"What is that." Was all Neiyuki's father said as he watched her approach the door. She disliked her father at times, for somehow knowing was she was up to.
"Ishiki gave it to me…h-he said it was grandfather's." she stammered, glancing behind her at the scythe lying in the snow.
"I think your mother needs to see this…" he murmured, going to reach the scythe and pick it up, only to draw his hand back in an action of pain.
Neiyuki glanced down at the weapon, casting it a look of pity. It was truly a very pretty instrument, but why did it hurt others to touch it? She put her hands further up the handle, still no burn. She eventually found herself touching the blade, shivering with delight at the touch of the cold metal. It had a certain feel about it, that made everything feel…strange.
"Neiyuki, where on earth…why do you have this?" Kestrel demanded, her normally caring features darkened with the seriousness of this situation.
"Ishiki." The girl responded to her mother, holding her questioning gaze.
"That man…I told him to get rid of this…" Kestrel growled, putting a hand on her head with dismay. Neiyuki couldn't help but notice both her mother, and father, had slightly longer nails then usual, and their ears were now looking more like Ishiki's.
"Mother…what does it do?" she inquired, looking down at her own hands and noticing no change.
"It reveals the true nature of things…" this time it was her father who growled. "No wonder why Ishiki always looks like such an animal…he'd been harboring this thing in house all this time…" he grumbled.
"It's called 'The Demon's Judgement' and nobody knows who made it or where it was made…" Kestrel muttered, looking utterly confused at the sight of the Demon's Judgement.
"So why can I touch it." Neiyuki murmured.
"I'll be damned if I know, Neiyuki…" her mother sighed, looking very tired all of the sudden. "Just…cover it up for the night and lets all get some rest, okay? There is definitely something wrong about how you can touch it and not feel pain…"
We now venture forward in time. Neiyuki's parents have been keeping an eye on her closely, and since then Ishiki has passed away leaving Talon an orphan once again. Bobbery and his mother are now caring for her. The village children are wary of Neiyuki and the Demon's Judgement, and try to avoid her as much as possible. Over the months, the progress of the village worsened. Rotaka had, apparently, committed suicide at the age of 15 human years, while Bobbery's mother was found dead a way similar to his father. Neiyuki's father was found close-by; a frozen traveler still hunched over his body with a knife jabbed into his spine. Kestrel assumes it was out of hunger, not hatred, that the traveling man killed Aisu. The houses are beginning to turn into runes, and food is scarcer to come by these days. The four remaining from the clan make the choice to venture down the mountain, or remain in the snow to waste away like the others.
"I'm leaving." Neiyuki snarled at her mother, her eyes blazing with a blue fire. Her mother let out a tired sigh before meeting her daughter's furious gaze with her own sad eyes.
"I…I can see I can't change your mind…" Kestrel sighed at last, shaking her head solemnly. She moved her eyes over to the fire, where Bobbery and Talon were laying close together, looking cold as they slept.
"…You'll all die if you stay here, you know that don't you?" Neiyuki muttered, worry spreading over her face for a moment.
"Yes…I know, Neiyuki. But we'll also die down there. We can't all have pretty little shiny toys to defend ourselves with." Her mother hissed coldly. Kestrel blamed the scythe's appearance all those years ago for the misfortunes.
"A chunk of metal has nothing to do with this, mother," Neiyuki mumbled, still looking upset. It was difficult, choosing to leave, but she had to live on. She refused to die in the snow, being found as a lump of frozen flesh like her father had so often described. "I'll try to find you, if you…if you choose to leave." The girl finished, looking down at the floor shamefully. Lives, demon or human, shouldn't be wasted like this.
"That's kind of you, Neiyuki…if I or these two don't survive to see you again, know that…that even though they've said things about you…it's not, n-not true. I love you, dear." Kestrel choked out, her deep blue eyes turning glassy with tears.
"I…love you too, mother." Neiyuki finished, her eyes starting to burn as well. The girl flashed her mother one last small smile of hope, however pointless it may have been, before turning around and racing out into the snow, the Demon's Judgement strapped to her back and her mind set on the world below.
She'd never been out of the snow…she was eager to see trees, er, real trees. Not the sticks that stuck up out of the snow in the mountains, barren of all foliage. And grass, and flowers and…
Humans.
Her eyes narrowed at the thought of them. Her family, even though all the signs pointed to the humans of their misfortunes, still blamed the Demon's Judgement for their mishaps. Surely one weapon couldn't cause so much misfortune, after all if it was cursed, then something should have happened to Neiyuki as well, right?
Neiyuki let out a sharp sigh as she slowed to a stop. A small spray of snow followed her, coloring her back white.
"…Greeaaaat…" she murmured, her expression darkening as she approached a lump in the snow before her. She was fairly sure what to expect, as she began cautiously dusting snow off of the heap. Her father had often said that bodies in the snow were usually covered by the time he found them, so they had to be uncovered and buried elsewhere, to not attract attention. After a good minute or so of brushing off clumps of white flakes, she saw…fur. Dark gray and flecked with marbled black stripes. A wildcat must have gotten caught in a small avalanche, or maybe it got lost in a blizzard…
Suddenly, a muffled growl sounded from the heap, and soon enough a large dark head popped out of the snow. It was certainly a cat alright, but as it climbed out of the snow Neiyuki noticed that it's feet were beginning to glow with a hellish green flame. It was a demon. The large cat shook itself wildly before turning to Neiyuki and dipping its head in an act of gratitude.
"Thank you for waking me, I was caught out in a storm two nights ago and had lost conciousness." The cat rasped, in a distinctly male voice.
"If you were caught in a storm two nights ago," Neiyuki challenged, "then you'd be dead. Especially without any cover."
"Perhaps," the cat replied coolly, "but I sensed a strong demonic presence and felt as though I was in danger, thus using my last ounce of strength in an act of defense. Any demon would have done the same." He murmured, green gaze moving to the scythe on her back.
"What is that, you've got there?" he inquired, taking a small step forward.
"Nothing. Just a scythe for harvesting, meant to be brought to the humans for a trade." She murmured, trying her best to hold the demon's gaze. He knew something about the Demon's Judgement, about her, she thought.
"Hm. Well, I wish you good fortune on your…trade then, those humans don't usually ask the help of a demon you know." The cat said finally, his eyes narrowing slightly as he turned to walk away.
Neiyuki bit her lip as she stared after the demon, watching him pad away as if being potentially brought back to life meant nothing at all. If he really did know something about the Demon's Judgement…
"Wait! It's not…it's not for the humans, its mine." She burst out, taking it off her back. She had to know more about this, and if for some reason this cat could give her answers, it would be well worth asking.
A deep rumble of a purr sounded from the cat demon as he glanced behind him at Neiyuki. "It's the judgement scythe, isn't it?" he chimed smugly, padding back towards her. The cat watched, entranced, as Neiyuki removed the black cover from the blade of the scythe. Somehow the metal still managed to shine even on a clouded day like this.
"Do you have any idea as to what you possess, girl?" he rasped, eyeing the weapon from its blade down to the spear at the tip.
"My mother said it reveals the true nature of things…" she murmured, recalling how both her parents had slowly begun changing forms as soon as they saw the weapon.
"Yes. That is right, but there's more to this," he started, "it was made as a…a holding container, for a soul."
"A soul? What could you possibly mean by that?" she replied, utterly baffled.
"A demon's soul, silly child." He purred. "I should rephrase what I said, it's meant to split a soul in two. Stronger and more intelligent demons have the ability to splice their soul; the 'good' half from the 'bad', or vice-versa if they choose."
"So what you're saying…is if, say that you're telling the truth, a demon could place his or her natural state into the blade…or their, er, human state? So they wouldn't have to worry about changing under extreme emotions or…things like that?" she asked, confused. There was no possible way this demon could be telling the truth.
"Essentially, yes, you're right. If the darker side is placed within the blade, a red flame will burn in this little indent," the demon said, dipping his head down at the half-circle dip in the weapon, "if the human, or 'good' side, is trapped in the weapon it will glow blue. However, if the half trapped in the weapon is not able to control an actual body for a period of time, they will eventually become lost within it and the other half that's controlling the body will become unstable."
"How…how do you know all of this…I mean, you're not of my village as of my knowledge." Neikyuki stammered, glancing warily up at the cat.
"Oh no, I'm not from Burizashi if that's what you're thinking, I'm merely a drifter in these parts, trying to survive," he started, "I know about it, because it was my brother who came up with the concept of it. He just needed a very skilled and powerful demonic blacksmith to create it, and so whom did he consult? None other then Rei from Burizashi."
"The few of my kind that still live around these parts, we do not believe in changing for mere…humans. You have probably witnessed first hand how they treat you, even if you DO appear as one of their own. Since we refuse to change, we asked the help of Rei; the former village elder, to craft it for us. I assume he had help, since it took nearly a year for it to become complete." He finished, twin tails swishing in the snow.
"So how, how did somebody in Burizashi come to possess it again? And if you don't mind me asking, how could a cat possibly wield a scythe…?" Neiyuki mused, a slight tinge of amusement towards the end of her sentence. The image of a cat like this one trying to master a scythe was strangely humorous in her mind.
The cat, however, found nothing funny about it. "He wanted it to rid of his potential human side, but as I said, demons loose themselves within it. I do not blame Rei for what happened to my brother, but I wish he could have predicted it beforehand…my brother was like a father to me, we were closer then most siblings." He finished, a look of deep regret in his eyes.
Something about the way this demon spoke to her told Neiyuki that he didn't want the scythe for himself, nor did he seem to possess any ambition to destroy it. In fact, he seemed moderately surprised by it, as an elderly person does when they find an old belonging of theirs. The item can be as plain as an old ring, but can bring back the most bittersweet of memories.
"I'm sorry to hear that. To be honest, I never thought that this thing was even capable of such things…the soul splitting, I mean. I always thought it would just give the wielder an insight as to what they were dealing with in an opponent." She admitted, placing the cover back over the scythe's blade.
"Just be careful. Oh and one more thing," the demon said, suddenly seeming in a hurry, "I believe some soldiers are returning from the mountain and will be headed this way shortly, so I suggest you get a go on. Don't want to end up like your dad…" the cat finished, a twinkle in his eyes as he bounded off into the snow, leaving Neiyuki standing with a mystified expression.