It was during one of Di's twenty four hour periods of slumber that he was wakened by a strange tapping noise at one of his windows. Unlike the vast majority of humans Di could happily go six days without having to descend into a state of dream. At the end of this though Di would have to slumber for almost a full day and night cycle. As he got older these periods would increase. Di's father for example would function for centuries without heeding Nocturna's call but then hibernate for several decades to recuperate himself.

This had been a great boon for Di's crime fighting career as it allowed him to both interact with potential clients during the days and also dedicate his nights fully to chasing villains and ne’er-do-wells. Di didn't know how Kirei managed to keep up with his daytime studies though there was a strong possibility that he simply didn't care about those nearly as much as he did his vigilantism.

At first the tapping was hesitant and faint, something which Di's senses could safely ignore. But it became more and more insistent till even as his brain drowsy with soporifics instincts could not ignore it. Opening the window Di had expected a messenger bird to fly in it's leg affixed with a note. Instead it had been a tiny figure perhaps a foot in height that leaped through his window. A diminutive humanoid with glowing green skin and leafy foliage like markings that adorned it's form. If Di wasn't much mistaken this was a Kodama – one of the spirits who inhabited the lands  trees.

Having spent the vast majority of his life underwater Di had never seen one of these tiny yokai before and it was rather a novel experience. Di's interest piqued even further when he saw that the little creature had carried along a handwritten rice-paper note.  It was clear that the Kodama had not been the notes author as it was penned by a much larger hand.

Di quickly read through the message, then going on to read it again. If it's contents were to be believed – and the fact that it was delivered by a kodama certainly lent some merit to this it was a message from a goddess! This did not mean a world-shaking event though. For every Okami there was a million lesser Kami many presiding over little more than a blade of grass or flake of snow.

This message had been sent by a minor goddess who presided over Kiri's rice crops named Mochiko. She had been abducted by a gang of brigands led by the infamous madame Manaka the daughter of the red brewer of Ishido. Manaka had enlisted the service of several disgraced monks from the fire temple in Konohagakure to use their arcane skills to brew an elixir of life from Mochiko's divine blood. Mochiko didn't know exactly where they were holding her but had constructed the rice paper and ink of the message from grains that littered the area around her.  

It took Di several hours to analyse the paper and isolate the particular cultivar of crop that went into it's creation. Having achieved his goal Di made a quick visit to the market and made some inquiries as to where one might fight such produce and what its purpose was. Unsurprisingly it was rice used for sake and with a map of the kiri area he could isolate the areas used to grow the crop.

Passing by Kirei's house come dusk Di informed the young ninja of the situation and what is plans were. There would have to be some kind of structure near the fields to brew the alcohol. This would  be where Mochiko would be being held guarded by Manaka's thugs and renegade monks.

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Wasting no time Kirei had gotten the drop on the apostate monks. That was for the best as if Mochiko was harmed too greatly by the ritual her life could easily be put in peril and with it one of Kiri's greatest foodsources – the rice that she presided over. If this crime had gone unanswered then there were those in the villages around Kiri who would have staved. Di felt true anger rise up in his chest. Much of what he had faced had been the work of lunatics. But this was a cold and calculated effort with no regard for the lives and well-being of Kiri's community let alone the goddess herself.

Slamming a foot into the side door of the brewery Di came in hard and fast. While his human form was nowhere near as strong as his dragon state Di had speed , precision and a fair amount of training in the martial arts on his side. The first bandit to get in his way received a quck snap punch to the throat and fell to the ground clutching his bruised windpipe. The next miscreant came at Di with an axe , dodging sideways the detective snapped out a kick which sent the man back several steps. Seething with rage the thug made another wild swing , jerking in surprise as Di went low into drop stance (Ironically referred to by many as dragon stance) and then followed it up with an open palm strike smashing into the villains chin.

Di didn't see the cross side punch that took him in the face. He was lifted up off the ground and then sent several feet across the floor of the brewery. Feeing the coppery taste of blood as his vision swum with blurred shapes Di spat a red stream onto the floor. Shaking his head as he raised himself slowly to his feet Di just caught the blur of a foot coming out of the corner of his eye. Again a searing flash of pain and further across the floor he was carried. This time Di was quicker to rise and he saw that the enemy who faced him was not a bandit but one of the monks who had not been caught in Kirei's intial blast.

Bare handed the disgraced holy man clearly needed no weapons to deliver a savage beating upon his foe. As the shaven headed man advanced Di channelled chakra into his hand sending it forth in a concentrated ball of chi. The monk clearly knew well enough what the attack was but his reflexes were not quite up to standard when it came to actually dodging the projectile. Di took a certain amount of pleasure in the fact that the monk was slammed into one of the distillation containers with an audible crunch. Out of the corner of his eye Di spotted Manaka herself fitting what appeared to be ammunition into a hefty firework cannon. Without thinking Di called out a warning to Kirei.

“Kirei – watch out their boss is about to open fire on you”

(514 Words 1146 Total)

"KIIIIIIIIIIREEEIIIIIIIIIIII" Di's scream was cut off as two gigantic hands reached up through the floor wrapping around his waist.  Di didn't know if the hands were merely the effect of a spell or if the monks had actually made a pact with an oni and had partially manifested it into the physical world. Either one of these was bad and the bastards had already murdered Kirei. There was no way in hell Di was going to let them get away with that.

Di analysed his surroundings even as the hands clamped down tightly upon his ribs. The explosion while wrecking much of the infrastructure had also revealed Mochiko's location. The goddess was tied and bound within the centre of a large pentagram.  Upon her forehead was a talisman of sealing  bearing the symbol of annulment. Knowing that hesitation would mean death Di called chakra into his arms and fired a blast towards the seal containing the goddess.

Mochiko was not a powerful goddess. Her long white hair was dirty and her kimono was covered in mud and weeds. Dried blood showed where she had been attacked by enchanted weaponry. But she was still beautiful in a way that no human girl could ever quite be. She still had divine blood flowing through her veins and most of all – she was in her place of power. A rice goddess may be near useless throughout most of the land. She was not even a divinity presiding over plant life in general simply one of Kiri's harvets. But unbound by the stifling seal she used what power she possessed to great effect.

Around and beneath building stalks of rice began to grow at an enormous rate. Monks and vagabonds became quickly entangled within the now massive stalks. Manaka trying to leave the building and let her underlings face the brunt of the attack alone fell over a bent stalk and before Di's eyes was engulfed in a sea of sprouts which wound about her, constricting like a malicious cocoon. The hands which bound Di became skewered with rice stalks that shared more in common with the more hardy species of bamboo than any normal grain crop. Losing their hold on the physical plane the great appendages faded to mist letting Di drop to the floor.

Perhaps the greatest change Mochiko had made to the building was that the parts of the ceiling once collapsed in on themselves were now suspended by great pillars comprised of the thick bamboo like rice stalks. Stumbling as he got to his feet Di started to make his way across the now overgrown ground to were he last saw Kirei. Mochiko herself was weeping in the middle of the pentagram her tears falling down as pieces of rice.  

Damn it – it seemed like such a slim chance that a young boy could have survived that kind of fate. But if nothing else Di would have to take his remains for burial. Di didn't know how many surviving family members Kirei had but he would get into contact with them one way or another.

Di Exit

(515 Words 1661 Total)