Hello again everyone, here's chapter 2.
Enjoy reading you guys~ :)
Back at Enma Palace, right after Inumaro sent Nekokiyo to call Master Nurarihyon.
Inside the storeroom, Inumaro quietly and gently turn Enma, that is collapsed with his face down, around. He then gently cradled his body.
Inumaro: "Lord Enma. Lord Enma!"
Inumaro gently called Enma's name with the hope that Enma would wake up.
Inumaro: "Lord Enma... What happened? ...?"
Inumaro then noticed the mirror Enma is still holding. The golden color was beautiful to look at, Inumaro went to touch it.
Inumaro: "What is this...?"
Inumaro slowly and gently took the mirror from Enma's hold, it was surprisingly easy to take.
Just as Inumaro was about to examine the mirror further, hurried loud footsteps could be heard from just outside the room.
*Step,step,step*
Inumaro whipped his head to the source of the footsteps and found Nurari and Nekokiyo practically ran inside.
Nurari: "Lord Enma!"
Nekokiyo: "Nya~ Lord Enma, Inumaro!"
Nurari shouted a bit when he entered and quickly darted to Inumaro's side as he was still cradling Lord Enma. Nekokiyo followed behind him.
Nurari fell down to his knees and took Enma from Inumaro's cradle slowly.
Nurari: "What happened...? What happened?!"
Nurari's question turned into a demand. He was demanding answer from Inumaro and Nekokiyo.
Nekokiyo: "I-It's just...we also don't know, nya..."
Nekokiyo looked down, afraid to look at Nurari in his eyes.
Nurari: "Don't know...you say?!" *Grits teeth*
Even though Nurari was trying to keep his cool in check, it was starting to get very, 'very' hard.
Inumaro: "W-We just went to look for Lord Enma in here... And then we heard a 'thump', so we went to look for the source of sound...and then we found Lord Enma...collapsed on the floor."
Nurari: "Nu...!"
Nekokiyo: "C-Calm down, Master Nurarihyon, nya! Lord Enma is of the most important right now, nya!"
Nekokiyo raised his head up to look at Nurari straight in the eyes. What he saw was...pure anger. Anger for his Lord, anger because he was worried, anger because he didn't understand what was going on. One second his Young Lord escaped his work, the next second he was found unconscious.
But, Nurarihyon knew what was important right now. He quickly checked his Lord's pulse and breathing.
Steady.
His Lord's body was fine...but his soul wasn't.
Enma's body was soulless.
In Enma's side of things.
He's now in the care of 'uncle' and Nanoko. He is staying in their house and their house is actually quite small, with wood as the wall and the floor, there's only 3 rooms. The bedroom, the living(or maybe the kitchen, or maybe both) room, and the storage. The bathroom's outside, by the river. It's the river actually. And the toilet? Maybe you don't want to know...
Enma's sitting there, on the chair by the table, sorting out what he knew about this 'world' he was thrown onto.
Enma: (Okay, it's been 3 days since I was thrown here. Now the things that I know are: 1. Uncle isn't the Nurari I know.
2. Nanoko is his daughter.
3. His wife is dead.
4. They have a small field outside just enough to grow vegetables for them to make a living.
5. They're poor.
6. They got along well with other people who live in this small village.
7. I can't use my yo-kai power here.
8. Which means I'm powerless here.
9. Uncle doesn't trust me.
10. I still don't know how to get home.)
Enma: (Okay, that's quite a lot. And nothing is good about any of the facts.)
Enma: (Well, at least they have been feeding me. Mostly vegetables and fish though. Well, beggars can't be choosers. ...But I'm not a beggar.)
Nanoko: "Enma~! Would you like to help us?"
Enma was suddenly pulled back to reality by a high-pitched voice.
Enma: "Huh?"
Nanoko: "It must be boring to just sit around everyday, let's go out and do something!" *Smiles*
Enma: (What a cheery girl.)
Enma: "Okay, let's go then!" *Grin*
Hearing Enma agreed, Nanoko quickly grabbed Enma's arm and pulled him outside excitedly.
The sunlight greeted their eyes, it was still noon.
Nanoko: "Ehehe, Enma, come here! I've got something to show you!"
Enma: "What is it?"
Uncle: "You two, don't run too far! There may be bandits!"
Nanoko: "Don't worry, dad! If anything happens, I'll protect Enma!" *Giggle*
Uncle: "Shouldn't it be the other way around?! Just be careful you two!"
At least 'uncle' was kind enough to worry about Enma, a boy he didn't even trust wholly unlike a person he knew, but maybe he was still kind enough to worry about a child, right? Maybe... At the very least, he would never voice out his concern for strangers. Wait, could he really be worried for a stranger? ...Enma decided to stop thinking about such dangerous thought that may affect his view of the world.
Enma: "Sure, uncle, sure!" *grin*
Enma: "Ahaha!"
Enma: (Yep, he's definitely kinder than Nurari, he doesn't even give works...though maybe that's because he doesn't trust me, but who cares? I'm free!)
Enma gave a happy joyful laugh as he was pulled by Nanoko's strong grip.
Enma: (She's awfully strong for a 10-year old girl...)
Before, Enma asked her age just to be sure of something...something that he just couldn't put his finger onto.
The two went inside the forest. Enma was always a curious boy, so this time as well he was very excited as to what awaited him inside a dark and dense forest such as this.
Nanoko: "Here, here, come here!"
*step, step*
A sound can be heard, drizzling.
Nanoko: "We're almost there!"
*step, step*
It got louder.
Nanoko: "Just a little more...!"
*step, step, stop*
Then they stopped. And Enma's eyes went wide when he saw what he saw.
It was a waterfall, a gigantic waterfall, a loud waterfall, a watery waterfall.
Enma: "Wow..."
Nanoko: *looks at Enma* "You see, this is my secret spot. I only show this to friends, I didn't even show this to dad. So that means you're my friend, Enma"
Enma: "Friend...?"
Nanoko: *nods*
Enma: "Yeah, yeah! We're friends now! Ahahaha!"
Nanoko: "Ahahaha!*
Then the both laugh, wheter it's to celebrate their newfound friendship or just because they were seeing something wonderful, or both. But one thing is sure, is that they were happy.
They are, yes. But how about the man at the village, what could he be possibly doing now?
At the village.
Uncle: " Damnit! Why now?! Leave you b st rds!"
The village at the same time was being attacked by bandits.
It was evening when Nanoko and Enma decided to go back.
And what they saw was...blood. Blood and a lot of injured people, the man was among them. Clutching his arm as it bleed.
Nanoko: "Daddy?! What happened...? Was it...was it those bandits again...?"
Uncle: "Yeah...it was them again..."
The man appeared much less lively than when they saw them last.
Enma: "The crops..."
All of them were taken by the bandits. Not a single was left for the family or for the villagers to eat.
Uncle: "W-We can't...stay here anymore, there's nothing left for us here..."
Nanoko: "B-But...where are we gonna go...?"
Villager 1: "But there're still fish in the river!"
Villager 2: "Yeah, and they'll take them next..."
The situation is...dark and gloomy. And Enma didn't like it, not one bit. But it's not his place to say anything and he didn't even have his power right now. No, it wasn't a matter of power, Enma knew, no, it's more like he had a feeling...as to where he was right then and there. And if his feeling was right...then it was not his place to meddle with things.
Enma: (Damnit! I can't do anything...)
Villager 3: "B-But we can fight! We can fight for our freedom! We can chase those bandits away!"
Villager 4: "B-But how are we going to...?"
Villager 5: "With these, of course!" *he takes a hoe*
And then, another took a pitchfork and another a slingshot for hunting.
Nanoko: "Daddy...let's fight too!"
Uncle: "What? Nanoko..."
Nanoko: "We can't let them keep bullying and taking things from us! We must fight! It's our chance right now!"
Uncle: "Nanoko..." *sigh* "Okay, I'll fight!"
Nanoko: "You mean, 'we'll' fight."
Uncle: "No, you're much too young. I won't let you fight."
Nanoko: "But...but..."
She was a vigorous girl, all right.
Uncle: "I'm not going to fight if you're also fighting. If than happens, then we'll much better be going away."
The villagers didn't complaint about the man's decision, they knew the girl was his only living relative left. Besides, he was too kind to them, they would happily sent them off if the two chose to leave.
Nanoko: "O-Okay... I won't fight. But, what about you?"
She turned her head to look at Enma.
Uncle: "You can go if you want to."
Enma: "No, I'll-"
And just then, the words got stuck to his throat. Something inside Enma's mind is telling him to let go, to go home instead. It's telling him very strongly that his head hurt.
Enma: (This is not...normal... What is this? A spell?) *touches own head*
Nanoko: "Enma?"
Uncle: "?"
Nanoko looked worried, even the man looked somehow worried. But still-
Enma: "I'll stay as well."
Enma managed to somehow get those words out of his mouth. His head aching abnormaly.
But still, he's not going to leave them alone after all they did for him. And besides, they're friends. And friends help each other out.
Nanoko: "Okay!"
Uncle: *nods slightly
Nanoko: "Let's do our best, Enma!"
Enma: "Sure!"
Their idea was great, they even made a plan and all. But still, Enma couldn't shake off the feeling that...something is wrong, something is very, very wrong. Not the villagers, not the family, not the world. It was himself, specifically, it was his mind, his memory, and something was on it.
To be continued...
