Takeshita Demons (14 page)

The angry red characters around Okuda's neck
were lost in the rush of blood to her head, but I could
see them still working away, stitching or unstitching
to set her head free.

Just as her body collapsed to the ground, Okuda's
head flew up, cackling and wailing.

"You cannot beat me," the head crowed, sweeping
in a wide circle above our heads.

"I am sorry, nukekubi," said the dragon woman.
"But I already have." She turned to stare at the place
where Okuda's body had been, but all that was left
was a shrinking pile of caramel clothes.

Okuda's body was literally shrivelling away,
disappearing. She was being crushed into nothing.

"No..." Okuda's head gave one final shriek,
then fell limp and lifeless to the floor, its black hair
flung out on the ground like a flag.

Everyone was silent for a long time.

"Is she...?" Cait asked eventually.

The woman of the wet nodded slowly. "It was
Zashiko's plan. And my work."

"When the body is destroyed..." Cait whispered.

"...the nukekubi is dead," I finished, wondering at what we had just seen. Then I shook my head to
clear my thoughts. We were forgetting one important
thing.

I rushed across the classroom to the pile of clothes
that had been Mrs Okuda. There, sitting happily,
though his cheeks were still wet, was my brother.

"Kazu," I cried, scooping him up in my arms.
He smiled and gurgled a hello. He seemed fine, and
he weighed just the same as ever. "What happened
here?" I asked, confronting the dragon woman again.
"Who are you?"

"I have already told you," she said. "I am the
nure-onna. Woman of the wet." Her tongue slid
slowly in and out, like a snake resting after a large
meal. "I do not usually travel so far from Japan,
but this nukekubi was causing trouble, and the
Takeshitas are well known in my circles. It seems
Zashiko still cares for you," she smiled. "All the way
from Japan, she still watches for you."

"What about you?" Cait asked. "Now what?"

The serpent demon hissed, a soft, sighing sound.
"I think I like it here. There is plenty for me to do."

"You know you can't always flood our school,"
Cait grinned. "And not all our teachers are cut-throat
demons."

The dragon woman smiled. "I know. Maybe you will not need to see me again. There are others who
have followed you, the noppera-bo, the okubi, the
amazake-baba and more. Most will not cause you
trouble. They are just curious. You are Takeshita,
after all. You carry your grandmother's blood, and
her grandmother's blood before that. The nukekubi
was right. You have great powers, though you do not
know it yet." The demon looked distressed. A strange
trickling noise had interrupted her thoughts. "I must
go," she said. "The waters recede."

She reversed her massive body out of the door,
riding slowly on the retreating waves.

"But, what kind of powers?" I asked, desperate to
know more before she left.

She smiled at me, fangs gleaming. "You will
find them. Already you have discovered more than
I thought possible. And your curly-haired friend is a
wise one, and brave." She turned and nodded kindly
at Cait. "Together, you will discover even more."

There was a strange gurgling sound, like water
draining from a sink, and then, in an instant, she
had gone.

I rushed to the door and peered down the corridor.
But all I could see was the gleam of drying puddles.
The woman of the wet had disappeared.

We didn't have long to wait till morning. The
sun was already climbing the sky as we jumped
from our classroom window, passing Kazu like a
delicate treasure between us. All around, the snow
was melting, turning into tiny streams and trickles
down the street. I wondered about the yuki-onna.
Where had she disappeared to?

"Wonder if there'll be any school today,"
Cait said, kicking at the snow as we walked home.

I grimaced. "There'd better not be a maths test.
I don't think I could get a single question right.
I'm exhausted."

So, it seemed, was Kazu. He was asleep again,
breathing soundly in Cait's arms with not a sign of
the cough that had troubled him before.

"Hey, Miku Mouse," a voice yelled from down
the street.

I turned to see who it was, just in time to get
a snowball in the face. Choking and spluttering,
I cleared the icy snow from my eyes, desperate to see
what demon was attacking us this time.

"How's your mum?" the demon yelled. Except it
wasn't a demon. It was Alex, grinning and scooping
more snow for another attack. "Did you hear?
No school today. The pipes burst and the whole place
flooded overnight. Cool, huh?"

Another snowball came sailing across the street
in our direction.

We ducked and I gathered some snow for a
counter-attack. "My mum's in hospital actually,"
I said. "She hurt her ankle on the ice last night."
I hurled the snowball in Alex's direction and started
walking away. "Come on, Cait, let's get home."

I expected a snowball in the back at any moment,
but none came.

"Sorry about your mum," Alex called. There was
a pause, but I didn't look back. "Will we see you at the
park later on?" he yelled.

This time I turned around, not sure if Alex was
teasing or not.

His face seemed serious.

"Maybe," I called, and he smiled.

"Cool. You can come too, O'Neill. We're planning a mega snowfight. Awesome." He hurled another
snowball at us and we scurried away.

"You really going to a snowfight with Alex?"
Cait asked.

"Dunno." I grinned. "Depends on whether Mum's
OK. And whether Mrs Williams can babysit Kazu."

I let us through my front door and we floated
like sleepwalkers into the flat.

"Hey, you want to stay over tonight as well?"
I asked, grinning.

"Will it be like last night?" Cait asked.

"Maybe."

"Then maybe," Cait answered, grinning back.
"But first, we eat. I'm starving. We'll need our strength
if we're going to throw snowballs all afternoon."

We tucked Kazu into his cot and cranked out
another pizza, this time Hawaiian.

While it was cooking, I dragged a chair over to
our front door and stuck another cedar leaf in the
door-frame. Better safe than sorry, even if they did
only work on minor demons.

And although we also ate this pizza fast enough
to burn our tongues, we left a spare piece on the
bench, just in case Zashiko was passing by and in the
mood for something new. I hoped my Baba would be
proud.

I still prefer teddy bears and bunny rabbits to
ghosts and evil spirits, but it's too late for that now.
One day I'll tell Kazu all about what happened, and
I'll teach him more about the Takeshita ghosts and
demons that still haunt us. Who knows what could
be waiting just around the corner?

If you ever come up against a nukekubi of your
own, I hope that some of what you've read here will
help you. Don't forget what you've learned, and keep
your eyes peeled for strange red markings or peculiar
itchings. And if you wake up one morning to find that
your pillow is down by your feet instead of up by
your head, or the light in your ceiling is rocking like
a boat, be very thankful. It could be that someone is
looking out for you.

More about Japanese Demons

Better known as yokai supernatural demons have
featured in Japanese fairy tales and folklore for centuries.
Many hundreds of yokai exist: some came originally from
China while others sprang up to explain spooky stories or
strange happenings. Scholars have been cataloguing yokai
species in encyclopedias and databases since the 1770s.

Yokai are still popular in modern Japan: they have
restaurant dishes named after them, statues sold of them,
books written about them. They star in manga comics and
movies, are used to advertise banks and beer, and might
still be blamed when something strange goes bump in the
night.

The Japanese characters used to write yokai mean
"bewitching" and "suspicious", and the word can refer to
all kinds of supernatural spirits: goblins, ghosts, monsters
and more. Yokai can be bringers of luck or harbingers of
doom, clippers of hair or shakers of beans. They can be
good, evil, or just plain strange.

Only one thing is certain about yokai: one is probably
watching you right now!

Yokai featured in Takeshita Demons

This yokai takes the shape of an old woman with a gentle
voice, but don't be fooled. If you answer the door when
she knocks, chances are you'll fall ill with chicken pox.