Tales of Okuri Tale 4 of 7 Sake and Swords

Lord Homaru, the Chief Firekeeper of the Order of the Flame, sat on his throne in the fiery chamber. Below him burned the Eternal Flame, which the Order of the Flame religiously maintained. Homaru’s hair appeared the same color as the inferno beneath him as he pondered the news his servants had brought him.

Ever since he had been 12, he had aspired to hold both the positions of Emperor and Shogun of the Land of Snow. He would spread the Eternal Flame, allowing it to melt all the snow and ice that seemed to have an everlasting grip on the land. But alas, he was not next in line for Emperor, nor was he a favorite of either of the Shoguns. Leading the Order of the Flame, he planned to kill all 3 of them in a single day. He had sacrificed his entire life to carry out his perfect plan…….

But at about 7:00 am that very morning someone had beaten him to it.

A being known as Okuri had killed all 3, and absorbed the power of both Kusanagi and Yata no Kagami. He had taken the position of Shogun, and left the position of Emperor to the next heir because ‘he could never stand being the Emperor’. That was just adding insult to injury…..

Furious, Homaru stood up and the flames rose. He began to shout very loudly.

“DAMN YOU OKURI OKAMI!!!!!! DAMN YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!!!!!! I WILL DESTROY YOU, JUST YOU WAIT!!!!”

[BREAK]

Okuri woke from his daily slumber and stretched his massive body. Normal people wouldn’t be able to sleep in a full suit of armor the way he could, but he wasn’t a human. He rubbed his yellow eyes and one of his tails grabbed his sake bottle. He wasn’t quite sure whether it was half full or half empty, but the eternal debate was rendered pointless, as he finished it in a few gulps. He picked up the daily newspaper and read the headline: OKURI OKAMI KILLS 3 SACRED LEADERS! TAKES POSITION OF SHOGUN! Well, looks like the media had reported his rule to the people. He read the article, and the rest of the paper, which contained no other particularly interesting stories. He did, though, stop and stare at the political cartoon. It depicted him in his full demon form standing menacingly over 3 little pigs, each a caricature of one of his recent victims. At this, he could not help but laugh. He folded up the newspaper, deciding he’d show it to Kiba later.

He stood up and left the room, looking for food. Hunger had always been the thing that pained him worst. He sniffed the air, trying to pick up the smell of the meat he desired. The potent odor of cooking deer meat wafted into his nostrils and he immediately ran towards the source. Aya and Jun, who had been slow cooking the meat in a pot, fled screaming at the sight of the massive half demon. Annoying little wretches……he would soon be rid of them. They stayed at the insistence of their friends, Inuko and Maiko. But, when the other Samurai arrived, he would finally have a ‘legitimate’ reason to throw them out. As if being a nuisance wasn’t a legitimate reason enough……

He picked up the deer haunch and took a large bite out of it. He savored the delicious flavor of semi-raw meat in his mouth for only a second before taking another bite. In less than 2 minutes, he had finished it and was already looking for the rest of the carcass. No matter how much he ate, no matter what he ate, Okuri had never been able to sate his hunger. At first, when he was a little child, everybody thought he just didn’t eat enough. But then he went to a special doctor one day when he was 6, and he was diagnosed with a condition with a name too complex for him to remember, or even understand fully. All he remembered was his name for it (Bottomless Pit Syndrome) and how the doctor had explained it to him: Everybody has a string connecting their brain and their stomach. The stomach pulls on the string when you’re hungry, and slackens when you were full. Somehow, his brain and his stomach weren’t hooked up right. His stomach was always pulling on his string. So for all his life, Okuri starved, even when he ate so much food he felt his own stomach physically stretch. He took what little comfort he could from the sensation of having food in his mouth.

Of course, there was more to this condition than just being hungry all the time. Ironically, it was the reason Okuri sometimes went days without eating. After all, if he would continue to be hungry no matter how much he ate, then what was the point of eating? The only reason Okuri ever thought otherwise is because of an incident that occurred when he was a chunnin. Captured and tortured by Orochimaru, he was starved for several days. After 5 days, he (as he put it) “Began to feel the hunger in every part of his body.” After that day, he knew that feeling as ‘real hunger’. The kind of hunger that could impair his fighting abilities.

He wandered the castle halls, until he crossed paths with his brother Kiba. The half demon sat there, chuckling to himself. In his hand, he held a bottle of….barbeque sauce? Okuri shook his head. “Kiba what have you done now?” A loud scream, Inuko’s voice, came from the room across from Kiba, and he laughed uncontrollably. Seeing that the door was open, Okuri glanced inside and was amused by the spectacle of Inuko fending off Akamaru, who was aggressively licking at her face. “Oh, so you put barbeque sauce on her face. Classic.” He continued on his way, searching for the rest of his breakfast. (although for others, it would have been a late lunch)

Inuko pushed Akamaru off her and stormed out the door. She stood angrily, fists on her hips, in front of Kiba. He staggered to his feet, his laughter making it almost impossible for him to stand. By the time he looked Inuko in the eye, his laughs had been reduced to smiles. Inuko, however, was still frowning. “That WASN’T funny.”

“Aw, lighten up, would you?” Kiba spoke. “It was just a joke. Okuri and I used to pull this on each other all the time.” Inuko turned away, disgusted, and walked down the long hallway. Kiba couldn’t resist shouting after her “Hey, Akamaru missed a spot, want me to get it?” At this, she broke into a full throttle run.