Daichi read the newspaper with interest. He laughed a little. “I never believed this would happen.” He threw his paper aside. “It looks like Okuri won’t be killing anybody after all.” Jun turned away from her picture, confused. Daichi gleefully explained: “Both Shoguns and the Emperor are coming to Wolf’s Lair. And they are bringing the Imperial Regalia with them!”
The Imperial Regalia! A sword of immense power, a necklace of sacred beads, and an incredible mirror shield. Together, those three weapons would be powerful enough to destroy even the Okami clan! “Tha….that means…we’re free? We won’t have to play by Okuri’s rules much longer?” Daichi nodded his head. Jun wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. “No more having him watch us? No more acting like he’s standing right behind us?” She suddenly felt him undoing the bow of her obi. “Or…can we start doing that now?”
Outside, the Okami brothers could hear the discussion between Daichi and Jun. And quite frankly, Okuri was disappointed. The brothers leaped away, withdrawing to their rooms. Okuri stood outside, reading his own newspaper by sunlight, as Kiba got himself ready to sleep by piling up his bed furs in the room he shared with Akamaru. When Okuri was finished reading the article, he threw the paper down, put his hand on his chin and thought deeply for a while. Then he burst out laughing. Kiba rushed outside. “Okuri?”
The big man picked up his little brother. “We’ve won! This is far better than I ever could’ve planned! Don’t you see, Kiba? Not only will I be able to kill both Shoguns, but I’ll get rid of that pesky Emperor too! I will have complete control of the military, and, without the Emperor, the rest of the country will be in complete chaos! No one will be able to stop us!”
“But Okuri, what about the Imperial Regalia? They’re the only weapons that could wipe us clean off the face of the earth!”
Okuri chuckled and put Kiba down. “So what? They’re only dangerous in the hands of skilled practitioners. I’ll let you in on a little secret: It’s no coincidence there’s one weapon in the Imperial Regalia for each major leader. If anyone other than The Northwest Shogun uses the sword Kusanagi, they will die. If anyone other than the Southeast Shogun uses the mirror Yata no Kagami, they will die. If anyone other than the Emperors uses the necklace of jewels Yasakani no Magatama, they will die. And what good will the most powerful weapons do in the hands of senile old fools who can’t use them?”
Okuri laughed again, and this time Kiba joined him. Truly, they would be invincible when this was over. Okuri would be able to use both the sword and the mirror, but at the same time no one would be able to use the jewels for a while. With no weapons left powerful enough to destroy them, the Okami clan would be free to prosper and grow in number. And it was then that Kiba’s thought’s returned to Inuko.
10 minutes passed. Kiba leaped back into his room, delighted to have Inuko’s future attendance confirmed. He waltzed over to the pinup on the wall, and kissed it. Soon, I’ll be kissing the real thing, he thought to himself. He danced over to his fur pile bed, and jumped on top. It was relatively warm that night, so he didn’t need to use any fur as blankets. He petted Akamaru on the head, then stared up at the ceiling and began to fantasize.
