The Fable of the Three Brother Guardians

Tanuki Mythology speaks of The Three Brother Guardians, who were a set of three canid Rakshasa brothers who had fallen in love with Inari. A popular Tanuki fable about the Three Brothers, spoke of how the three were all fooled into killing one another, their spirits eternally enslaved to guard and protect Inari's chambers. The three brothers were named Oxo, Innock , and Ivan.

G.H.O.S.T.'s Alpha Team was able to elicit the help of the spirits of the brothers, by first quieting their restless blood, and then allowing the angry spirits to finally confess to one another the truth about what had happened to them in death. It was the Three Brother Guardians whose vengeance weakened Inari, unmasking her, revealing her true Kitsune nature to Alpha Team.

The following is the Fable of the Three Brothers, as it was written in the ancient texts:


 * The Story of the Three Brothers, (寓話と三兄弟のレッスン)


 * “Once upon a time there was a cunning fox.  Important as she was, she knew that alone she was vulnerable, and so she asked for the help of three very competitive brothers, Innock, Ivan, and Oxo to help guard her hoard.  She was beautiful beyond words and all three brothers longed to be more to her than just her lowly servant.  The fox saw this as an opportunity, for she knew that the possession of the souls of the brothers were much more valuable to her than just their allegiances alone.  


 * And so she said to Innock, “Just as you, your brother Oxo seeks more than just my favor.  He plots to kill you.  But should you kill him first, I may look upon you more favorably than I do him now.”


 * And so Innock confronted his brother Oxo-- slaying him with his pointed spear, his green blood tainting its tip.


 * The next day Inari said to Ivan, “Your brother Innock has gone too far.  He has slain your other brother, Oxo, and now he seeks to do the same to you.


 * And so Ivan confronted Innock-- the resulting argument led to Innock dead on the floor, his blue blood coating the metal of Ivan’s mighty broadsword.


 * On the final day, Ivan celebrated the day he would become the chosen favorite at the side of the cunning fox for all of time, and drank and feasted to his own glory.


 * And so as he ate and drank gluttonously to celebrate his victory, he began to choke and cough violently, collapsing in a heap upon the floor as his late brother Oxo’s black poisons flowed through his red-blooded veins.  For he did not know that the fox had first gone to Oxo and warned him of the other two, their fates all sealed.  


 * In death, their ignorant souls ever guard their beloved fox, unaware of her plot against them.  Only the blood of murdering brother, calmed of its aggression can warn the fallen ones of the truth.”