Zodiac Spirits

\"Ohitsuji Shoshunno.\"

Ohitsuji spun around to face the voice. \"Who are you?\" she demanded. \"Why won\'t you show yourself?\"

\"I am not hidden,\" the voice replied. \"But to see me, you must open your mind and your heart. Are you prepared to do that?\"

Ohitsuji glared into the faceless darkness. \"What do you mean?\" she asked.

\"Free your mind from thought and your heart from suspicion. Open your mind to the world around you. Then you will see with eyes unclouded and you will know me.\"

Ohitsuji sighed. She couldn\'t figure out if this was some kind of strange dream or something else. The last thing she remembered before being in this strange place was sitting at her desk reading. She had suddenly found herself surrounded by this strange darkness, and now a faceless voice was calling to her, asking her to open her mind and heart.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on emptying her mind of thought. It wasn\'t a foreign concept to her, since she used it often in her meditations, but the whole situation seemed abnormal. She slowly opened her eyes. Out of the darkness around her a light mist began to form, and it gathered and coalesced before her. A shape began to take form, and a few seconds later a golden ram walked out of the remaining mist toward her.

\"You are the one who called to me?\" Ohitsuji asked.

The ram nodded. \"Ohitsujiza,\" it replied. \"That\'s one of the many names given to me. I am the guardian spirit of those born in the first station of the year.\"

Ohitsuji reached out and gingerly touched the golden curls of the ram\'s hide. \"You speak with a female voice yet have the form of a ram,\" she mused. \"And I\'ve never seen a ram with this color hide before.\"

\"This form is my most recognized form,\" Ohitsujiza replied. \"It\'s associated with an ancient tale passed down from the last time I took physical form on Earth. This hide was much sought after on Earth for many years.\"

\"The legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece,\" Ohitsuji replied. \"I\'m familiar with it; I had no idea that such an animal existed.\"

\"All legends take root in fact,\" Ohitsujiza replied. \"Some are more accurate than others.\"

\"I notice your name is very similar to mine as well,\" Ohitsuji commented.

\"Yes, and by no accident,\" Ohitsujiza responded. \"You were chosen at the moment of birth to be an avatar for me, should the need ever arise for me to be in physical form on Earth again. There is a tremendous negative energy building on Earth right now. Even we spirits cannot pinpoint the cause exactly, but we can feel the shift in the energy patterns. That is why I\'ve come to you today; now is the time for you to take up your role as an avatar for me.\"

\"How does this \'avatar\' thing work?\" Ohitsuji asked. \"Does that mean you\'re going to possess me somehow?\"

\"In a way,\" Ohitsujiza explained. \"It\'ll be like possession, since my spirit will be intertwined with yours within your body. However, you still have control over yourself, you\'ll just be able to calln myn my abilities and knowledge when the time warrants.\"

Ohitsuji ld atd at the ground and sighed. \"And I suppose I have no choice in this,\" she said.

\"I could force my will upon you,\" Ohitsujiza acknowledged gently. \"However, I would much prefer it if you would accept me willingly; the transition will go better for both of us.\"

Ohitsuji dropped her hands to her side in a resigned gesture. \"Just tell me one thing before you do this,\" she said. \"Is this going to affect my whole life? Am I still going to be able to go on with college, and my goals for my life?\"

The golden ram smiled a little. \"Your goals for your life will be largely unaffected, unless this negative influence is allowed to grow; it will affect everyone on the planet eventually if it grows out of control. My being a part of you will not harm you in any way; you\'re already more influenced by me than you know; after all, you are under my guidance, having been born during my station of the year.\"

Ohitsuji thought on the matter for a mo mor more. \"All right,\" she said finally. \"I am ready; tell me what I have to do.\"

\"All you have to do is close your eyes and relax,\" Ohitsujiza said. \"I govern the physical locations of the head and brain, so you may feel some brief discomfort in that area. Just stay relaxed and all will be well.\"

Ohitsuji nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly to help her relax. She felt a sensation of warmth surrounding her, and through her closed eyelids she could almost see a golden glow. Suddenly, a sharp headache reverberated through her temple. She pressed her fingers to her head, trying to stay relaxed and make the pain subside. She groaned out loud as it intensified, but the pain quickly faded away. Ohitsuji felt herself falling and darkness consumed her.

She awoke to find herself looking up at the ceiling of her bedroom. She was on her back, sprawled on the floor beside her desk. Ohitsuji sat up and groggily looked around. She looked down at her own hands in wonder for a moment, and tried to re-orient herself. \"Was that a dream?\" she wondered to herself.

\"More like a variant of astral travel,\" Ohitsujiza\'s voice replied.

Ohitsuji\'s eyes widened in surprise; she\'d heard the voice as clear as day, yet it seemed to be coming from within her own mind.
\"Yes,\" Ohitsujiza said, as if in reply to her thoughts. \"Now that we are one, my thoughts are as your thoughts. I can still think independently, as can you, but I can also reply to concerns you have within yourself.\"

\"This is too weird,\" Ohitsuji said out loud. She stood up and looked in the large mirror over her desk. \"At least I don\'t look any different.\"

\"You won\'t look any different unless you transform,\" Ohitsujiza said.

\"Transform?\"

\"I can teach you an incantation that will enhance your form with my abilities, but it will also change your appearance. You should learn it, as you may end up needing it.\" Ohitsujiza stated.

\"All right,\" Ohitsuji said slowly. \"Well, there\'s no time like the present. I might as well learn this incantation now so that I know it later.\"

\"You may want to rid yourself of your clothing,\" Ohitsujiza said, almost as an afterthought. \"It could be restrictive to your transformed form; your body will change significantly.\"

\"Ok,\" Ohitsuji said. She quickly tossed her shirt aside, at the same time glancing around to make sure there were no peeping toms at the window or anyone approaching the house. Then she discarded her shoes, jeans and undergarments in the same manner.

\"Concentrate,\" said Ohitsujiza. \"You know what to do inside. Concentrate, and it will come to you.\"

Ohitsuji closed her eyes and concentrated hard. After a moment a set of words came to mind, and she raised her hands skyward, her thumbs meeting above her head and palms facing forward. She recited the words out loud. \"My spirit protector, great power of the Zodiac, I call upon your power. Join your form with mine and make us one!\"

As she finished the incantation, Ohitsuji felt a surge of energy flow through her body. She was vaguely aware of an odd shifting sensation throughout herself, but her attention was fullcusecused on the energy and thoughts racing through her mind. After a moment the energy faded, and she opened her eyes to look back at her reflection.

She uttered an audible gasp at the image in the mirror. Her facial features and hair remained mostly the same, still cut in her short, \"active length\" cut and still in the same golden wheat color, but she had two large, curving horns reaching from the top of her forehead toward the back, then curling around almost as if to shield the sides of her face. Her chest and arms were left bare, but as she glanced over herself she saw that her legs slimmed into hoofed feet and that she was covered in the same golden fleece as Ohitsujiza had been from the waist down. While running her fingers through the golden curls she found that she also had a sheep\'s tail.

\"This is my transformed form, then?\" Ohitsuji asked out loud.

\"Yes,\" Ohitsujiza replied. \"You will come to know the abilities you have in this form as well.\"

\"Abilities?\" Ohitsuji queried. \"What-\" She was cut off as the door to her room opened.

Her sister, Sanshain, peered into the room. \"O-chan,\" she said, \"I thought I heard you shout something. Is everything all right?\" Her eyes widened as she looked at her younger sister\'s transformed state.

\"Sanshain!\" Ohitsuji exclaimed. \"I...I didn\'t realize you were home all ready!\" She looked about for something to cover herself with, then quickly realized that there was no way to hide the rather obvious changes her sister had already seen anyway.

\"I came back early from choir practice,\" Sanshain said, still in a bit of a daze. \"What...what\'s going on? Are you wearing some kind of costume?\"

\"You should tell her the truth,\" Ohitsujiza said. \"She will find out eventually anyway.\"

Ohitsujiza nodded to herself, then realized that her sister was staring at her oddly. \"No, it\'s not a costume,\" she said. She walked around to where her sister was standing in the doorway and guided her into the bedroom. She closed the door behind the two of them and led her sister over to the bed. \"Sit down,\" she said. \"This may take a while to explain.\"

Sanshain and Ohitsuji sat down on the bed and Ohitsuji explained how she had met Ohitsujiza and how she had come to be in her current state, with Ohitsujiza mentally filling in details as she went. Sanshain was silent through the whole thing.

\"So,\" finished Ohitsuji, \"I\'m not quite sure what this negative energy might be that I will need to face, but this whole \'avatar\' thing doesn\'t seem to hurt me any. It\'s not even uncomfortable to be in this form, I feel fairly \'normal\' actually.\"

Sanshain took a deep, shaky breath. She exhaled slowly then looked at her sister. \"Well, you don\'t look normal,\" she said. \"Can you change back? This will definitely hurt your normal life if you can\'t.\"

\"Yes, I can change back,\" Ohitsuji said with certy. y. She stood and again raised her hands above her head, mimicking the gesture she\'d used to transform. The words she needed came immediately to her mind. \"What I was, so shall I be.\" Upon saying the incantation, she again felt an energy transference in her body, and her form shifted into her normal human state.

Sanshain hugged her tightly to her. \"I\'m so relieved!\" she said. Her voice was muffled by her face being pressed against Ohitsuji\'s shoulder. \"O-chan, please say you won\'t transform like that often!\" She pulled away from her little sister and looked imploringly into her brown eyes.

\"I\'ll try not to,\" Ohitsuji replied. \"I don\'t plan to use the ability frivolously; however, I have to be always ready since I don\'t know when or where I might be facing my challenger.\"

\"Ok,\" her sister nodded. She was quiet for a moment. \"Are you going to let mother and father know?\" she asked suddenly.

Ohitsuji smiled. \"I\'m sure they know,\" she sof softly. \"Ohitsujiza\'s a spirit from the heavens, and sai said that I was born an avatar for her. That is why I have the name I do, so I\'m sure that they know.\"

Sanshain nodded. \"What are you going to do now?\" she asked.

\"Go on with my life,\" Ohitsuji replied simply. \"Right now in particular I\'m going to get dressed again and get ready to go out; I\'m meeting Kentaurosu at the archery range in a little bit because he\'s going to walk to the Supernatural Club meeting with me.

\"Well, you\'ll certainly have something to share with that club today,\" Sanshain commented.

\"Err...probably not right away,\" Ohitsuji replied. She pulled on her clothing as she spoke. \"It\'s not something I\'m going to blab around...I don\'t need doctors and scientists and stuff wanting to study me or something.\"

Sanshain nodded. \"And what about your guy friend, Kentaurosu? Are you going to let him know? Or that other guy that keeps coming by to see you, Raion? It\'s a kind of important thing for them to know if they\'re courting you.\"

Ohitsuji was quiet for a minute. \"I don\'t know,\" she said finally. \"You\'re right, they do need to know. I\'d like to wait until the time is right, though.\" She finished buttoning up her shirt and waved to her sister as she walked out the door. \"I\'ll see you later!\" she called.

Ohitsuji was absorbed in her own thoughts on the way to the archery range. She knew her sister was right, that she would have to tell Kentaurosu about the change that had taken place in her. She just wasn\'t sure how or when \'the right time\' would be. She certainly didn\'t want to lose him over it, because she was starting to have serious feelings for him, and the idea of approaching him with it continually nagged at her subconsciously. \"How would I even begin to explain it to him?\" she wondered to herself.

\"Why not just tell him plainly, as you did to your sister?\" Ohitsujiza asked.

\"I can\'t just walk up to him and say, \'Hey, Kent-chan, guess what? I turn into some kind of weird, half-sheep thing now - hope you don\'t mind.\'\" Ohitsuji thought.

Ohitsujiza snorted. \"Weird half-sheep thing indeed,\" she said. \"You should feel honored, and if he\'s any kind of man he should feel honored to have you with him!\"

\"I\'m sorry,\" Ohitsuji thought. \"I didn\'t mean to sound like I was ungreatful...it\'s just that this kind of thing isn\'t \'normal\' for humans.\"

\"And what defines normal?\" Ohitsujiza asked. \"Is anyone truly \'normal\' by all meanings of the word?\"

Ohitsuji frowned. She realized she\'d been watching her feet as she walked and looked up to see the archery range right before her. She quickly spotted Kentaurosu finishing up his exercises. She waited by the fenced that walled in the range while he put his bow and arrows away and walked up to her.

He smiled widely at her and slung an arm over her shoulders. \"Hey!\" he exclaimed. \"Glad you could make it! How\'ve you been today?\"

Ohitsuji swallowed and looked at her hands. \"I\'ve been all right,\" she said.

\"You sound like something\'s troubling you,\" Kentaurosu said. \"Is everything all right at home?\"

Ohitsuji nodded. \"Yes, Sis and I are doing fine. I just have a lot of things to think about right now, and it\'s kind of making me distracted.\" She gave him a faint smile.

Kentaurosu pulled her closer to him in a friendly hug. \"I won\'t pry,\" he said. \"I know you don\'t like that. Just let me know if you want to talk to me about anything.\"

\"I will,\" Ohitsuji replied. \"I just have to get some things straightened out in my own head first.\"

The two of them talked of idle chitchat the rest of the way to their Supernatural Club meeting. They made their way to the room being used in the currently out of session college building and entered.

The two of them scanned over the group already there as the door closed behind them. Some members were chatting, some were by themselves, all seemed to be just passing the time until the meeting started.

Suddenly Kentaurosu elbowed Ohitsuji. \"Check out the dweeb,\" he whispered. He nodded across the room to a quiet, dark-haired girl who was sittiy hey herself.

\"There\'s nothing wrong with \'The Dweeb\',\" Ohitsuji objected. \"You men are all the same. She\'s a perfectly nice girl.\"

\"She\'s not moving a muscle,\" Kentaurosu replied dryly.

\"She\'s meditating,\" Ohitsuji clarified. \"It\'s something you should try sometime...I don\'t think a semi-intelligent thought would hurt you too much.\"

\"Hey now,\" Kentaurosu said. \"You take that back. I\'m getting good marks in all my classes!\"

Ohitsuji just rolled her eyes.

Just then, another club member walked into the room. Her long, black hair was draped across her face in her usual fashion, and her eyes were cast downward toward the floor. She walked quickly to her seat and sat down.

The room had fallen silent when she walked in, and nervous whispering and quiet chatter accompanied her across the room. \"Poor thing,\" Ohitsuji commented quietly. \"I feel sorry for her having to walk around with all those scars every day. You\'d think people would get used to it after a while.\"

Kentaurosu shook his head. \"You don\'t just \'get used to it\',\" he said just as quietly. \"Especially when new marks appear every day. Look at her arm - those scratches had to have been made this morning. I still say that she has someone at home who does that to her.\"

\"Who?\" Ohitsuji countered. \"She lives alone. It\'s not like there\'s even anyone there with her.\"

\"An abusive boyfriend, maybe?\" Kentaurosu said. \"I just can\'t see her doing all of that to herself.\"

\"Well, I\'m going to find out,\" Ohitsuji said suddenly. \"It\'s not right for her to be hurting all the time like that.\" She stood up abruptly and walked over to where the raven-haired girl was sitting.

\"Hi!\" Ohitsuji said. \"Your name\'s Mei, right?\"

The girl looked up in surprise. \"Yes, it is,\" she said. \"You\'re Ohitsuji, right? You\'ve been ins cls club for a while.\"

Ohitsuji nodded. \"Mind if I sit down?\" she asked.

\"I don\'t mind,\" Mei said. \"I\'d like to be able to talk to people more, but a lot of people are afraid of me.\"

\"Because of the scars?\" Ohitsuji asked. She realized how bluntly she\'d said it and reddened slightly.

Mei nodded. She noticed Ohitsuji\'s blush and smiled a little. \"It\'s ok,\" she said. \"I know the marks are disconcerting. I\'d like to know what causes them myself; that\'s part of the reason I joined this club. I just can\'t find a normal explanation for it.\"

\"Does it happen at a particular time, or in a particular place?\" Ohitsuji asked.

Mei shook her head in a negative gesture. \"No,\" she replied. \"It\'s anywhere, any time. These new marks on my arm happened on the way to the club meeting today, that\'s why they still look raw.\"

Ohitsuji winced a little. \"Ouch,\" she said. \"It almost looks like a big cat or something scratched you.\" She reached out to touch the marks.

Suddenly, an alarming sensation went through her mind. She started to draw her hand back but wasn\'t quick enough; she felt a sudden rush of air and three long, red scratch marks appeared across the back of her hand. Ohitsuji quickly jerked her hand back to herself and pressed the fingers of her other hand against the wound.

\"Oh, I\'m so sorry!\" Mei gasped. \"That doesn\'t usually happen to other people; I think only one or two other people have been hurt around me since I started getting the scratches.\"

\"Do you remember who they were?\" Ohitsuji asked quickly. Ohitsujiza was mumbling within her mind that she suspected she knew the cause, and Ohitsuji suddenly became aware of what she was sensing.

\"Well, one was a priest one of my friends took me to, and the other was one of my neighbors. She wanted to try to heal my scars with some herbs she had been working with.\"

The small bit of enlightenment gave Ohitsuji the connection she needed. \"Both positive energy manipulators,\" she muttered to herself. As she glanced at Mei again, Ohitsuji was a bit shocked to see a shadowy animal-like form perched on Mei\'s shoulder.

\"I\'m guessing I\'m the only one in the room who can see that,\" she said inwardly.

\"Yes, unless there are other spirits such as myself about,\" Ohitsujiza replied. \"It\'s as I suspected, a beast comprised of negative energy has attached itself to her. They act like a parasite and draw negativity in through their host. It\'s been living off this girl\'s misery; it protects itself by scratching her or others who have tremendous positive energy near her.\"

\"What can we do?\" Ohitsuji wondered.

\"We\'ll need to destroy it,\" Ohitsujiza said. \"It\'s unnatural for that much negative energy to be concentrated in one place; the energy needs to be scattered back among the world at large. It\'s a young creature of it\'s kind, so you\'ll be able to destroy it with the power you\'ve gained from me. It\'s likely you\'ll need to transform, though, because it\'s much more imposing than the facade it\'s putting on now. This small form is just to conserve energy.\"

\"I don\'t want to involve more people than necessary,\" Ohitsuji thought. \"Is there anything I can do until I can get her and I away from public view?\"

\"You can put up a shield,\" Ohitsujiza said. \"I will sustain it for you so that the beast can\'t attack you again while you make arrangements with her.\"

\"Mei,\" Ohitsuji said aloud, \"I think I can help you with your problem.\" She was tracing out the star and circle pattern of her shield on the desk as she spoke. \"Would you mind coming over to my place after the club meeting?\" she asked. She raised her shield between herself and the creature on Mei\'s shoulder. She knew that she and the creature were the only ones who could see the softly glowing disk, but it served it\'s purpose nonetheless.

\"You really think you can?\" Mei asked. \"So many people have tried...\"

Ohitsuji angled the shield a bit and reached out for Mei\'s hand with her other hand. She could hear the claws of the creature furiously swiping at the shield between them, but Ohitsujiza\'s power was enough to keep it at bay.

\"I\'m certain of it,\" Ohitsuji replied. \"I just don\'t want anyone else getting involved, or I\'d take care of it now.\" She stood up to go back to her own seat by Kentaurosu. \"Meet me outside the front doors after the meeting!\" She waved as she walked away.

Kentaurosu watched her with concern as she sat down beside him. \"What happened?\" he asked. He noticed the slash marks on her hand. \"Did she do this to you?\"

\"No,\" Ohitsuji said. \"She doesn\'t even know why it happens to her. I discovered while I talked to her though, that she has a negative spirit near her that causes these wounds. I\'m going to rid her of it after the meeting today.\"

\"What?\" Kentaurosu exclaimed. \"Are you sure you know what you\'re doing?\" he asked more quietly.

Ohitsuji nodded. \"I know what I\'m doing,\" she said. She stared off into space for a moment. \"I\'d like to talk to you later this afternoon as well. Could I call you after I get done with Mei?\"

\"Of course!\" Kentaurosu said. \"You know I\'ll be there any time you need me.\"

Ohitsuji leaned in closer to Kentaurosu. The two almost had a romantic moment, but they were both suddenly glomped from behind by long, powerful arms. A young man stuck his grinning face and shoulder-length golden hair between them. \"Hey!\" he said, \"you two aren\'t going to get all mushy here in front of everyone are you?\"

\"Raion,\" Ohitsuji groaned.

\"Jerk,\" Kentaurosu muttered. \"What do you want?\"

\"What do I usually want?\" Raion asked cheerfully. \"I came by to see if O-chan was busy this afternoon.\"

Ohitsuji rolled her eyes. \"Raion,\" she said, \"You know that I\'m going out with Kent-chan. Why do you keep asking?\"

\"It never hurts to try!\" Raion said with a grin.

Kentaurosu frowned. \"The first fifty times, anyway,\" he muttered.

\"Hey now,\" Raion said, \"it hasn\'t been fifty times yet. More like...forty eight.\" He smiled and was about to add something to the statement; however, he was interrupted by the club president calling the meeting to order. He winked at the other two. \"See you later!\" he said as he sauntered off.

\"What a jerk,\" Kentaurosu muttered under his breath. \"Trying to pick you up when I\'m sitting right here.\"

\"I think that\'s half the reason he does it, Kent-chan,\" Ohitsuji whispered. \"He knows it drives you nuts.\"

The meeting itself passed rather uneventfully. As soon as the club president dismissed the meeting, Ohitsuji jumped out of her chair. She saw that Raion was already headed across the room on an intercept course. Ohitsuji leaned over and gave Kentaurosu a quick kiss on the cheek. \"I\'ll call you later,\" she said, then dashed out the door and toward the entrance where she was to me Mei.

Mei was already there waiting for her. \"Hope you don\'t mind walking fast,\" Ohitsuji said. \"Raion\'s kind of a pain in the butt, and I want to ditch him right away if I can.\"

Mei giggled a little. \"No problem,\" she said.

The two of them hurried along the sidewalk in silence for a couple minutes. A couple of turns later Ohitsuji slowed. Mei fell into pace beside her.

\"So where are we going for this anyway?\" Mei asked a little nervously.

\"My place,\" Ohitsuji said. \"My sister knows better than to pry, and no one else will be around.\"

Mei just nodded in response. The two of them walked together to Ohitsuji\'s house; Ohitsuji kept her shield up most of the way. The parasitic negativity on Mei wasn\'t about to leave without a fight.

Sanshain called out from the living room as the two girls entered the house. \"O-chan, is that you?\"

\"Stay in the living room, Sanshain!\" Ohitsuji called back. \"I\'ll explain in a bit!\" She hurried Mei on to her bedroom to keep her as far away from her sister as possible.

Sanshain looked up worriedly and caught a glimpse of Ohitsuji ushering Mei through the house. She knew that her younger sister told her to stay for a reason. She\'d seen the scarred girl around Ohitsuji\'s Supernatural Club before and had always gotten an uneasy feeling around her. She couldn\'t help but wonder what was going on, even as she followed Ohitsuji\'s request of staying put.

Ohitsuji led Mei into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. She could hear a hissing, spitting sound from the creature perched on Mei\'s shoulder; it was very obviously displeased with the situation. \"Sit on the bed for a minute,\" Ohitsuji instructed. \"I need to change quick.\"

Mei sat on the edge of the bed and glanced about nervously. She saw Ohitsuji tossing her shoes and jeans into the closet and noticed that the window was thankfully covered by a curtain. Her attention was drawn to Ohitsuji again as she heard the other girl speak.

\"My spirit protector, great power of the Zodiac, I call upon your power. Join your form with mine and make us one!\" Ohitsuji was wearing only her shirt as she spoke, but it quickly became apparent that it didn\'t matter.

Mei gasped as Ohitsuji transformed right before her eyes. She tried to find her voice to say something, anything, but she was interrupted by a loud snarl from the space above her shoulder. She craned her head around to look in the direction of the sound but could see nothing.

\"Mei, duck!\" Ohitsuji suddenly cried.

Mei reacted without thought and ducked just as Ohitsuji leaped from where she was standing and seemingly tackled something as she flew over Mei\'s shoulder. Mei looked behind her to find Ohitsuji in her transformed state, wrestling a dark, twisted, cat-like creature on the bed. Her hands flew to her lips in voiceless shock as the creature tossed Ohitsuji off the bed and into the nearby wall.

Ohitsuji was quickly on her feet again and grasped the creature by the shoulders. \"Your time of tormenting this girl is over, beast,\" she said. Her voice was low and dangerous. \"Be gone with you!\" She lifted the creature above her head and carried it toward the window.

However, the creature wasn\'t about to give in that easily. It suddenly shrieked in a high-pitched wail and struggled in Ohitsuji\'s grasp. She was forced to drop it as it grew immense in size. The creature advanced on her and pinned her by the throat with it\'s forearm against the wall.

Ohitsuji reached up with her hands and grasped the muscular forearm. She dug her hoofed feet into the wood paneling of the floor and struggled to push the beast away from her.

Suddenly, Sanshain\'s voice came through the closed door. \"O-chan, I\'m sure I probably don\'t want to know what\'s going on in there, but you be careful that no one gets hurt, ok?\"

Ohitsuji grimaced in pain and threw a wry look toward the door. \"That\'s Sis for you,\" she wheezed.

However, the beast\'s attention was momentarily drawn away from Ohitsuji by Sanshain\'s voice, and Ohitsuji saw her opening. She dove forward with all of her might, driving the beast in front of her toward the window. The two of them crashed through the window and onto the front lawn. Ohitsuji gathered her strength and heaved the creature into the sky, then raised her hands in front of her, palms outward and aimed toward the beast. She fired a powerful blast that connected solidly with the beast\'s body, shattering it into millions of tiny droplets. The droplets were propelled outward and away from each other into the atmosphere.

\"Wow!\" thought Ohitsuji. \"I didn\'t know I could do something that cool!\"

\"\'Cool\' isn\'t the word,\" Ohitsujiza replied dryly.

Mei quickly raised what was left of the broken window and leaned out. \"Ohitsuji, are you all right?\" she asked.

Ohitsuji walked back to the window and climbed inside before any curious neighbors had a chance to look out and see her. \"Yeah, I\'m ok,\" she said tiredly. \"That was some workout though!\"

\"I...This is all so amazing...I...I don\'t know what to say,\" Mei said in semi-shock. \"You mean that creature was the thing that was causing all the scratches on me?\"

Ohitsuji nodded. \"It was a being of intense negative energy. They prey on solitary humans to gather more negative energy and make themselves stronger. Any time it was threatened with positive energy it would lash out. That\'s why your neighbor and that priest were attacked, and why it attacked me this morning.\"

\"I never knew you had such an awesome secret,\" Mei said. She studied Ohitsuji\'s transformed form more closely now that peace had settled on the room.

Ohitsuji laughed a little. \"I didn\'t know myself until this morning,\" she said. \"Normally I wouldn\'t have taken on a creature like that myself; I probably wouldn\'t even have known about it. However, my guardian spirit, the one who allows me to transform like this, lets me know what I can and can\'t face by myself. Luckily, this creature was something I was able to tackle alone.\"

\"It won\'t come back, will it?\" Mei asked nervously.

Ohitsuji consulted briefly with Ohitsujiza. \"No, it won\'t,\" she replied after a moment. \"It\'s been dispelled into the world in general, where it belongs. And it\'s not likely another creature of it\'s type will attempt to use as aas a host, because word will get around now that I\'m watching for such an occurrence.\"

Just then there was a knock on the door. \"O-chan?\" Sanshain called. \"O-chan, is everything all right?\"

Before Ohitsuji could respond, the door was thrown open. Kentaurosu rushed into the room; Sanshain hovered behind him in the doorway.

\"Sanshain called and said she heard a fight in here-\" Kentaurosu started in a rush. He stopped short as the disheveled bedroom and transformed Ohitsuji caught his gaze. He stood in shock for a long moment, unable to find his voice to even ask anything.

Ohitsuji waved cutely and tried to give him a winning smile. \"Er...long story?\" she said.