„Onmyōji-sama, please, exterminate this demon!" Demanded a man in an urgent tone of voice.
„Please, calm down. Before doing anything, I need to access the situation about this girl." Replied a different voice calmly.
„What is there to access? She is a demon. She needs to be killed. There is no more to that." The first man said sharply.
„If you cannot calm yourself down, I will be forced to ask you to leave." The calm man warned, though the tone of his voice was not warning in the least. It was as if stating a fact.
„But she is a demon! No human could survive an arrow through the back!" The non-onmyōji persisted. The priest didn't say anything, however, shuffling of clothes could be heard and then footsteps approaching.
„Hey! Let go of me!" The man fired up even more. The sounds of struggle could be heard, after which the sound of sliding door being slid in one and then the opposite direction. The shouts of the man became more distant.
„You can open your eyes now, child." Said the calm voice after the man's shouts could be heard no more. „No one is going to harm you."
Slowly, the sleeping figure opened her light blue eyes, which held a great deal of child's innocence, yet at the same time they showed sadness, fear and distrust. Even though they had the child's innocence showing in them, they held no spark of liveliness that other children her age had.
„How did you know I was awake?" The girl decided to ask. The man only smiled and asked in turn: „What is your name, child?"
There was a while of silence, but then the girl opened her mouth and said one word. „... Shimizu..."
„Pure water. What a beautiful name." The man said and then introduced himself. „I am Asaha Douji... Do you mind if I ask a question about yourself?"
„You already did..." The child, Shimizu, replied quietly.
„True." The onmyōji replied with a light chuckle.
„... you may ask another..." Shimizu said after another while of silence.
„Then excuse my curiosity, but what are you? I have not seen your kind before."
The child stilled in her sleeping position, eyes widening for a second, but then relaxed and said nonchalantly : „I'm afraid, I do not understand what you are talking about."
„But I think you do know." Asaha Douji answered calmly. However, his smile was gone.
„I don't know." The child said in turn.
„Yes, you..." The man started, but Shimizu interrupted him. „No, I mean, I don't know. All I know is that I was born like this. But I do not know what I am."
The onmyōji sighed and said, putting a warm hand on the child's forehead: „Sleep."
„Will you kill me, like that man wanted?" She asked.
„No, I won't."
„Promise?" The child asked innocently.
„Promise." Asaha Douji replied with a peaceful, warm smile. It seemed that the promise eased the child's mind, since she closed her eyes, letting herself slip into dreamland.
After being certain that Shimizu was asleep, he quietly stood up and left the room. Now he had to deal with the townsfolk representative who had brought the child to him. Though, a more precise description would be, dragged the child to him by her hair.
„Did you kill it?" The villager asked the very moment the onmyōji entered the room.
„No." The master onmyōji simply answered.
„What! Why?" The man exclaimed.
„Because she is not a demon." Asaha Douji answered, however, the man didn't seem to like the answer as he went to the taller male and grabbed a fistful of clothing.
„Now, listen here, onmyōji. Unless you kill that demon, I will kill you in its place and take it a real onmyōji who will see her for what she is and will kill her." The man threatened.
„I kindly ask you to unhandle me." Was all the onmyōji said in return.
Albeit his voice was not threatening, the villager seemed to think if was, as he decided to enforce his own threat by pulling out a knife from the folds of his clothing. The students of Asaha Douji started to panic about the safety of their mentor. However, they did not dare to approach the two in fear that the villager might panic and attack. What neither the they, nor the villager could understand was why Asaha Douji was so calm, as if his life was not in danger.
„I will ask you one more time. Please, let go of me." The priest repeated his request.
„Will you kill the demon now?" The villager asked.
„No, since there is no demon to exorcise." Was the onmyōji's reply.
The answer only fuelled the villager's anger, since he went to stab the priest, however, before the weapon could touch even a strand of his hair, the wrist was caught in a tight grip that forced the villager let go of the knife. When the knife touched the tatami floor, the threatened onmyōji kneed the man in his stomach, making him double over in pain, let go of the robes and fall down to the ground.
Seeing that the villager was no longer a threat, Asaha Douji smiled at his students to ease their worry and asked: „Please, escort this man to the exit."
Two of the more bulky students quickly went forward and grabbed the no-longer-dangerous man's arms and dragged him out of the room, while the master onmyōji leaned down to pick up the knife. It was a knife that had no shine to the blade, while the handle was decorated with some stones. Clearly, the knife was meant more for decoration than using it. However, a question appeared in the onmyōji's mind. How did a common villager acquire such a knife? With an inward sigh, Asaha Douji hid the not-so-dangerous knife in the folds of his own clothing and decided to check on the girl to see if the ruckus had woken her up.
He quietly slid the door open a bit to peer inside the room, only to see that the child was still asleep. A small, sad smile appeared on his face. Such an innocent child, yet treated so cruelly. After he closed the door, he found a servant and asked him to bring a spare futon to his room. Then he went to the kitchen and got a cup of tea, some smoked fishes and a bowl of rice, along with a pair of chopsticks. He did not explain the kitchen stuff why he was doing what he was, since he wanted to keep the child a secret as much as he could. At least, for now.
After setting the brought futon in a corner of his room and placing the food next to it, Asaha Douji went back to the room where he left the girl to sleep, however, when he opened the door, the child could not be seen.
„Shimizu? Are you here, child?" He asked, letting the girl know that it was him. It was only thanks to his powers that he could tell that the girl was still in the room. However, he kept most of his powers a secret to others, keeping himself disciplined in all of his actions.
Slowly, the girl came out of a curtain's shadow, letting herself be seen. The onmyōji smiled at her and extended his arm, however, he did it slowly not to frighten the child.
„You need not fear, child. No harm will come to you. Come. Let me show you to my room, where you will be staying for the time being." He calmly said, serene smile on his lips.
„Why are you helping me? Do you not see that I am a demon?" The child asked, not moving from her spot. Although she tried to be calm, the man could see that she could burst into tears any moment.
„I feel no demon aura or ill intent coming from you, so I see no reason why not to help you. No child should be treated like you have been." He explained, hand still stretched for the girl to take.
„Don't pretend to know!" The girl exclaimed, tears threatening to fall. Part of her wanted to trust the onmyōji, while the other half was afraid to be hurt again.
„I can see you have been mistreated in your eyes." Asaha Douji answered, still waiting for Shimizu to take his hand.
Slowly, but gradually, Shimizu went to the man, ready to jump back in case he did something she were to find threatening. When she was only few feet away, the man slowly kneeled to her level, not to seem so imposing with his tall height.
Finally, when Shimizu put her hand in Asaha's, he slowly rose up, gently holding the girl's hand in his. Smiling he turned to the door, while being hunched down, since Shimizu's head barely reached his mid-thigh. When he started to slide the rood open, he felt her clench his hand more firmly, being afraid of what might await her on the other side.
The hallway was empty, which made the child sigh in relief, however, she still held onto Asaha Douji's hand firmly. The master onmyōji led the girl through the corridors in no hurry, since he acknowledged that her legs were a lot shorter than his own and that they were covered with cuts and bruises. Part of him thought about simply picking the girl up in his arms and carrying her to his, and now hers, room, but he didn't want to frighten the child.
A couple of times they almost ran into someone, but Asaha Douji made sure that it didn't happen. He wanted to keep the girl as less-known as possible, at least, till he decided what to do with her. When they did reach their destination, the girl clenched the onmyōji's hand even tighter, fearing that there would be more humans.
„Don't be afraid, child. No one is there. This is my room and, for now, yours as well." The master onmyōji calmed the girl and slid the door open to reveal a simple room. There was a futon in the center of the room and a smaller one in one of the room's corners. By the larger futon were some scrolls and a candle. On both sides of the room were sliding doors what could barely be distinguished from the walls.
With his hand, Asaha Douji led the girl inside the room in front of himself, letting her explore the room and see for herself that there was no threat in it. Only when her eyes settled on the food by the smaller bed, he spoke: „Eat. You need to regain your strength."
Shimizu opened her mouth to say something, but her stomach growled, causing her to close her mouth, while blushing. Asaha only chuckled at it and closed the door, obscuring any eyes that might appear. Shimizu slowly went to the food and picked up one of the fishes. She sniffed at it for a moment but then started to nibble at it, which caused the man to chuckle again. However, the onmyōji intervened with Shimizu's meal, when he saw her put the rice bowl by her lips, wanting to eat them with her mouth.
„No, you don't eat rice like that. Use the chopsticks." He admonished the girl, walking towards her. The child dropped the bowl in fear, spilling the rice on tatami floor.
„I-I'm sorry!" She stuttered out, as she pulled her appendages to herself, curling up in a ball, to protect herself.
Seeing the girl's reaction, Asaha Douji stopped in his tracks and sighed in his mind. Just what kind of life did the girl lead to have such a reaction?
„Calm yourself, child. I am not going to hurt you." He calmly said, not letting his thoughts coat his words with a negative tone.
Shimizu only slightly relaxed, though still remained curled in a ball. The onmyōji really wanted to sigh out-load. It seemed like he had his work cut out for him, if he were to decide to take care of her and teach her not to be afraid of humans.
'She really is like a hurt animal. A wild child.' Asaha Douji thought and then nodded to himself, deciding to adopt Shimizu.
A/N: Hello. I know that is has been long since I have updated any of my stories, and I apologize about that. In October I had written so much (over 50k words totally) that I had spent myself out. However, on a brighter note, my muse has returned and I am creative again! *does a happy-dance in mind* I am writing again. I am drawing again. In addition, I am beta-reading for vaporeonxglaceon. I suggest you go and read her stories.
However, even though I am beta-reading, I am looking for beta readers for all of my on-going stories! You can see what I am working on in my profile.
See you all in the next chapter (of any of my stories). Ciao~