I own my soul and that is about it I think
What a Day
If she had to look back on her life, and pick one day to sum up her entire existence, it would be in February, more specifically, Friday the 13th, in her 16th year of life. The day started normal enough as she had forgotten what day of the week it was.
She had spent the last few decades it seemed like fixing fish and dodging fatal blows from her sensei.
It was in an argument with a loud blonde-haired person that she realized that today was going to be a very bad day.
It was embarrassing enough to be known for having a large forehead, but the rumor had been slowly spreading about her one true fear. It was not a fear like growing old and never being loved was a fear for her, which was more a deep seeded concern anyway. She knew that the probability of living a long life was a slim one in her profession to begin with, so if she did by some grace (or an extreme amount of luck) live to be an old lady, she was sure that someday she would be loved, even if it were only by her cat.
"Paraskavedekatriaphobia" she looked it up. It was real. There was no telling her that being afraid of Friday the 13th wasn't a real phobia. But she knew that, ever since she was a little girl every time one of these unlucky days came around something bad happened, she tried to avoid calendars and purposely tried to confuse herself as to what day it was.
One of her first bad memories of that day was when she was a little girl, and she was so happy because she had her first crush. She went to go tell her first best friend Ino, but when she did, she found out she wasn't to only one pining over Sasuke, so she lost her first real friend to a stupid rivalry. Then a few months later when the next Friday the 13th came around she broke her first bone, it was only in her wrist but it still hurt. Her mind had always been riddled with memories of bad luck and pain when those unluckiest of days came around. Over the years it became a full-blown phobia, she would call in sick to work a week in advance for them, she refused to take missions, heck sometimes she refused to get out of bed at all. She would just burn incense and hope that no evil spirits would come to do anything weird to her. As she lived in a shinobi village, it was not very long before people started to notice a trend. Her old sensei Kakashi came over to apartment one such Friday when she was 13 wearing a Tengu mask and literally scared her half to death, it was several weeks before she even spoke to him again. She is still undecided as to weather she will ever fully forgive him for that cruel joke.
But this one day was unlike any other she had ever experienced.
It almost seemed surreal thinking back on it.
It was 10:02am the cardinals where out, a cool winter breeze blew by her as she sat in the cherry tree field, watching the buds as they swayed in the light chill of the air. She was on a break from her training, sipping her pocari sweat eating some rainbow mochi, when she heard a small rattling coming from her left. Looking over she saw nothing, and so she dismissed it as an over active imagination or some animal who was curious about what she was eating.
She sat for a few more minutes thinking on how she hoped this evil day would be ok and nothing bad would happen, I mean she was 16 that's way to old to be afraid of a stupid day, she was a kunoichi for crying out loud, she saw and caused death all the time!!! How could she have a phobia?!?!?
Then it hit her.
Literally…
From her left side came something wispy and fast.
So fast, she had no idea what hit her.
When she started to regain her consciousness, everything was dark; she smelled the faint scent of dried blood, and she heard shushing noises and some scrambling about. She tried to move but a stabbing pain shot through her skull causing her to whimper and collapse again. She realized then that the reason it was so dark was that she was blindfolded. Feeling silly for not noticing she desperately hoped her hands were not tied.
They where free and she wondered how she had let her guard down so much that she allowed herself to be captured in her own village. Moving slowly so as to not hurt her head anymore, she lifted the piece of cloth covering her eyes.
It was not even a full second later that she wished she hadn't. She was lying in a medium sized room that was completely blacked out, but there was a small emanating light in the center near where she was laying, and surrounding her where thirteen figures with horrible faces and various outfits. They look almost as if they where glowing because of the dim light in the room.
Her breathing hitched, her eyes started to water and the scream she was desperate to give caught in her throat, as she was sure she was going to die.
"Wh…what…a.a.are…y..o..you?" was all she could muster as she forced herself to calm down.
"We are Yokai" one of them said in a shrill wicked sounding voice.
When she came to again she had no idea how much time had passed since she had fainted upon hearing them saying they where Yokai.
She was sure she was dreaming.
Yokai weren't real.
They where folk-lore, things people made scary movies about.
Not creatures she had ever dreamed of coming face to face with.
As she looked around she saw creatures she had been told of in bed-time stories when she was a child, there was Yuki-onna beautiful and cold. A Tengu with fierce feathers and calm demeanor, a Tanuki with its round face laughing, a Kitsuni with its pointed ears and intelligent eyes, a slosh of water brought her attention to a Kappa, an Azukiarai was sitting next to him fingering his beans with his grotesque hand while fingering his beard with the other. A Futakuchi-onna was facing away from her but she could see her second mouth smiling at her through the woman's long black hair, beside her was a Rokurokubi woman whose neck was stretching up and down as if she where bored. A hideous old woman with long white hair sat by looking almost as helpless as Sakura felt under the gaze of all these obake. It took her a moment to realize the old woman was a Yuma-uba and she was indeed not helpless at all. There was a woman with a mutilated face repeating over and over "Kirei da to omou?" the poor thing must have been a Kuchisake-onna, once beautiful to the point where her husband or lover was so jealous that he slit her mouth open from ear to ear. She was beginning to feel like crying again but this time it was a little less of fear and more of sorrow for what Yokai must have gone through in there lives to make them spirits who cannot leave the earth.
There was a Noppera-bo with no face, a Harioago with barbed hair who was laughing as if something wickedly funny was happening nearby. But the last one she registered in her mind was one that scared her the most.
It was a Huge red monster with an iron club bigger than her wearing a tiger-skinned loin cloth, and adorning his head was a pair of huge horns, it was an Oni.
This was bad really bad.
Random reference
Yuki-onna the snow woman
Yama-uba the mountain hag
Tengu the infamous bird-man demon of the mountains
Tanuki a shapeshifting raccoon dog
Rokurokubi - a person, usually female, whose neck can stretch indefinitely
Oni - the classic Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns
Noppera-bō - a faceless ghost
Kitsune - a supernatural fox
Kuchisake-onna - the slit-mouthed woman
Kappa - a famous water monster with a water-filled head and a love of cucumbers
Harionago - a female monster with deadly barbed hair
Futakuchi-onna - the two-mouthed woman
Azukiarai - a spirit which makes the sound of azuki beans being washed
Azuki beans are little red sweet beans that are yummy, Pocari sweat is a sports drink popular in Japan its quite yummy.