A/N: This world was created with the help of Amiyuu! There will be notes on the youkai and/or historical titbits at the bottom of the chapter.
Chapter 1: Encounter
Staring the girl down, Kagami Taiga rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Umm, so is there anything actually holding you back? Justice needing to be served? Unfinished business of some kind?"
It feels stilted and insincere, but then again, spirits have never been his forte.
The girl gives it some thought and shakes her head. "No, none that I can think of."
"Then maybe you should move on or something. You're causing the people around here a lot of grief."
Was that too curt?
It was probably too curt, he decides.
Luckily, the spirit merely frowns, worried. "Oh dear, am I? I just wanted to keep an eye on everyone and see how they were getting along without me."
"They're fine. Or, they will be. All the more knowing you've moved on peacefully," he says.
She nods. "I suppose you're right about that, onmyouji-sama."
"I'll say a prayer and send you off then."
"Alright. Thank you and sorry for causing so much trouble."
"Thank you so much, onmyouji-sama! How can we ever repay you?" the village chief asks once he steps back outside.
Kagami shakes his head, just glad the whole thing's done with. "No, don't worry about it. I was just doing my job. Besides, that spirit really wasn't that hard to deal with, and she shouldn't come back now that I've cleansed the place. Make sure you place offerings at her grave every now and then though."
"We'll make sure of it! Are you sure there's nothing we can offer for your help?"
He smiles and shakes his head again. "I don't need anything, so I'll just be on my way now, thanks."
Suddenly, he pauses, the hair on the back of his neck raises and he gets the feeling that he's being watched. But upon examination, he didn't see anything amiss and the feeling fades. Pulling his lips taut, he considers searching the village for the source, just in case it turns out to be something hostile.
But then a dog barks in the distance, startling him out of his thoughts. Another dog starts barking. And then another. He makes up his mind then and there to not go on that search. It's not like he can feel like anymore, and it was probably nothing anyway, he tells himself.
The dogs continue barking.
Not particularly wanting to see the beasts up close and personal, he quickly scampers out of the village, leaving awed villagers in his wake, shouting their thanks after him.
"I should've asked for a map of this place," he mutters to himself as he chucks a pebble into his campfire.
The moon hovers in the sky, its rays peeking through the foliage above him. After leaving the village, he spent the rest of his day wandering around in this forest, lost and confused, until hunger eventually won out and made him stop for the night. He's always assumed he had a decent sense of direction, but that's clearly been proven wrong by the forking paths and winding trails.
"How am I supposed to find anyone if I can't even find my way out of this stupid forest? Where am I even supposed to start? Why can't things be more straightforward like in the capital?" Kagami complains, wolfing down his food. "I suppose it could be worse though. It's a good thing I got over my fear of ghosts or today would've gone horribly wrong."
"Good thing, indeed. That sounds like the most crippling fear for an onmyouji to have," a voice suddenly says from beside him.
He leaps back at the sight of the person next to him, tripping over the log he was sitting on and falling on his butt. "Whoa!"
"So you're looking for someone, hmm? That's too bad. I was hoping you'd say you were on an epic journey to dispel evil from the land or something," the stranger says as though he wasn't sprawled on the ground at the moment.
"Oi, where'd you even come from!?" he demands, pointing accusingly at the other.
The boy frowns. "How rude. I've been here for a while now. You just didn't notice me."
Kagami shakes his head. "No way! I would've noticed you walking towards me—never mind managing to get this close! Seriously, where'd you come from?"
There's a pause. "Technically, there," the stranger says, pointing at the fire. "But that's not important."
"You just claimed to come out of my campfire so I'd say otherwise." Furrowing his brow, he shuffles back onto the log and studies the other more closely. The boy has a small build and light blue hair and a neutral expression on his face—nothing that would make him stand out.
"Well, technically, I came out of the smoke as opposed to the fire," the boy elaborates with a shrug.
He takes a moment to consider those words. Then he gets the overwhelming urge to slap himself for being so stupid. "You're a youkai."
The stranger nods. "That's correct. An enenra if you want to be more specific."
"Enenra…wait, aren't you supposed to come out of bonfires? My campfire can hardly be called a bonfire," he says, unsure why he was trying to dispute the other's claim.
"True. And while that'd normally be the case, I guess you can say I'm an improved enenra. For me, any smoke will do."
"That's comforting to hear," he says dryly. "Why can't I sense you? You say you're improved, but I can barely sense you right now and you're right in front of me."
Shrugging, the youkai responds, "That could be because I'm not exactly the strongest youkai around, and it doesn't help that your fire's not very big or smoky. My improvements were mostly in skills and capabilities as opposed to power level."
"Right. Also good to know. So should I be exorcising you?" he asks. "I mean, you don't seem malicious or anything, but you're still a youkai."
"Please don't. That sounds unpleasant. I was just going to offer to help you out," the youkai says.
Kagami narrows his eyes. "Help me out? Out of this forest?"
"Yes, and also with finding whomever you're looking for."
That catches his attention. "Oh? And how would you go about helping me? Never mind that, why are you even offering me your help in the first place?"
The youkai doesn't even blink at the suspicion in his voice. "I've been watching you. I saw you fight off those bandits yesterday, and I watched you in the village today. It doesn't seem like you're from around here, but you look strong enough."
"Strong enough for what?"
"By now, you've probably already noticed that this place isn't always safe, and it's only going to get worse from here on out," the youkai continues. "However, I believe we can form a mutually beneficial working relationship. You have the power and I have useful contacts. I will support you from the dark and be your shadow."
"I'm not really sure how to take any of that," he admits.
"Well, before you think this over, add more wood to your fire, please."
"Oh, sorry," Kagami apologizes instinctively, tossing a couple of branches into the flames. "So what exactly do you want in return for helping me find my friend?"
"Nothing that is outside your capabilities," the youkai answers vaguely, "or so I assume. It's hard to tell at this point."
"Helpful," he mutters. "And how would you propose I search for this person?"
Picking up a stick, the youkai draws an outline on the ground. "This place is made up of six regions. You're in Seirin right now. You can't very well go to every corner of each region—I'm not sure your lifespan would allow for it."
Kagami scowls. "Thanks for the reminder."
"You might not be able to search entire regions, but I can. There are places in each region where they can make bonfires big enough to give me the power to search through the land for your friend. If they have a fire nearby, I should be able to find them," the youkai explains. "At the very least, I know where you can get a map."
"It's all very tempting, but you still haven't told me what you want out of this," he says.
"I'll only tell you more if you accept my offer. Otherwise, the less you know of our world, the better."
He makes a face at that. "What are you talking about? I'm an onmyouji. It's part of my job to know about your world."
The youkai shrugs. "True. But you have a long way to go yet, and accepting this will mean taking a very sudden plunge into a world your human mind probably couldn't even begin to imagine."
Kagami stares into the fire in thought. It's true that there's no way for him to search every nook and cranny in this vast land without help, but is he really desperate enough to accept help from a youkai?
"I understand this must be very hard for you to accept given general the relationship between youkai and humans," the youkai says.
"Right. And how do I know if this isn't some sort of trick?"
"Well, there are so many other ways to trick a human, revealing myself and talking to you is probably the least effective," the other reasons. "Not to mention this seems far more like an act of desperation than trickery considering how I, a youkai, am asking a human for help, wouldn't you agree? Do you still not believe me? It's unfortunate that the human mind is often so closed off."
"I'll accept only if you stop taking every opportunity to point out how human I am," he snaps. "And I reserve the right to refuse after I've gotten all the information if I deem it unreasonable."
The youkai's lips curl upwards. "Then we have an accord. You may call me Kuroko."
"Kagami Taiga."
"Do you have any sake so that we can formalize this agreement?" Kuroko asks.
"Like sakazuki? Is that really necessary? I don't have any of that stuff on me."
"No worries, we can wait until tomorrow to do it. Don't worry, I'll still get you out of this forest. Consider it a gesture of good will. For now, I suppose this spoken agreement will have to suffice," Kuroko says.
Kagami crosses his arms. "How about giving me your true name to show your sincerity?"
"How bold of you, Kagami-kun. There's power in a name and I would never give mine so carelessly away to a human. I promise to lead you out of the forest tomorrow and I promise I will do you no harm. I'm afraid you'll simply have to trust me for now."
In the morning, Kagami lights a small torch like he'd been instructed the night before. On the account of wanting him to get a good night's rest, Kuroko had insisted on debriefing him the next day instead. He had tried to argue that carrying a torch around in the daylight would be considered strange by most people, but the youkai countered with the fact that he was hopelessly lost and needed a guide to lead him out of the forest, so either way, the torch would be needed.
Holding the torch in his hand, he scratches the back of his head in confusion. "Was there supposed to be some sort of spell or do I just wait here? I've only exorcised youkai; I've never had to summon one."
"Good morning, Kagami-kun."
He jumps back at the voice behind him. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I didn't sneak up on you. I was waiting for you and have been here from the moment you lit that torch. You just didn't notice me. Again," Kuroko says, his blank expression giving away nothing. "I hope you slept well. Have you already eaten breakfast?"
"What? Yeah, I've eaten. At this point, I'm just ready to get out of this forest," Kagami answers.
Kuroko nods. "Very well. Then let's walks and I'll tell you everything you need to know."
"Before that, how long's it gonna take to get out of this forest?" he asks.
"Not too long. We should make it to the shrine in this afternoon and I'm sure they'll put you up for the night. I've already notified them of your arrival, and if this set up makes you uncomfortable, know that there are other priests and priestesses there."
"That wasn't what I was worried about—though it is a good point. I was just making sure I had enough food to last the day. Anyway, go on."
Glancing up at him, Kuroko says, "You're surprisingly trusting for someone whose job is to fight youkai."
He shrugs. "Hey, I do a lot more than just that. Either way, even if I question you, you'll just spew the same excuses you did last night. And besides, you haven't done anything wrong yet—not to mention you don't seem all that hard to get rid of if it really comes down to that, so I'm not worried."
"How blunt. Well, like I said last night, this place is made up of six regions. In the last few years, a strange miasma began moving in from the west. Not everyone can see it, but anything living in or near it can feel it and are affected by it. Though many tried to flee, the effects took hold surprisingly quickly. The youkai lose control of themselves and their rationality and have turned into savage animals. And the actual animals have grown rabid and violent. I barely managed to escape myself."
"And the people?"
"The humans are oblivious to it, but they're affected too. Many of their crops are failing and although they haven't lost all rational thought, they're volatile and prone to violence. Corruption, prejudice, and crimes have become commonplace. Many villagers have taken to robbing strangers on the road. There are a lot of angry spirits lingering around those areas."
Kagami frowns at the image Kuroko's words present. "What about priests or priestesses or monks? You know, people with powers? Don't tell me they just ditched their homes and ran."
Kuroko shakes his head. "It couldn't be helped. At the end of the day, they're only human. Those who didn't flee were killed or corrupted. Most of the shrines and temples are now overran with youkai and spirits. Seirin is the only region unaffected by the miasma as of the moment, but I doubt it'll last for much longer unless something is done about it."
"Then what about I supposed to do about all this?" he asks. "You just said it yourself: people with spiritual powers couldn't do anything."
"On their own, they were helpless. But so were the youkai," Kuroko says. "That's why I'm proposing we team up."
A/N:Seasons greetings! Decided to post this up on here as well as AO3. I haven't completely decided on all the pairings yet, so please bear with me on that. And KnB's back, hmm? I wonder how it's going to go. I'm pretty stoked to see how they interact.
Onmyouji: Professional practitioners of onmyoudou. Their responsibilities ranged from tasks such as keeping track of the calendar, to mystical duties such as divination and protection from evil spirits. (wiki)
Enenra: A youkai, or Japanese monster, that is made out of smoke. It resides in bonfires and when it emerges, it takes the form of a human. It is said that the enenra can only be seen by the pure of heart. (youkai wiki)
