And now for something completely different! This time, I'm going to try my hand on a mythical ancient Japanese setting. Of course, creative liberties would be taken so the folklore is going to be a different but I'll try my best to keep things as period accurate and fact accurate as possible. If anyone has any comments, corrections, etc, please feel free to tell me. Thank you! I hope writing this story in a Japanese setting won't be too presumptuous or pretentious of me.
満月の流れ星
Mangetsu no Nagareboshi
The Full Moon's Shooting Star
Chapter 1: 消えた月
The Disappeared Moon
~ .+*.-.+ (C *:-.*+. ~
The forests were tranquil and full of sleepy birdsong.
Around him, drenched in the colors of sunset, rose the silent sentinels that made up the forest, the wind hushing through their darkened leaves throwing the ground beneath in constantly overlapping mosaics of light and shadows. It was the time of day in which the world slowed for the encroaching night and its lullaby of darkness.
But underneath that layer of tranquility, a subtle fundamental shift in the balance of the world had already taken place beneath their feet.
Lately, there had been a startling increase in the number of youkai roaming about as of late.
Those that mainly came at night grew bolder in the daytime and nighttime was rapidly growing to become more a living nightmare than a time of peace and rest.
The reason why was obvious: the moon had vanished from the sky about a week ago.
It was impossible to tell at first when it happened since the sky had been covered in an obscuring layer of clouds, but Shinichi had felt it in a way that tugged at his gut in defiance to all logic that the moon wasn't simply hidden behind clouds but that it was gone in the truest sense of the word.
Sure enough, the next night, the moon never rose.
It made him strangely upset. The moon was one of the few things that could bring him a true sense of peace and comfort when he gazed upon it, but it didn't really justify why he felt so angry but also so irrationally sad that it was gone.
He had tried to find out what happened to it by questioning the friendlier, or at least non-hostile, youkai he could find (because something like that couldn't have been caused by anything other than supernatural means), but even they didn't seem to know what happened to the moon either, only that there were rumors that the foxes appeared agitated just like they were eleven years ago.
That was unsurprising considering the foxes had ties to the moon fox god, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto. If the moon was missing, of course they'd be upset.
In any case, there wasn't much Shinichi could do about this situation. Even with his considerable spiritual power, it was getting too dangerous for him to wander alone. It'd be best to stop somewhere for now and either wait this out or find companions to travel with.
According to his mental map, the nearest human settlement was Ekoda, which was still a three days' journey ahead. He'd visited the city a few times in the past and it was famous for its shrine dedicated Tsukuyomi.
It was good fortune that the city was so close when the moon had vanished. If there's anywhere he might be able to find out what happened it would be there, but it was too bad the path he traveled on wasn't used much so there weren't any inns on the way, forcing him to camp outside.
As the sun began to sink, throwing his surroundings into ever deeper darkness, Shinichi thought it would be good to stop where he was for the day.
Setting down his pack, he took out a couple of ofuda which he placed in five strategic points around him equidistant to each other and with a muttered spell, he erected a barrier that should keep away most youkai.
It didn't take much longer for him to get a fire started either to warm the cooling air and he ate a dinner of dried, salted fish.
When he was done, he took out a worn, raggedy book he had always kept with him these last two years of lonely travel, a gift from his adoptive father, and almost ritualistically began to read through the well-memorized words.
When it began to grow late, he put away the book and banked the fire, lying back on the softest patch of grass he could find and closed his eyes in preparation for slumber.
~ .+*.-.+ (C *:-.*+. ~
He was woken a good few hours later to the sound of a high-pitched shriek that had Shinichi jerking unceremoniously awake with a start.
In a groggy haze, he struggled to sit up and try to pinpoint the source of the scream.
Shouting coming from the distance to the left had Shinichi stumbling to his feet and making his way over, tripping over roots, rocks, and undergrowth.
With the moon no longer there with its soft light, the world was pitch black and Shinichi slipped out one of the ofuda he kept on him at all times from the folds of his kimono and channeled some of his energy into it.
In response, the ofuda in his hand let out a luminescent glow, illuminating his immediate surroundings in a circle of firefly light.
He hurried onward and it wasn't much longer before he could clearly make out the sounds of a fight, the cries of youkai and cursing from a decidedly roughened male voice. From the intermittent bursts of spiritual energy, it seemed that one of the two people who were attacked knew magic to some degree but it was weak, not enough to last for long.
Putting on a burst of speed, he took out two paper dolls and summoned his shikigami ravens from them. They sped ahead of him to help defend whoever was under attack, their loud croaks mixing in the melee of noise as they entered the fray.
When he was close enough to be able to make out the vague silhouettes of movement, Shinichi doused the light from his ofuda and hid behind a tree.
Shinichi had no idea how many enemies there were or their strength and the situation was made even worse when he couldn't rightfully see what was going on.
In this case, it'd be best to try to get them all at once. He only hoped those two trapped at the mercy of the youkai would last until he was finished setting up.
He snuck around the edges of the fight, pinning up his ofuda as he went.
It seemed the people were holding up but it wasn't going to last long if the weakening spiritual power and the ever increasingly vociferous cursing from the sole defender of the pair was anything to go by and Shinichi hurried.
He finished tacking the last ofuda just as the pained cry and a scream of distress rang out.
Shinichi burst out into the fray, the words to the spell already flowing like water past his lips.
Instantly, the entire surrounding burst into blue-white light as the purifying power of the spell cleansed out the evil, which screeched as they disintegrated.
There was still one left, however.
It was a beast-like creature with a mat of shaggy brown fur like mud and a long mane of a darker color. It turned its attention from the two figures on the ground in front of it and glared at him through yellow eyes, a row of sharp teeth bared as it growled low in its throat, the sound like a bundle of tumbling boulders. It made its way closer, wicked sharp black claws gouging out the earth.
The spell had weakened it, however, and Shinichi wasn't entirely helpless.
His ravens immediately set upon its eyes and the beast roared, flinging its head about to try to rid itself of the pests, the ground shaking as it stomped about.
Shinichi used the distraction to hold up his left wrist where a dark beaded bracelet sat and with his other hand, he drew out a bow of white energy from it. He pulled back the string, an arrow forming between his fingers as he did so, and released it.
The ravens darted away as the arrow hit its mark between the eyes and the beast gave a final roar before slumping to the ground with a thud.
The bow dissipated as he dispersed his energy and the light of the spell began to fade too as Shinichi turned to the pair who had been attacked and he quickly made his way over.
"Are you okay?" he asked as he came near.
"Y-yeah," a young woman in a red kimono with long, light brown hair replied shakily. "But my dad…"
"Here, let me see."
The young woman moved aside for him and Shinichi lit up another ofuda as he crouched beside the supine body of a fairly tall middle-aged man in a gray kimono with dark hair and a short mustache.
He checked his pulse and found it still beating a steady beat.
Relieved that the man was alive, he checked for other signs of injury but finding none save for the more minor cuts and bruises peeking through torn cloth, he determined that he was simply unconscious and told the woman so.
She slumped in relief and thanked him.
"It's no problem," Shinichi assured.
The woman shook her head. "No, really. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't shown up. Dad has a little spiritual talent but it's not enough to drive away the bigger youkai…"
Her gaze drifted worriedly over to the still form of her father before she directed a smile at him.
"I'm sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Mouri Ran. This is my father, Mouri Kogorou. It's nice to meet you," she introduced, bowing forward slightly in her seated position.
Shinichi smiled in response, returning the gesture. "I'm Kudou Shin."
"Nice to meet you, Kudou-san!"
"It's okay to just call me Shin," Shinichi told her. Being called Kudou-san made his skin prickle with the urge to shudder since it was what people called his adoptive parents. Not that he didn't love them, but to be referred to by that name as though he worked in the same eccentric circles they did made a small part of him squirm. "It's nice to meet you too."
"Then you can just call me Ran," Ran reciprocated.
"Um, not to be rude or anything but it's still a bit too dangerous for us to stay here. I have a camp set up with protection for the night so it'd be better if we moved there before anymore youkai came."
"Ah! You're right!" Ran gasped. "I'm sorry! Let me grab our things real quick and then I'll help you move dad."
Shinichi helped her find their packs by moving the ofuda over in her direction and intensifying the light to allow her to see.
When she found them lying by the roots of a tree a bit beaten but otherwise okay, she shouldered them both and hurried back over, supporting her father from his right while Shinichi supported him on the left.
His ravens kept lookout as they slowly returned to Shinichi's camp and when they finally reached it, they returned into their paper forms and fluttered back into the folds of his kimono.
Kogorou woke just as they were setting him on the ground, letting out a shout and thrashing frantically about.
"Dad! It's okay! We're safe! Shin-san found and saved us! He's letting us camp with him since he created a barrier here," Ran reassured her father, putting a firm hand on his shoulder to stop his wild movements.
Kogorou froze at his daughter's words, eyeing her suspiciously as he asked, "Shin-san? Who's that? When'd you get so friendly with a guy?"
"That's Shin-san," Ran said exasperatedly, gesturing politely towards Shinichi across from her on the other side of Kogorou. "He asked to be called that and it's the least I could do to repay him."
The man swiveled to direct him a scrutinizing look before letting out an unimpressed huff, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I could've taken care of those youkai without some meddling brat interfering," he scowled.
"Dad!" Ran chided, directing an apologetic look at Shinichi. "I'm sorry. Dad's just a bit grumpy from his injuries. He's actually a good man, right, dad?" Her tone was still sweet but underneath was a wire of steel warning and Kogorou mumbled something under his breath that sounded like an agreement.
Apparently satisfied with his answer, she set about washing out Kogorou's scrapes with the water from her bamboo canteen.
"So, Shin-san, are you headed to Ekoda for the Fox Moon Festival?" Ran asked conversationally as she worked, ignoring her father's hisses and complaints to be gentler.
Shinichi blinked. Come to think of it, it was around that time of year, wasn't it?
"It's one of my favorite celebrations," Ran continued. "You know the story, right? It's so romantic!"
Shinichi knew the story alright. His namesake was based on one of the characters, after all, much to his embarrassment, which was why he went by the name Shin nowadays.
The story went that a fox fell in love with the North Guiding Star, Shinichi-hime, and asked her to marry him. Shinichi-hime, worried for the humans on Earth who were forced to fear the darkness every night, becoming helpless victims of both youkai and human evilness alike, agreed but only if the fox could bring light to the night.
The fox agreed and snuck into the home of the Great Priestess, who possessed a great pearl gifted to her by Amaterasu.
In order to reach the pearl, the fox had to make it past many traps and four guardians. The first guardian asked three riddles which the fox had to answer. The second demanded the fox to ask one riddle that could befuddle him. The third challenged the fox to solve an impossible puzzle and finally the fourth required his cunning and prowess to defeat in battle.
The fox successfully stole the pearl and presented it to Shinichi-hime as a wedding present whereupon it was hung in the sky.
The Great Priestess, impressed with the fox's cleverness, allowed the pearl to stay where it was, but she continued to draw power from it, becoming her most powerful every new moon when she has absorbed all of the pearl's magic whereas the fox, now ascended to Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the Grand Fox, was at his most powerful every full moon.
Tsukuyomi married Shinichi-hime and a festival was held every year to celebrate it, becoming a way for the people to show their gratefulness for Tsukuyomi's efforts and the presence of the moon as well.
Of course Ran, as a girl, would find it romantic. To Shinichi, it was an interesting story but not much else except maybe as a source of some grief for his name. He wondered why his birth parents named him after the Guiding Star, who was decidedly female and therefore give him such a feminine name.
"I know the story," Shinichi confirmed. "But I'm not going for the festival. I was hoping I'd find something about why the moon's gone."
At that, Ran seemed to wilt. "Yeah, I thought it was my imagination at first so I insisted that we go like we do every year but then the youkai kept attacking and they only grew stronger and stronger and I… I shouldn't have insisted that we go."
She wrung her hands together and Kogorou put a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder.
"It's okay, Ran. We'll get to that festival safe and sound and then we'll party and drink to our heart's content! Nyahahaha!"
Somehow, Shinichi wasn't surprised.
"But we don't even know if they'll still hold the festival," Ran argued in despair. "I mean, with the moon gone and everything... And you even got hurt! What if next time, we're not so lucky?"
"I'm fine!" Kogorou assured, puffing out his chest and thumping a fist against it. "I'm a lot tougher than those youkai! The next time we meet some, I'll beat them right up!"
That earned him a weak smile from Ran.
"If you like, we can travel together," Shinichi proposed.
He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of travelling with Kogorou but it wasn't as though he could leave these two as they were. They'd be dead by tomorrow night.
Ran's expression brightened even as Kogorou's soured.
"No way!"
"Can we?"
The two turned to glare at each other in a contest of will.
"Dad! We can't travel by ourselves anymore! It's too dangerous!"
"And I told you that I could handle this myself! We don't need some uppity brat to tag along with us!"
Who's an uppity brat, you uppity old man?
"Well, if you want to handle it yourself, fine! But I'm going with Shin-san!" Ran humphed, crossing her arms and turning her nose away.
Oi, oi…
Kogorou gaped and directed a heated look of pure hatred over at Shinichi as though it was somehow his fault and Shinichi could only complain inwardly at the unfairness of such treatment.
"No! There's no way I'll allow that!" Kogorou exploded, springing to his feet and pointing a finger at him with a viciousness that was usually reserved for pointing at a bug one particularly hated to which Shinichi directed a flat, unimpressed look back at the man.
Ran rose with him, hands on her hips. "Then it's either we all go together or I go with Shin-san!"
In the face of his daughter's stubborn set and clipped finality in her tone, Kogorou drooped back onto the grass, turning to give him the stink eye.
"If you lay one finger on Ran, I swear I'll cut off your hand!"
"Dad!"
As if he'd try anything like that even if they weren't in the middle of youkai-infested forests.
His father gave one last huff, turned his back on all of them, and resolutely lay down to go to sleep.
Ran held up a hand perpendicular to her face in apology with a repentant smile.
"Sorry," she whispered. "It was the only way to get dad to agree to travel together. I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise."
"No, it's alright," Shinichi sighed even though he could already tell it probably wasn't. Travelling with that loud, obnoxious man was going to be hard enough as it was without him tracking his every move with a very misguided assumption that he was after his daughter.
Tomorrow was going to be a joy.
Cultural A/N: I decided to use "youkai" instead of "demons" because youkai covers a wide variety of supernatural beings that might not fit into the conventional western impression of what a demon is.
A/N: So yay, nay? pretentious of me? Too ambitious? I just wanted to try something no one else has before (at least, in this fandom). I'm already working on Cendrellic Juliet so this story is going to update at a crawl. This is sort of a flight-of-fancy story for me. I don't even have everything planned out so it's basically a wing-it-as-I-go-and-hope-I-don't-crash-and-burn kind of thing.
Also uh... my Japanese skills are... amateurish so... I might get a chapter title wrong. I know, I know! I shouldn't use it then! But I just wanted to add it there to give out the atmosphere of the story's setting so... I hope you'd all forgive me ;_;