The Girl

„Baa- chan, baa chan, tell us a story!"

A great flock of children, both girls and boys of all ages grouped around the hut´s fireplace swelled up with excitement, when the shrivelled up old woman threw a log into the flames. The wooden walls lighted up red in the sudden outburst of sparks, as did the ancient face, wrinkled up with thousands fine lines when smiling her toothless smile.

„Very well, lil´ones. I will tell you a story tonight. Which one do you want to hear? The one about the wondrous apple tree which once bore golden fruit, or about the water nymph in the downtown well, or about the powerful and beautiful demon lord whom I once met?"

There was dissonance for a while among the children, but as soon as the word „demon" left her mouth children cried out unanimously: „Tell us about the demon! About the beautiful youkai lord!"

The old baaba* nestled herself to find a better position to sit in, stretched and re-crossed her stiffened legs, folded her brown gnarled hands into her lap and started her story.

„In the days before your parent´s parents were little children, you could meet youkai quite often. Some of them were small and mischievous, like the kistune*. Some of them ordinary folk wouldn´t recognize, because they looked like normal people: only a miko* or a houshi* could break their disguise. Very rarely a demon lord could be seen near villages. These youkai mostly left you in peace- that is if you didn´t bother them. There were, however, rumours of evil ones, who would catch people and eat them, or kidnap beautiful maidens. Among those was a story about a powerful and terrifying youkai lord, who appeared in a form of a beautiful young man accompanied by a little girl. No one I knew saw him in person, they only heard stories by second or third hand. Therefore I didn´t really believe those rumours to be true. If there was anyone, I thought it was a disguised kitsune pair in the middle of another mischief. What would a youkai lord do in a poor land like ours? In addition, there were lots of different stories: some said they were accompanied by a kappa* in ancient dress carrying a strange staff, some said that the girl rode a two headed dragon. They even said that the youkai had only one arm. Others again said that the youkai was so dreadful he could kill with his sole look and that the child seen on his side was each time a different one: he clearly kidnapped small girls and probably bit their heads of and ate their hearts. Though obviously just a rumour, elders in time started to use the story to scare naughty children with the one armed demon lord, who would come and take them if they played out after dark."

The old crone stopped to take a cautious sip of the steaming mug of tea, which was laid in front of her by one of the grown woman in the room. While she drank, the children started to whisper and squirm until they were hushed by the very same woman, who after that merged again into the shadow. The old dame resumed the talk.

„It was around that time I started to learn the lore of herbs and healing by our village miko. Unfortunately I didn´t have any spiritual powers, hence there was a limit how much could I learn about healing. Still, a helping hand never comes to naught. In no time I could brew a potion to lessen the fever or fix a dislocated arm or ankle. I learned midwifery as well - it was maybe the most important of the skills to learn. I ought to stay with the miko until she would find a more suitable apprentice or until I would marry. In those days that are now long gone, I was young and beautiful. Why, I wasn´t always an old ugly hag as I am now, believe me or not," she wagged with her gnarled finger at the children who giggled at her words. "I was no more than fifteen winters old, sweet and chipper, I had the blackest hair and deepest eyes, the smallest nose and my skin was fairer than that of the other village girls. I had all my teeth and they were white and strong. I had had many suitors; the headman´s son was among them. I could have had married anyone in the village if I wanted to.

„But you didn´t marry," interrupted her one of the bigger girls. „You don´t have any children."

„Yes, indeed I didn´t marry. And why I didn´t, I will tell you in a heartbeat if you hold your mouths shut and your ears open," rebuked her the old crone.

„As I told you, the old miko taught me about herbs and about other things and she taught me about youkai as well. She told me that the most powerful of them can take on human form. According to her youkai of that magnificence usually hate humans to the bone and normally wouldn´t hurt them out of pure malice or kill for pleasure. But that meant it was very improbable such a one would take a human as his companion. They were rather solitary beings who roamed around their waste territories which belonged to them by law older than that of the people. The best thing that could happen when you encountered such a youkai by a chance, was to be ignored by him. However, it never harmed to be polite and bow your head and let them pass undisturbed. Nevertheless, as the miko told me, there were some really evil- minded youkai and one should try to escape as quickly possible when he met then - until he had really strong spiritual powers (or was a fool) and challenged them for a fight.

One day I was picking some herbs for restraining bleeding. It was just on the outskirts of our village, some dozen meters after the last vegetable fields, where the grass grew tall and thick. I could still hear children´s voices carried to me by the wind. Suddenly in the grass there was a girl child in front me. Her eyes were wet, she sobbed and held her ankle. Through her little fingers a bit of blood seeped through. She was a stranger, around 8 winters old and wore a fine yukata that didn´t fit with her tangled hair and bare, dirty feet. I squatted down.

"You are hurt, child. Let me see you, maybe I can help you."

The girl bravely sniffed and withdrew her hand. There was a wound on the underside of her feet. It was a deep gash and still bleeding, but more dangerous looked the big bruise and swelling around her ankle. It was probably dislocated and I confirmed it when I touched it. Although I did it very cautiously, the child let out a stifled cry through her clenched teeth. She was very brave, I had to admit that.

"What is your name, sweetie?" I tried to distract her when I inspected the wound and the swelling closer.

"Rin," she sobbed.

"Well Rin, I can help you, but it will hurt."

She looked right into my eyes and nodded. "Rin is used to pain." It was then the first time wonderment came to me: what does a child like her do alone on strange fields? She was obviously alone, she couldn´t come so far on her own.

"Are you on the road with your parents?" I asked her but she shook her head. "With your guardian?" A nod.

"And is he nearby?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru will find Rin."

I lifted my brow at the honorific name but subscribed it to the child´s age. Maybe it was some game they played together."

"All right, Rin, but until he picks you up, how about I take you to the village? I can tend to your wound and fix up your ankle."

She seemed as if she thought about it and then nodded. "Sesshoumaru-sama will find me in the village." Again the strange name and the odd honorific.

"In fact, it would be the best if I fixed your ankle right now before it gets too stiff. As I said, it will hurt very much, but only for a very short while," I said quickly as a worry appeared in her eyes. Then she nodded bravely.

"Rin will grip her teeth."

"Ok, you are a brave child." I reached in my pocket and pulled out a clean kerchief. "Here, you better bite here so you don´t bite off your tongue. And hold on to some grass," I said, cautiously stretching her leg and searching for the best position to pull the bones in place with one fast movement.

"Are you ready?" I asked. Rin nodded, though tears were again pooling in hear eyes.

"On the count of three….one…two…three….."

Before her heart throbbing cry died away and the small body went limp on the grass after losing its consciousness, I felt a strange change in the air. All at once there was no sound around me, the animals went quiet and even the wind stopped. From the forest behind me a flock of birds took off in a stampede. In the next second I was in the air, held by my throat by a clawed hand. I could feel sharp talons pricking my skin and was looking into a demonic yet beautiful male face.

In that very moment I knew who the child was. It was the rumoured girl following a youkai lord. And the youkai lord was now in front of me and he thought I killed his companion. There was nothing I could do. In faint attempts I tried to peel of the hand from my neck but I could as well try to move an iron collar. My legs were kicking weaker and weaker and my vision got blurry. His gaze still held me fascinated despite my mind slowly slipping into the shadows.

In his eyes there was kill and his withdrawn lips revealed fangs that glistened with death ("Never damage or harm anything that a youkai lays his claim on" echoed the old miko s word in my ears).

"I will kill you," he growled at in a low albeit strangely calm voice. "Prepare to die, human."