigo was startled awake by a loud pounding on his door in the middle of the night, Deus Xiphos jolting next to him.

"Shiba-dono! Shiba-dono, are you there!?" A slightly muffled voice shouted from the other side of the door.

That voice was…Yogarasu's?

He got out of bed, and after making sure he was decent, opened the door.

"What are you do-" Ichigo began to ask as the door swung open, but stopped when he saw the state the Tengu was in.

One of his eyes was swollen shut, and the other was halfway there. Several bald spots on his head looked like feathers had been torn out of them in patches, and the skin beneath was an ugly red, as though they had been burned. Trails of blood dripped from various places on his person, his beak had chips in several places, and his armor was basically torn to shreds.

And most telling, his reiatsu had dropped immensely.

He looked like he had just gone through hell and back.

"What the hell happened to you!?" He exclaimed.

Did he seriously come here in that state?

He was lucky no one had seen him like this.

"There's no time! We need your help, please! Kunou-hime has been abducted!"

"…What?"

Anger surged in his chest, threatening to spill out.

His face hardened, and he turned to Deus Xiphos, who had already gotten dressed.

"Let's go."

Yogarasu led them out of the hotel and down a side alley.

In the wee hours of the morning, there was basically no one around.

A good thing, when you're walking around with an anthropomorphic crow who looked like he had crawled out of a flaming car wreck.

Looking around to make sure they weren't being followed, Yogarasu extended a hand into the air and made a gesture, as though parting a curtain.

And much like a curtain, the air in front of them seemed to slide to the side, the drab scenery of the dark alley giving way to a landscape of a much older period.

They now stood on a hill that overlooked the Edo Period-esque city that served as the mythical realm of the Kyoto Youkai.

The reiatsu in the air here was even thicker than in Kyoto, almost enough to remind him of Soul Society or Hueco Mundo.

All manner of Youkai roamed the streets below.

Nurikabe, Kasa-Obake, Oni, Ushi-Oni, Futakuchi-Onna, the countless mythological beings that he had grown up hearing folktales of.

And they were all running around in a panic, no doubt because of the kidnapping of their princess.

"Come, Yasaka-hime is waiting." Yogarasu said between laboured breaths.

He was obviously not in any condition to be running around.

But all able-bodied personnel were probably busy trying to track the abductors down and rescue Kunou.

The Tengu led them through the gates of the palace that stood at the top of the hill, where things were even more frantic than it was down in the city.

Several high-level Youkai, each with considerable levels of reiatsu, were barking orders at the rest, causing a mad rush within the halls, so much so that it was fairly difficult to navigate their way to the throne room with so many of them in the way.

But after much shoving, they finally reached the golden doors.

Within, anger and desperation hung thickly in the air.

Yasaka was highly aggravated, her nine luxurious golden tails swishing around in an agitated manner.

She caught sight of them and hurried over.

"Thank you both for coming on such short notice. I know you two do not wish to get involved in our affairs, but…"

"No, we understand. What happened?"

The Kyuubi's beautiful features twisted into an expression of animalistic anger.

"Traitors! Spies in my own court! Cursed blackguards, stabbing us in the back!" She hissed.

"Allow me to explain. After our meeting concluded a few hours ago, Yasaka-hime, Kunou-hime and I returned here. Yasaka-hime left to assist in the interrogation of the four loyalists you dealt with this afternoon. After the harrowing experience, Kunou-hime was understandably exhausted and retired to her room to rest. We, her guards, took turns standing watch outside the door while the rest patrolled the halls. Approximately four hours ago, while I was stationed outside Kunou-hime's room with another guard, we were approached by three of Yasaka-hime's ladies-in-waiting, who wished to inquire on Kunou-hime's condition. I'm ashamed to say that we let out guard down. We never imagined that there were loyalists planted in the palace. The moment we turned our backs, they struck us down. When I regained consciousness, they were gone, and so was Kunou-hime. Most likely, they panicked when they learned that their four comrades had been captured and fearing that their identities would soon be exposed, they made their move first." Yogarasu said, his face painted with utmost chagrin.

"Thank you, Yogarasu. You should go and see the healers. Your wounds are quite severe."

"However, I should help look for Kunou-hime…"

"You will not be of any help to anyone in your current condition. Go. Once you and the other guards have recovered, you may join the rescue effort."

"…Understood. I will take my leave."

The wounded Tengu bowed before limping out of the room.

"So, there's still no luck finding them?"

"No. Despite our trackers' best efforts, we have not been able to locate them. They were careful enough not to leave any traces behind, so we have no idea where they have taken my daughter. I'm sure they would eventually find them with enough time, but time is exactly what we do not have, not when we still have no idea what it is they are planning to do with her." Yasaka growled.

"I'm afraid we do now, Yasaka-chan." An elderly voice interrupted.

A rather short old man, with a very oddly-shaped head, extending backwards from his face like a gourd, dressed in a black kimono under a red cloak, a sheathed katana hanging from his obi, stepped into the throne room with a serious expression on his face.

Yasaka took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Allow me to introduce you two. Shiba-dono, this is Nurarihyon, leader of the Hyakki Yakou and sovereign of the Youkai of eastern and northern Japan. Nurarihyon-dono was here to discuss diplomatic matters with me, but when Kunou was taken, he offered to help us extract information from the loyalists. As a master of illusionary-type Youjutsu and mental techniques, there are none more suited for interrogation than him. Nurarihyon-dono, this is Shiba Kaien and his companion, Maria Eden, who saved my daughter from the first abduction attempt earlier."

Ichigo looked at the old man with surprise.

With reiatsu that surpassed even Yasaka, if only by a little, he already knew that he couldn't be an ordinary Youkai.

But, he had not expected the ruler of the other half of mythical Japan to be here.

"I already figured out that much. I must say, you're quite the swordsman, lad." The legendary Youkai said as he looked straight at Ichigo.

He froze, fearing that his secret had been found out.

Yasaka looked between them.

"I don't recall any reports of Shiba-dono using a sword…" She murmured.

"Oh no, it's just my intuition. When you're as experienced as I am, these kinds of things become immediately obvious. You're doing a pretty good job of hiding the usual markers, kid, but there are some things you can't hide no matter how hard you try, and any fellow swordsman worth their salt will be able to tell. I would love to test my skills against yours, but I'm afraid this isn't the time for it." Nurarihyon grouched as his fingers traced the handle of his katana.

Ichigo relaxed just a little, relieved that his real secret had yet to be exposed.

Still, he took the old Youkai's words into consideration.

He was going to have to put more effort into his disguise.

Maybe he should start carrying a mundane katana around?

"Nurarihyon-dono, have you learned something from them?"

"Aye, they weren't keen on giving it up, but I pried the details of the ritual they were planning from their lips. It's our worst fear, Yasaka-chan. They're going to revive Tamamo-no-Mae." He said grimly.

Yasaka swayed on the spot, looking like she was about to pass out.

Ichigo was confused.

"Reviving the dead? Is that even possible?"

"Oh, it certainly is. It's considered to be among the highest taboos, which is why any records or instructions on how to perform such rituals were supposed to have been destroyed. But, I wouldn't be surprised if the loyalists have managed to get their hands on a surviving copy, or learned one from foreign lands. They might have even managed to figure a ritual out through trial and error. They've certainly been around long enough to do so. Doesn't really matter. Point is, that's what they're planning, and they're going to use the little lady to do it."

"How so?"

"There are plenty of resurrection rituals out there, and the reagents needed are different for each one. But, the one thing they all have in common is the key component. A sacrifice."

Horror dawned on him as he realized what that meant.

"And it can't be just any sacrifice either. It has to be one whose 'value' is equal to the one being revived, in order to take their place in the afterlife. Essentially, the sacrifice of a Kyuubi is required to revive another Kyuubi. I suppose that's why they went through the trouble of abducting the little lady. The only other Kyuubi alive is Yasaka-chan, and I guess the idea of trying to capture a fully trained Kyuubi was less appealing than the untrained one."

"Where are they!? Where did they take my Kunou!?" Yasaka demanded shrilly, looking like she was on the verge of a meltdown.

"Sorry, Yasaka-chan, but those four were just fodder following orders. They didn't know where their leaders are conducting the ritual, only that it's a 'fitting place', and that could be anywhere. The old palace where Tamamo-no-Mae posed as a courtesan, or the plains of Nasu where she was slain, or the place of her birth. Without knowing how the loyalists think, it could be anywhere in Japan."

"Then, there's really nothing we can do but wait for the trackers to locate them? Will they even make it in time?" Yasaka whispered, despair overtaking her beautiful features.

Ichigo grimaced.

The loyalists had a couple hours' head start. If they weren't already at their destination, they were probably close.

There was pretty much no chance that the Kyoto Youkai's trackers would find them in time.

But he could. Quite easily in fact, if he used pericognition to locate Kunou.

But there was no doubt that he would be outing himself as a God if he did so.

Divine reiatsu was distinctive, and he had no doubt that the two leaders of the Youkai Factions knew what it felt like.

But, weighing his own personal desires against the life of a child?

There was no contest.

His path was clear.

"…I'll find her." He declared firmly.

Yasaka and Nurarihyon turned to look at him.

"Really?" Yasaka asked, so much blind hope in her gaze that Ichigo almost flinched away.

"Really? And how do you plan to do that?" Nurarihyon questioned, his voice tinged with both interest and scepticism.

Ichigo did not reply.

He would get his answer soon enough anyway.

"Maria." He called out to his loyal companion, who had been watching him with an expression of worry.

"…Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah. A child's life is at stake. I can't just let that go because of my own hang-ups."

"…Very well. If that is what you want, then of course I'll help."

She pressed her hands to his temples as he began to channel the First Light.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault. We should have never come here." She apologized to him telepathically.

"It's fine. If we weren't here, who knows what would have happened to that kid?"

Ichigo activated pericognition, and immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed as a pulse of his divine power raced across the realm and beyond, scouring the world for the tiny Kyuubi, drawing expressions of abject shock from the two Youkai leaders.

He paid them no mind as he focused on the scene slowly forming before his eyes.

Gone was the majestic throne room, and in its place was a clearing in the middle of a forest somewhere, at the base of a mountain judging by the cliff wall off to the side.

In the middle of the clearing was an intricately carved octagonal stone altar, as though someone had carved a large magic circle into material form, a pillar with a lit candle atop at each corner.

Kitsune and the occasional Youkai of other species placed a variety of objects on the outskirts of the altar, likely objects required for the ritual.

And lying on the raised center of the altar, bound with ropes and completely unconscious, was the little Kyuubi that they were looking for.

Ichigo allowed his sense of hearing to return to the throne room in order to converse with the two leaders.

"I found her."

"Where!?" Yasaka demanded.

"A clearing at the base of a mountain somewhere. She's lying on top of a stone altar with loyalists surrounding her, preparing the reagents for the ritual. Looks like they're almost ready."

"That barely narrows it down…There are thousands of mountains in Japan. Aren't there any landmarks that can help us locate it?"

Ichigo scanned the clearing, searching for a distinguishing markers that could help.

That was when he caught sight of a black torii gate, built right in front of a cave entrance at the base of the cliff wall.

He had been so focused on the altar that he hadn't noticed it before.

But now that he had, he wondered how he could have missed it in the first place.

Just looking at it caused a chill to run down his spine, ice to settle in the pit of his stomach, and cold sweat to form on his brow.

This dread he was experiencing…he knew it from somewhere.

That's right…it was just like when he had first laid eyes on the Gates of Hell back in his world.

The Realm of Eternal Damnation that awaited all sinners…he had visited it twice, once to save Yuzu and again to save his comrades, and that was more than enough for several lifetimes.

The miasma of the realm made it completely uninhabitable, save the sinners who didn't really have a say in the matter, having been been bound to it by Hell's Chains and the Kushanada, the Gate Keepers.

The Hell of this world was evidently more hospitable, considering how civilized the Devils turned out to be.

Maybe it was different during the age of the Original Maou, but the Current Maou had done a good job of improving the living conditions of their species, separating their home from the Nine Circles where the damned were eternally confined.

Kuou, which had an entrance to Hell in the form of an interdimensional train station of all things, did not feel remotely close to the Gates of Hell of his world.

So, what was past this torii gate that felt so similar to the Realm of Perdition of his world?

"What the hell is that…?" He found himself unconsciously muttering before he could stop himself.

"What? What is it? What do you see?" Yasaka asked.

"By any chance, is it a black torii right in front of a cave at the base of the mountain?" Nurarihyon brought up in a grim tone, almost shocking Ichigo enough to break his concentration.

"How did you…?"

"Tch, so it's Mount Hiba, sitting on the old Izumo-Hoki border in Shimane then. That's smart of them. Shimane is the one place in all of Japan that neither Youkai Factions have jurisdiction over. A purification barrier around the entire prefecture stops any attempts at teleporting in, and even if it wasn't there, we can't just carelessly barge our way in either…"

He blinked.

"Why's that?"

"Never you mind, lad. You'll probably sleep better at night if you don't know." Nurarihyon replied distractedly.

That only served to spike his curiosity, but Nurarihyon did not seem keen on sharing, and neither did Yasaka, who was rapidly paling.

"To make matters worse, they actually set up shop there of all places. They couldn't have picked a worse spot in all of Shimane if they tried."

"…Not to be a broken record, but…?"

"Well, no harm in letting you know about this bit. You'll more than likely want to stay away from there. That cave is Yomotsu Hirasaka, the entrance to Yomi. And I'm not talking about the silly tourist attraction that humans can enter. I mean the real one."

"…Wait, Yomi, as in…?"

"Mm hm, our very own version of Hell. A place of eternal gloom and misery, where all the dead of Japan, save those of a different faith, are fated to end up."

That explained the feeling he was getting from the cave.

Unlike most religions, Shinto did not have different afterlives depending on the deeds committed in life, where the good go to paradise and the sinners are condemned.

Yomi was the final destination, and it was neither Heaven nor Hell.

It was a realm of perpetual darkness and neutrality, where souls within simply wandered aimlessly for eternity.

In a sense, it might be even worse than Hell.

"Well, there is one possible piece of good news. If they're going through the trouble of setting up the ritual right in front of Yomotsu Hirasaka, they must be using their own original ritual and not one of the old ones. Meaning they'll be treading very lightly to maximize the chances of the ritual's success. It might buy us some time, if it hasn't already." Nurarihyon said with cheer that even he himself did not seem to believe.

"To do what, exactly? From what Shiba-dono described, the ritual is already nearing completion. Negotiating to allow our entrance into Izumo will take too long. And forcing our way in will only ensure the destruction of our factions. How can I possibly choose between my daughter and my subjects?" Yasaka whispered, sinking to her knees, despair plainly depicted on her face.

"…I'm sorry, Yasaka-chan."

Ichigo silently allowed his divine power to dissipate, causing the clearing to fade away and return his full awareness to the throne room.

That sort of defeatist attitude reminded him too much of Byakuya when Rukia's execution had been mandated.

Giving up on her because of his obligation to uphold the backwards laws of Soul Society, despite his own personal feelings on the matters…

It pissed him back then and it pissed him off now.

"…I don't know what's going on in Izumo, nor do I know anything of your circumstances. But I don't think you should be giving up so easily. If I were in your shoes…instead of agonizing over having to choose one over the other, I'd fight to my last breath to save both."

Ichigo looked at Deus Xiphos, who nodded back in understanding.

"No matter what path you choose, I will always support you."

"It's Mount Hiba in Izumo, right? I'm going." He said resolutely.

He turned on his heel and walked away, preparing to rescue the little Kyuubi.

"…Why?"

Ichigo looked back to see Yasaka staring at him with a look of utter incomprehension.

"Didn't you want to stay out of supernatural affairs? Why are you going so far for someone you barely know?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. It might not be the safest thing, the wisest thing or the sanest thing to do, but as long as it's the right thing to do, there's no reason not to do it."

He turned fully to face her once more.

"And what about you? What are you going to do if you don't go?"

Even now, indecision marred her features.

And it pissed him off to no end.

"Cry? Are you just gonna sit here and cry about not being able to protect her!?" He roared at her, echoing the words that his father had once said to him, back when he had despaired against Aizen.

Kurosaki Isshin may not have been the best father, but he had been a man of character, with plenty of bits of wisdom to pass on.

And those words had been one of them.

Yasaka stared at him in shock, but still made no move to get up from the floor.

That was it.

His anger reached its boiling point, and if it weren't for the modifications that Great Red had made to this body, his reiatsu would be spilling out in droves and crushing everything around him, if not outright disintegrating them.

He rushed at her, pulling her up roughly by the lapels of her kimono, disregarding the inappropriateness of his actions.

"She's your daughter! You should be doing everything you can to save her! If you go, you might be able to save her, no matter how slim the chances are! But if you don't, she's really going to die!" He yelled right at her stunned face.

A gnarled hand tapped his arm.

"Oi, lad, I know how you feel, but don't you think you're being a bit too harsh?" Nurarihyon said.

No, not in the slightest.

To get a point through to a thick skull, this much was the minimum.

"…No, he's right, Nurarihyon-dono."

Ichigo turned to look at the older Kyuubi, and was pleased to see the determination in her eyes.

"Kunou is my daughter. I will do anything to protect her, no matter the cost."

"Now, wait a minute…" The leader of the Hyakki Yakou tried to cut in.

"And if my people are endangered by my actions, then I'll fight to the end to protect them as well. I won't choose one over the other."

"Hold on…"

"Nurarihyon-dono, forgive me for my selfishness, but might I ask you to remain here until Shiba-dono, Eden-dono and I return?"

"I said wait, you damn brats! I swear, you'll drive me to the grave!"

Nurarihyon pointed a wrinkled finger at Yasaka.

"Have you already forgotten? You cannot leave Kyoto! The only reason the leylines beneath the city have remained stable despite humanity's unconstrained destruction of nature is because you are here regulating them! Do you know what will happen if you left for too long, or worse, died!? Do you want the entire city and this realm to go up in flames!?"

Yasaka's eyebrows shot upwards, as though that thought had just occurred to her.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'Oh', you crazy brat." The elderly Youkai grumbled.

"But, I cannot simply leave Kunou be…"

"Fine, if you're so insistent, then how about I go in your place?"

"Eh!? But, this is a matter for the Kyoto Youkai to handle. I cannot possibly ask you to…"

"It's fine, it's fine. I was already planning to cede leadership of the Hyakki Yakou and the Kanto Youkai to my son within the next few years anyway. If I'm going to go out, I might as well do it with a bang."

"However…"

"Don't worry. In the worst case scenario, I'll claim to have been acting independently. I won't let any blame fall on your faction or mine. And it's the duty of the older generation to protect and nurture the younger generation. I'm just fulfilling that duty."

"…Very well. Then, I leave Kunou to you three. I beg you, please save her."

"Don't worry. We'll bring her home safe and sound. Ready to go then, geezer?" Ichigo asked the diminutive Youkai as he walked out of the throne room.

"Tch, disrespectful brat. I should give you a good beating with the flat side of my blade. But, I suppose that stubbornness of yours is admirable in its own way. Come on then, I can teleport us to the border of Izumo province. But, once we're past it, it won't work. Mount Hiba is pretty far into the barrier, and we don't have any time to waste. How do you propose we get there?"

"You just leave that to me. The question is, are your brittle bones capable of taking it?"

A distance of that level was meaningless before his natural full speed combined with Shunpo.

And unlike most of his techniques, Shunpo did not involve any overt releases of reiatsu, which basically meant that he would be virtually undetectable as long as he was quiet and stayed out of sight.

Getting there in time himself wasn't a problem.

The problem was whether Nurarihyon could withstand that speed if he was going to bring him along.

The leader of the Hyakki Yakou may be a powerful Youkai, but he was obviously way past his prime.

And his speed was nothing to scoff at. At this point, he would have no trouble shattering the sound barrier.

He doubted he would actually need to go that fast when he was near the ritual site, but the point still stood.

Was Nurarihyon capable of surviving the trip?

"Hmph, so that's your concern, huh? Very well."

Power welled up within Nurarihyon before a wave of dark blue reiatsu engulfed him, startling Ichigo for a moment.

"This should be enough to assuage your worries, no?" A younger, deeper and suave voice that definitely did not belong to an old man asked from within the torrent of energy.

The reiatsu cleared, and taking the place of the diminutive leader of the Kanto Youkai was a younger individual, as tall as Ichigo was, with long white and black hair extending backwards from his head.

Their appearances couldn't be any more different, but the feel of his reiatsu assured him that this was indeed Nurarihyon.

"How did you…?"

"It's nothing special, really. Once you reach a certain level of skill in the mystic arts, temporarily reverting your body to its prime becomes possible. That said, this is more strenuous than I make it look, so I can't keep it up for extended periods of time. But, with this, you shouldn't have any more complaints, right?"

"…Heh, try not to throw out your back, old man. Now, let's get going already."

They had a princess to rescue.

Kuzuha, a Nanabi-no-Kitsune, just a few decades shy of achieving her eighth tail, and the appointed high priestess of the Tamamo-no-Mae loyalists, felt a strong surge of satisfaction and anticipation as she watched her subordinates carefully place the last few remaining reagents on the altar in the specified locations.

It had been a very long time coming.

They had experienced all too many setbacks, the foremost being their decimation at the hands of the Kyuubi Clan and their allies.

This ritual had taken them centuries of research to prepare and perfect, thanks to the destruction of the instructions for already established rituals, further hampered by the need to lay low and avoid the watchful eyes of the two Youkai Factions all over Japan.

It had only been recently that they had been able to gain a foothold in Shimane, thanks to the passive nature of its ruler, that they could take more conspicuous actions.

And it had truly been a pain to acquire the final, key ingredient, a Kyuubi.

But, they would soon bare witness to the fruits of their labour.

Tamamo-no-Mae would return in all her glory and usher them into an age of Youkai supremacy.

They would destroy the two Youkai Factions for their transgressions, oust the outsiders, the irksome Judeo-Christian Faction that had the audacity to defile their homeland with their filthy presence, and deal with the meddlesome Gods of Takamagahara before moving onto the foolish humans of Japan, as was their right as the true rulers of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Just a little more…they were so very close!

"Kuzuha-sama, all of the reagents are in place."

Kuzuha snapped out of her daydream as one of her subordinates, Sayaka, a Rokubi-no-Kitsune, reported dutifully to her.

"Excellent. Everyone, take your places. The ritual will now commence."

Eagerness filled the air as her eight top subordinates took their places at the vertices of the altar while she stood in front of the black torii that marked the entrance to Yomi.

"Let us begin."

As one, the nine Youkai began chanting the incantation for the ritual.

Pale blue balls of fire, Onibi, emerged from each reagent so carefully placed on the altar.

They converged on the tiny Kyuubi at the center, jolting her awake in the process.

"AA…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The screams of a young girl echoed throughout the clearing as the ritual began to take its toll on the sacrifice.

They were music to Kuzuha's ears, the unbridled suffering of the bloodline that had killed their previous leader, her mother.

"If you wish to blame anyone for your misfortune, child, then blame your foolish mother for birthing you and giving us this long-awaited opportunity." She internally sneered even as she chanted the incantation that she had long memorized perfectly.

That was when her senses pinged, causing her vulpine ears to twitch.

Someone had passed through the barrier they had placed around the ritual site to warn them of intruders.

"Hmph, so they've come to their little princess's rescue, have they? It's too late, the ritual is almost…"

She didn't have the time to finish that train of thought before her eyes caught a black blur for a brief moment before whatever it was slammed into the altar with resounding force.

A plume of dust and gravel erupted from the spot, the ceaseless screams of the young Kyuubi abruptly stopping, and Kuzuha felt the mystical energies that had been gathering during the ritual dissipate.

White hot anger surged.

"Who dares!?"

That was all she managed to get out before something slammed into her navel with so much force that she was knocked off her feet and sent flying right into the cliff face behind her.

Dazed and wounded, she slumped to the ground, coughing up gobs of blood, her stomach ruptured by the blow.

She barely managed to lift her head, peering through blurry vision to catch sight of not one, but two intruders, easily defeating her subordinates one after the other.

The first she recognized instantly.

That distinctive appearance, the feel of his power, the sheer presence that demanded nothing less than absolute subservience…

That could only be Nurarihyon, returned to his prime, when he was considered the strongest Youkai in existence.

She never would have imagined that the leader of the Hyakki Yakou and the Kanto Youkai would come in person.

She had expected an army, yes, but not the Youkai who was essentially a one man army.

The other, a young man with black hair and brown eyes, wielding a golden western sword emitting incredible radiance in one hand and cradling the tiny Kyuubi in the other, she did not know.

But she could make an educated guess.

She had received reports that the initial capture attempt had been foiled by the interference of an exceptionally strong human and his companion, which had necessitated the unplanned, but unexpectedly successful later attempt by her spies within the usurper's court.

It had blown their cover irreparably, but they had achieved their penultimate objective, which was why she had no qualms about it, but now…

But now…!

The ritual was ruined, the numerous reagents they had painstakingly gathered over the years were now useless, their base of operations had been found, and the two Youkai Factions surely knew what they were up to now and would be on the warpath…!

All because of…!

"It's all because of you…!" She snarled as she raised a shaking hand, conjuring the biggest ball of Foxfire that she could, pouring all of her hatred and bile into it before throwing it at the human who had singlehandedly ruined their ambitions.

The massive ball of blue flames raced towards the human, whose back was turned as he dealt with her subordinates.

She felt exorbitantly gleeful as the distance between them rapidly shrank.

Their plans might have been ruined, but at the very least, she could exact revenge on the one responsible.

And then he whipped around, swinging his sword and unleashing a wave of black energy that tore through the strongest Foxfire she had ever conjured with contemptuous ease before racing towards her.

It was unlike anything she had ever felt, an energy that radiated nothing but deathdeathdeathDeathDeathDeathDEATHDEATHDEATH…!

In that moment, Kuzuha knew true fear.

And in the next, as the energy reached her and shredded into her broken body and the rock wall behind her, she knew nothing but agony.

This time, it was her screams that filled the air.

"Ah, crap." Ichigo groaned as he realized what he had just done.

He had not meant to use Getsuga Tensho, not even one as half-assed as the one he had just fired.

It had been completely instinctive, his body reacting by itself before he could stop it when he felt danger, and a growing heat, at his back.

"This is pretty bad." He muttered to himself.

Deus Xiphos had constantly warned him since he had arrived in this world to never use any of his powers but God's.

Using the First Light might have caught the undivided attention of the Three Factions and elicited mild interest from others, but his other powers, each one completely foreign to this world, would gain an inordinate amount of scrutiny from every Faction in the world.

That Getsuga, having been used so hastily, wasn't very powerful, only on par with one from his original Shikai, but that was still more than enough reiatsu to be sensed.

"No, this might still be salvageable. That barrier around the prefecture is preventing energy from leaking out, so I don't think anyone outside has noticed yet."

Ichigo heaved a sigh of relief at Deus Xiphos' words.

But, they still weren't still quite out of the woods just yet.

There was still the matter of those who were in the barrier.

Like these idiots.

Those who hadn't already been defeated had lost the will to fight after seeing their leader so easily crushed, those who had tried to escape quickly caught by Nurarihyon, and were now just staring at him in wide-eyed fear.

They'd probably blab their mouths off the moment they got out, though a second hand account wasn't quite as bad.

Speaking of which…

He lay Kunou down on the ground and gently tried to rouse her.

"Kunou. Hey, wake up." He called out to her.

He frowned when she didn't respond in the slightest.

Come to think of it…wasn't her breathing a little shallow?

He pressed the back of his palm against her pale skin.

She was clammy, and getting colder by the second.

Now more than a little alarmed, Ichigo shook her harder.

"Hey kid, can you hear me!? Wake up!" He called urgently.

"What's wrong?" Nurarihyon asked.

"I don't know! She's not responding, and she's not looking good!"

"Move aside!"

Nurarihyon knelt down and gently examined Kunou.

His expression grew grimmer and grimmer.

"This isn't good. We got here a little too late, and the ritual was already underway. Most likely, some of her essence, her very being, was torn out of her in the process."

"What does that mean?"

"It means she's dying. Slowly but surely."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, just barely fighting back the urge to punch the ground in frustration.

"Isn't there anything we can do!?"

"…Well, she'll most likely recover if we can return her lost essence back to her, but the problem is…it's probably in Yomi by now. And that place, while housing the souls of the departed, is also home to creatures that even I wouldn't dare to cross. And it's so massive that it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"But, that's the only option we have, right? Then, I'm going. As long as the smallest chance exists, I won't give up."

"…I see. If you're that determined, I won't stop you. You may just have enough power to overcome that place. I'll return to Kyoto with the little princess. We can't stay here for too long. Once you find her essence, you get back to Kyoto too-"

Nurarihyon was cut off when an oppressive reiatsu that screamed of divinity and death, comparable to Sirzechs Lucifer at his full power, bore down on them, crushing the loyalists to the ground and causing the leader of the Kanto Youkai no little inconvenience.

Ichigo quickly stepped in front of the unconscious and weak Kyuubi, shielding her from its effects.

It wasn't enough to match his, but it was enough to be a cause for concern.

"What the hell is that!?"

"Dammit, we're too late! She's already here…!" Nurarihyon said in a strangled voice, looking incredibly nervous.

The source of the reiatsu grew rapidly closer, and when it was practically right on top of them, Ichigo looked up.

Just in time to see a beautiful young woman with long purple hair, set with an elaborate golden headpiece, red eyes and dressed in a ceremonial kimono, descend.

"…Hm, I came in search of a strange power that I had sensed, and who do I find but one of Amaterasu's dogs?"

Nurarihyon immediately prostrated himself as low as he could get in a position of complete reverence.

"Idiot, at least bow! You're standing before Izanami-no-Mikoto-sama!" The Youkai whisper-yelled at him.

Ichigo froze as he processed that information.

Izanami-no-Mikoto, one of the two Creator Gods of Japan, the Primordial Goddess of Creation and Death, sister and wife to Izanagi-no-Mikoto, the Primordial God of Creation and Life.

That was who this was?

But…

"Wait, I thought she was trapped in Yomi."

"She was. And then she became its Queen and didn't have to play by its rules anymore. She left Yomi and entered the human world. Amaterasu-sama permitted her to stay and gave her the entire Shimane prefecture on the condition that she didn't start killing human and stayed within the barrier."

So, she was the reason why Yasaka and Nurarihyon had been so apprehensive about entering Shimane carelessly.

Trespassing into the territory of a Primordial Goddess was pretty stupid, admittedly.

But, right now, his focus was on another piece of information that Nurarihyon had provided him with.

She was effectively the ruler of Shimane?

Then, that meant…

Ichigo felt his anger surge to the surface again.

"I see…! So, you're the one who let these idiots run around freely…!" Ichigo snarled as he brandished Deus Xiphos.

Nurarihyon and the loyalists stared at him in utter disbelief and a good amount of horror.

"Ichigo, what are you doing?" The Sword of God asked him in an incredulous tone.

"Stop, idiot! Shimane might officially be Izanami-sama's territory, but she doesn't have any interest in ruling it and just leaves it to its own devices…"

"That's just as bad! It's because of her neglect that Kunou is…!"

"Kunou? Is that the name of the child lying behind you?" Izanami cut in, her red eyes directed towards the dying Kyuubi.

She stepped towards them, causing him to tighten his grip on Deus Xiphos.

"Peace, young warrior. I simply wish to observe the child's condition." Izanami said, raising a pale, dainty hand in a gesture of non-aggression.

He did not lower his blade in the slightest, having no reason to believe her.

Especially after what she had allowed to happen.

"It seems that you do not trust me. Is my word that I will not harm a child insufficient?"

"You could say that."

"Very well. Then, should I do anything untoward, you may cut me down. Is that enough for you?" She offered.

Ichigo was stunned that she would actually suggest such a thing to begin with.

His grip loosened slightly.

"…Fine. But, I'm watching you."

"Of course."

She glided over and knelt down beside the dying girl, placing a hand on her forehead.

"…I see. A part of her essence has been torn from her. What happened?"

"They happened. Those bastards you let run amok in your territory tried to revive their idol by using her as the sacrifice. She's in this condition because of you." He seethed.

"…"

Izanami said nothing.

She simply raised a hand towards the black torii.

The cave entrance was suddenly filled with a dark mist, and a golden ball of light shot out of it and into the Goddess of Death's waiting hand.

While he was distracted by what had just happened, she pressed against Kunou's chest, melding with her seamlessly.

Immediately, her complexion improved and her breathing stabilized.

"What was that?"

"I recalled her essence that had been cast into Yomi. She will be fine now. I trust that we will have no further issues?" She asked as she rose to her feet.

"Of course, Izanami-sama! We thank you for your benevolence!" Nurarihyon immediately said, almost tripping over his own words.

"No, not yet." He interrupted.

Nurarihyon's face fell in an expression that basically screamed 'Dear God, why me?'.

"Oh? Is there something else?" Izanami asked, not seeming to take any offense despite his irreverence.

"I doubt these idiots here are all of the loyalists remaining. As long as even one of them is still around, they'll eventually try this shit again. We need to take care of the root of the problem right now."

"And what might that be?"

"Tamamo-no-Mae. Allow me to destroy her soul." He declared.

The loyalists looked at him like he had just pissed on their ancestors' graves, and if it weren't for Izanami's presence, he had no doubt that they would be trying to kill him for what they considered to be blasphemy."

"I see. Unfortunately, I cannot do that. All souls within Yomi's domain are under my rule. You may not think kindly of me as a leader, but I will not allow harm to come to them." Izanami said firmly, looking him dead in the eyes.

The loyalists looked beyond relieved.

Until she spoke again.

"However, that's only as long as she abides by Yomi's laws."

"What?"

"By attempting to revive her by using the life of another to take her place in Yomi, Tamamo-no-Mae has broken the most fundamental rule of Yomi. The dead cannot return to the land of the living. Therefore, she is no longer under my protection."

Ichigo wondered if he should be pointing out that Tamamo-no-Mae hadn't actually succeeded in returning from the dead.

Wait…was Izanami using a loophole in a roundabout way to grant them permission?

The Goddess of Death once more raised her hand towards Yomotsu Hirasaka, and from the black mist, another, much larger ball of golden light emerged, hanging in the air.

It slowly coalesced into a humanoid shape.

A bewitching woman with long auburn hair, golden eyes, vulpine ears and nine fox tails behind her appeared in the air.

But even from here, Ichigo could see the pure malice and madness in her eyes.

"Aaaah, how long have I waited for this day? My faithful subjects, I have return-"

Ichigo didn't give her chance to finish whatever silly speech she had prepared.

He raised an open palm in her direction.

"Deus Xiphos."

"I know. Let's do it."

As he called upon the First Light, Deus Xiphos helped him bring one of God's abilities to the forefront of his mind.

He activated it.

"Ain."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!? WHAT IS THIS!?" The infamous Kyuubi screamed as she began to dissolve into pure white particles.

This was one of God's 3 most famous abilities.

The first was Ain Soph Aur, of course, the Light of Judgement. The foremost of God's offensive capabilities, and one that Ichigo had used before.

The second was Ain Soph, the Light of Absolution. It was the defensive counterpart of Ain Soph Aur, and one he had yet to use.

And the third, the one he was using now, was considered to be the greatest of God's abilities.

Ain, the Light of the Origin.

It made use of primal essence to bring forth Creation.

All Creator Gods had a similar ability.

However, the nature of Ain made it possible to be used in another way.

The Origin, or the Dimensional Gap, was where all of Creation sprang forth from, and it was where all of Creation was fated to return at the end of days.

Ain was the Light of Creation, and at the same time, it was the Light of Destruction.

And just as it could be used to bring forth something from nothing, it could be used to turn something into nothing.

And that was the application of Ain that he was using on Tamamo-no-Mae.

In short, she was being erased from existence.

The loyalists shouted at him, demanding, pleading with him to stop whatever it was he was doing to their idol.

But he would not be deterred.

In order to ensure that this never happened again, he had to erase every last trace of Tamamo-no-Mae's soul from existence.

For a third time, the screams of a Kitsune echoed throughout the clearing.

Until they abruptly stopped, the last of Tamamo-no-Mae vanishing into primordial essence.

The clearing feel eerily silent, the loyalists completely broken by the erasure of their object of worship.

Ichigo turned to Izanami, and finally bowed to her.

"Thank you."

"No need for gratitude. I did not permit this out of kindness. I simply wished to have Amaterasu indebted to me." She replied blandly.

Though he swore he could see just the slightest dusting of red on her cheeks.

She turned around, facing away from them.

"Now begone. Your business here has concluded. I will not tolerate your presence in my territory any longer." She declared firmly.

"Of course, Izanami-sama! Alright kid, no more shenanigans. We're getting out of here!" Nurarihyon said as he pulled Ichigo by the back of his collar.

"Alright already."

He gently scooped Kunou up in his arms.

Looks like they would have to take the long way with her in tow.

There was no way she would be able to survive his ridiculous speed.

And the last thing she needed when she woke up from such a harrowing experience was a face full of wind.

"What about them?" Ichigo asked Nurarihyon, gesturing towards the loyalists.

"Leave them. After what you did to their leader and idol, I doubt they'll be in any condition to try something anytime soon." He replied.

That was probably the best course of action.

Escorting these idiots to the border of the Shimane prefecture was too much of a hassle anyway.

They left the clearing, heading back the way they had come from.

As they did, Ichigo turned to look back at the Ruler of Yomi once more.

Maybe she wasn't as bad as he had initially thought.

Izanami was completely silent as she contemplated what had just happened.

That display of power that had annihilated Tamamo-no-Mae from existence…

She knew it all too well.

After all, she had a similar ability, one that she had used to help create Japan's landmass.

And she knew that powers of that nature only belonged to Creators.

And yet, she did not recognize that boy.

She knew practically every Creator in existence.

They had all come into existence at around the same time after all. They were essentially her siblings.

But she did not recognize him.

That ability on the other hand was unmistakable.

The ability of Creation that belonged to YHWH.

However, YHWH was dead.

Amaterasu had told her about the missive from the newly allied Three Factions.

And they had no reason to lie. After all, YHWH had basically accounted for most of the Judeo-Christian Faction's power.

So how was it that another Creator God, one she did not recognize, had come to wield YHWH's abilities?

"She's in this condition because of you."

Heh, just thinking of that boy made her recall his words.

They had stung, and were more truthful than she cared to admit.

Izanami would never willingly allow a child to come to harm if she could help it.

She was a mother herself after all.

However, it was true that she had known of the loyalists settling in her territory, and had not cared enough to do anything about it.

As long as they did not threaten her personally, she was content to leave them be.

If she had intervened before, then perhaps this wouldn't have happened.

Perhaps…it was time for her to take a more active role in ruling Shimane.

To think a boy's words would have such a strong impact on her.

Perhaps she was getting soft.

But, she was certain.

That boy was going to make things a lot more interesting in the future.

And she couldn't wait.

Kunou didn't know where she was.

The last thing she recalled was suddenly being pulled out of her bed by one of her mother's attendants while she was asleep.

And then pain. So much pain.

Then, she found herself here, in this cold, dark void, floating without being able to move.

With no way to tell how much time was passing, she felt like she had been here for years, and wondered if she would ever be able to leave.

Then, golden light flashed before her eyes.

And the next thing she knew, she was waking up leaning against a broad back.

"Where…?" She muttered weakly.

"Finally awake, princess?" A gentle voice asked her.

She lifted her head to see that she was being carried piggyback style by her savior.

"You've really caused us a lot of worry, little princess."

She turned to see a Youkai she did not recognize.

But there was only one person who ever called her that.

"Nurarihyon-dono…?"

"In the flesh. How do you feel?"

"…Tired. So tired…"

"Then go ahead and get some more sleep, princess. There's nothing to worry about anymore. The loyalists have been taken care of."

The loyalists…why were they being brought up?

That was when she put 2 and 2 together.

"Ah…"

She had been saved again.

She hadn't actually seen it herself, but she was absolutely certain.

And thus, she could sleep peacefully, on the back of her hero.

The moment they return to the throne room with Nurarihyon's teleportation, Ichigo sensed something amiss.

He wasn't expecting fanfare or anything

But he had thought there would at least be cries of relief like from Yasaka on Kunou's safe return.

Certainly not the dead silence that consumed the throne room.

Yasaka was at the head of one of two rows on either side of her throne there, leading what were most likely the leaders of the various clans under her command, all prostrating themselves on the floor and looking extremely cowed.

She lifted her head just a little off the floor and caught sight of her daughter, sleeping on his back.

Joy and relief spread across her face, but she did not dare move an inch towards them.

Likely because of the person languishing in what was supposed to be her throne.

An incredibly beautiful woman with long, lustrous white hair, fiery red eyes, dressed in an elaborate and almost provocative red and white kimono with detached sleeves, adorned with professionally crafted regalia.

But her beauty went far beyond what was physical.

There was an incredible radiance about her that enhanced her to an unearthly degree.

Ichigo had no trouble believing that this was possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

However, it wasn't her looks that caught his attention.

It was her reiatsu.

Even as suppressed as it was, he felt like he was standing out in the open on an unbelievably sunny afternoon, his skin just one or two steps away from being scorched.

And there was no mistaking the divinity within.

He was standing before a Goddess.

A noise next to him told him that Nurarihyon too had prostrated himself before her, and if Kunou were awake, she would probably be scrambling to do the same.

The woman smiled as she rose from the throne and strode purposefully towards them.

"Greetings, Shiba Kaien. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Amaterasu, and I thank you for rescuing our Kunou from those heathens."

Ichigo froze completely.

He was standing before the most important God in Shintoism, one he had grown up hearing tales of.

"Yasaka, you may rise." The deity of the sun spoke.

The Kyuubi immediately stood up ramrod straight.

"Come and take your daughter to rest. I'm sure she needs it."

Yasaka rushed forward, gingerly taking Kunou off his hands while whispering her thanks to him.

"Now, all of you, leave the room. I wish to have a word with the hero of the hour."

Without hesitation, all of the Youkai cleared out of the room as fast as they could without looking like they were running away.

"Now then, forgive me for my bluntness, but there is a matter I would like to have clarified here and now."

"And what would that be?" He asked in a steady tone.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Excuse me?"

"I know every child born under the Sun of Japan, Shiba Kaien. Every human, every animal, every Youkai. And yet, I do not know you. You are unquestionably Japanese, and yet I do not recall you ever being born under my sun."

Ichigo's hands clenched.

Was his worst fear coming true?

"And then there's this."

Amaterasu leaned forward and made a show of breathing in the air around him.

"I can smell it on you. Divinity, more potent than any I have ever come across."

She pulled back.

"Yasaka told me of you. A young man who had been involved in the supernatural world until your parents were killed, which prompted you to stay out of all supernatural affairs. At least, that's what you claim. I have no trouble believing that you do not want any involvement, but everything else…And then of course, there's her."

Amaterasu looked at Deus Xiphos, who met her gaze evenly.

"It has been a very long time, but I know who she is. The Sword of God, Deus Xiphos. And here I thought she had been lost with YHWH. And if she is with you, that can only mean one thing."

She looked him in the eyes and smiled.

"I wonder if Heaven is aware that their fallen God has a successor."

"…"

Ichigo remained silent.

He wasn't sure he could trust himself to speak right now.

"Still have nothing to say? Very well. I am a magnanimous God. You do not have to tell me anything else, as long as you tell me just one thing."

"Which is?" He barely got out.

"What is your name?"

"Shiba Kaien." He promptly replied.

"No no, I don't have any interest in that little alias you crafted for yourself. I want to hear your True Name."

Ichigo glared at her, hatred smouldering in his eyes.

She was basically asking him to out himself right here and now.

But, it didn't seem that he had a choice in the matter.

She didn't look like she was willing to let him go without hearing it first, and if they fought, he had no doubt that this realm and its innocent inhabitants would be destroyed.

He took a moment to collect himself before speaking.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

And the air thrummed with an unseen force as his body glowed with power.

To speak the True Name of a God was to invoke their power.

The reason why the world did not constantly shake with power from the constant invocation of the names of many Gods was because what those were not their True Names.

Zeus, Odin, Ra, Amaterasu. Those were the names that the world knew them by, and what they took to calling themselves.

But their True Name was something else, something only they themselves would know.

And when Ichigo was made a God, the name he was born with became his True Name.

Knowing a God's True Name was no really that big of a deal.

It wasn't like it gave anyone else power over them.

But, for Ichigo, who wished to live as a human, having his True Name exposed was disastrous.

That was why he had been living under the name of his deceased cousin.

If Amaterasu were to spread his True Name, any chance of normalcy was forever out the window.

The Goddess of the Sun looked satisfied.

"Well then, Kurosaki Ichigo. Once again, you have my gratitude for saving little Kunou. And I do apologize for forcing you into such an uncomfortable position. Rest assured, I am not such a crass woman that I would tell anyone else of your True Name or your true nature. If you wish to stay out of our world, then I will respect your wishes. Consider it your reward for your heroic deeds."

Amaterasu stepped back as a magic circle appeared beneath her, likely to return her to Takamagahara,

Ichigo took that as his cue to leave, and he did so, sharply turning on his heels and marching out of the room, trying his best to keep his anger under control.

He really had enough for one day.

"Do you really have to go?"

Ichigo smiled patiently as Kunou pouted at him.

His and Deus Xiphos' not-so-relaxing vacation in Kyoto came to an end, and the Kyuubi mother and child had come to see them off at the train station, in their human guises, of course.

"Yes, princess. I do. But hey, I'll come back sometime, alright? And I'll treat you to tofu."

Kunou smiled brightly.

"And I'll take you on a proper tour of Kyoto! Pinky swear!" She said as she lifted her little finger up.

He humoured her by wrapping his around it.

"It's a promise."

He stood back up and faced Yasaka, who smiled at him.

"I really can't thank you enough for what you've done, Shiba-dono. Know that the Kyoto Youkai are forever indebted to you."

"It's fine, really. I just did what I felt was right."

"Yes, I suppose you did. There is a lot our world can learn from you. Goodbye for now, Shiba-dono."

He and Deus Xiphos waved to them as they boarded the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

Only when the pair were out of sight did they stop.

And they immediately fell into an awkward silence.

"I really am sorry. I didn't think my little prank would escalate into this. And now…"

"It's fine. We saved the kid, so it all balances out. But…if it had been possible, I wish I could have prevented her from experiencing all of that."

Kunou had not shown any signs, but there was no way a child could have gone through such a terrible incident without experiencing some trauma.

Yasaka was going to have her hands dealing with it soon.

If only he had seen it coming, then maybe…

"…Maria, when summer vacation is over, I'm going to start training." He told her.

He still had no intention of getting actively involved, but that didn't mean that he would just allow something like this to just happen if he could stop it.

That was what it meant to be a decent person.

Deus Xiphos nodded silently, accepting his decision without question.

"But first, let's try to pass the rest of the holiday in peace."

Now, was there any place on Earth that wasn't swarming with supernatural activity?

Wow, this chapter turned out way longer than I thought.

Man, this took a while.

The first week and a half was hell. I got a bad case of writer's fatigue where I knew what I wanted to write but just couldn't find the motivation to actually type it out.

And then after that, I got really distracted by Nioh Complete Edition.

It was really fun being a British Samurai in Feudal Japan, and I think I'm only about halfway through the main story.

Anyway, the Youkai Factions are introduced early, along with Izanami and Amaterasu, all of whom will likely play a role in future chapters.

Now, I decided where Ichigo will be heading off for the next 2 chapters.

The British Isles.

First to Scotland/Ireland where he'll meet a certain Godslayer, and then Cornwall where he'll come across the Magus of Flowers.

That said, I still need to plan an actual storyline for Scathach and Merlin, and not just haphazardly throw them into the story.

Merlin's story will probably involve the Pendragons, but I'm not sure about Scathach.

I hope I can get these done by the end of July before I resume my studies and go back on hiatus.

Anyway, that's all for now.

As always, please read and review.