Author's Note:

Alright, after being asked by several people to put this up here, I figured, why not! First order of business is that this story is a little bit self inserty, but it's just with me and one other friend, very briefly at the start. This takes place in a universe where we have watches and live with yokai, but this isn't about us. This is about the yokai in our lives, so no worries in that department.

Second order of business is that I chose to use Japanese names for yokai in this story for the most part, and I use yokai from YW2 and YW3. I'll make a quick reference for the names of yokai that have confirmed English names so far right here.

Matenshi - K'mon-K'mon

Meramelion - Blazion

Manojishi - Lie-in Heart

Urayameshi - Wotchagot

Zashiki Warashin - High Gnomey

Fuumin - Insomni

Sorry for any confusion. I really hope you enjoy this.

"What were you like when you were alive?"

That was a question that many yokai heard all too often. So many yokai had a painful past and ached to find others with similar stories. Others were born as yokai and had no idea what it was like to walk among humans as fully corporeal flesh and blood. Others, well, others were just nosy and needed to mind their own business.

No matter who, what, or where the question came from, Matenshi was absolutely sick of hearing it.

Urayameshi, his adoptive brother, had just asked him, his nubby little hands clenched into something resembling fists as he leaned forward in interest, his eyes shining. Puffing his cheeks out in irritation, Matenshi looked down at the unopened cup of pudding in front of him and tore the lid off, pretending it was Urayameshi's face.

"Why are you pouting?" Urayameshi's smile faded and he folded his arms. "I just asked a question!" Urayameshi's eyes flicked down to Matenshi's pudding and Matenshi groaned, swishing a spoonful up and jamming it into his brother's mouth before he even asked. "Fank nyou." Urayameshi mumbled around the spoon.

Matenshi yanked the spoon out of Urayameshi's mouth a bit too roughly. "You're not getting any more."

Urayameshi closed his eyes blissfully for a moment before they shot open in realization. He gulped down the pudding and squeaked out "D-don't change the subject! I just wanna know what your life was like! I don't think I was ever alive, so..."

"I DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING, OKAY?! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Matenshi slammed his fist on the table.

"MATENSHI! DON'T YELL AT YOUR BROTHER!" Tori's voice called from the other room. Matenshi's face burned and he slammed it on the table, wrapping his arms around his head.

"Gee, if I knew you were gonna be this touchy, I wouldn't have asked." Urayameshi pouted, folding his nubby little arms again. He floated off, trying to sneakily grab Matenshi's pudding in the process, but Matenshi's arm shot up and grabbed Urayameshi right by the tail.

"Eep!" Urayameshi looked backwards and he found himself gazing right into the eyes of a hellbeast.

"Don't. Touch. That." Oh, Matenshi was the hellbeast. Urayameshi should have known.

"I won't, I won't!" Urayameshi tugged at his tail until Matenshi finally let him go. He floated out of the room as fast as he could, leaving Matenshi alone in the kitchen.

Matenshi wasn't going to dwell on Urayameshi's question. After "hmph"-ing at no one in particular, he dug into his snack, turning his thoughts to where he was going later.

A new game was being released at midnight, a gory, gritty affair that was popular with college boys. College boys loooooved to fight, and Matenshi was aching to stir up some trouble. It had been too long since he got in any proper inspirits, and yokai needed to inspirit as much as they needed to sleep. He was starting to feel really on edge… well, more on edge than usual. But he knew tonight he'd get enough inspirits to last him a long while.

Tossing his empty pudding cup in the trash, he turned the corner into the living room, where Tori was resting on the couch with Okomusha dozing on her knee. She was absent-mindedly stroking his hair. Manojishi was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed and his arms folded, no doubt thinking about something stupid, Matenshi thought.

"I'm goin' out!" Matenshi announced, jogging towards the door. "WAH!" Matenshi squeaked when he felt someone grab his belt from behind. Puffing out his cheeks, he glared over his shoulder and saw that Manojishi was the one who grabbed him. "Whaddaya want? I got places to go."

Manojishi's eyes snapped open, chilling Matenshi to his very core. "You're not going anywhere without a coat."

Tori shushed the both of them, pointing at the dozing Okomusha. Sighing a bit, she mouthed "thank you" at Manojishi.

"I can't believe you're letting him go out this late…" Manojishi grumbled, grabbing a tiny, puffy coat off the coat rack with the hand that wasn't gripping Matenshi. Matenshi was squirming and flapping his wings, but he wasn't going anywhere.

Tori just gave a sheepish smile and shrugged her shoulders.

Manojishi finally let go of Matenshi and Matenshi snatched the coat from his hand, throwing it on before making a beeline for the door.

"Be safe…!" Tori called as loudly as she could without disturbing Okomusha.

"Yeah, yeah…" Matenshi yanked the door open and took off into the night, not even bothering to shut it behind him.

Manojishi took it upon himself to close the door and lock it behind the little angel. "Do you want me to follow him?" he offered, crooking an eyebrow questioningly at Tori.

Tori shook her head. "He'll be fine. He's a responsible little man."

Manojishi moved the curtain aside and sighed in annoyance. "He threw his coat on the lawn."

Tori laughed nervously, her face reddening. "... did I say responsible? I meant tough. He's done this a million times, Manojishi."

"Let me know if you change your mind," Manojishi let go of the curtain and it swished back to where it was supposed to be.

"He'll. Be. Fine." Tori insisted.