Chapter Seven

Gohan walked along, frowning to himself. His mind was doing back flips with everything he'd learned. Demons. They were different than the monsters he'd faced yet similar in so many ways. But another thing bothered him. They called the demons youkai, which he'd researched as meaning any type of supernatural creature. The monsters they fought so many times were referred to as youma, meaning monster. They were very similar in both meaning and word. Gohan pondered, especially lately, whether the monsters they found today were in fact demons. Or maybe descendents from demons. Had power declined in that amount of time?

He was no expert on demons. Judging from what he'd been reading, demons were not evil spirits, though many types were. Rather, they were spirits and supernatural creatures with advanced abilities and powers. By that definition, the form of Super Saiyan could be considered a demonic form in some ways. He frowned again, sitting down by some bamboo plants.

What about the world today? Did it still house demons or did they just have to worry about these ones appearing from the past? And what were their motives? Everything had to have a motive! Did they want the world like everyone else seemed to want? The universe, maybe? That wouldn't be a first. The Dragonballs? Seemed like everyone and their mother wanted those.

It didn't make any sense to Gohan. He cursed the fact that they knew little about earth from before SE. CE was semi-known but there wasn't a lot of information. All the information they had before SE Year 1 were from stories of mouth passed from the few survivors. Those had deteriorated over time. The information about Kanna and Kagura seemed accurate, from the little interaction Gohan had had with the two. Perhaps they had been well known demons and thus, not easily forgotten.

He shook his head; that still made no sense. He pulled himself up into a tree and walked along the naked branches even though he knew both his parents would have promptly bitten his head off for it. In the summer, ChiChi always worried about the slightest thing but in the winter, the branches were weaker, slick with water and ice. That was always a bit much even for Goku. Gohan mentally rolled his eyes. Why was it that his father didn't seem to worry at all when they were going against some kind of homicidal maniac bent on universal domination yet Kami forbid he should fall out of a tree?

Gohan shrugged, mentally, and kept going, pondering the landscape. Underneath his arm, he carried a packet of lists and information he'd printed out. He was examining the nature around Mount Paouz simply because it might show him signs of demons that he might otherwise have missed. He wanted to know what Kagura and Kanna wanted but he was limited in that respect. Perhaps, almost unconsciously, he was hoping he might learn more about demon ambitions if he understood demons period.

He sighed, blowing his hair up above his eyes in a huff. So far, the mountains were just as he remembered them: clean of anything suspicious. Still, Gohan suspected it might have been because he was too closely involved. He saw these woods and trees every day. It would be better for an alien eye to be exploring them, pointing out anything suspicious but he didn't have that luxury.

OOO

Yura laid back and regarded the head that rested on her lap. The blood had long since drained out of it and she was free to brush the beautiful red hair as much as she liked. The eyes still stared up at her, blankly, without life. It was an annoyance, that blank stare. She flexed her fingers a moment then took the comb, her favorite red oni comb, that she'd been using to comb her victims' hair out of her bosom cup and after a moment, she pierced the remaining eyeballs with it and yanked them out, one at a time, tossing them to the side and drying off her comb on her skirt.

"Ah, so much better, my sweet." She cooed, brushing her forehead into the rich red hair. The feeling of human flesh made her stomach churn. Such disgusting creatures they were! She pulled her katana from her waist and placed the blade to the skull she held in her hands. She praised her katana once more. "Oh, what a lovely thing, truly an oni's dream: to cut flesh straight through the bone but to not fracture this precious hair."

She took a slow slice, taking off pieces of flesh bit by bit. She picked up the fallen pieces of flesh, eyeing them, pondering a moment then with a shrug, she pushed it into her mouth, savoreing the taste of human skin. Truly, it was a rare treat. These humans' tasted odd, tougher than most flesh she was used to. Contemplating this, she picked up one of the discarded eyeballs in two of her fingers and turned it over in her hands.

"An odd breed these humans." She shrugged and plucked them into her mouth, taking time to savor it when it burst in her mouth. They tasted different, these humans were harder in flesh but so foolish in mind. Still, it was quite an unique haul. So many different types of colors and textures here.

"Yura of the demon hair…"

The demoness laid back, resting her back on her mound of fresh human skulls. Some, she had peeled of their skin already and she languished in their bleached white feel. Rolling to her belly, she cooed "Ooo, if it isn't little Kanna…"

The white demoness of nothingness walked without a sound, aura or scent and with her empty grey eyes. "Lord Naraku has a new target that you might appreciate."

Her interest peeked and she sat up, sitting criss cross. "Ooo? What might intrigue me?"

"What about hair that changes shade?"

"Changes?"

"From black to golden in an instant…" she intoned as she summoned up images in her mirror.

OOO

Gohan stood, walking on. He looked around Mount Paouz with a look of caution. He paused only when he reached his favorite tree. Climbing up its damp and cold branches, he settled into the thickest branch and pulled out a large stack of printed pages. He'd looked up more of the demons, any information he could which was mainly what were in fairy tale books. It had never occurred to him that the stories could be real or at least partially real but since all professional references referred to the demons as "myth" or "exaggerated" he assured that they held just as much truth as the "legends" on Kanna and Kagura.

He skimmed over the list he had. There were so many! Yet this was only a small amount available.

Tanuki

Kitsune

Hebi

Mujina

Bakeneko

Nekomata

Okami

Tsuchigumo

Inugami

Oni

Tsukumogami

Mermaid

Gohan blinked. A few he recognized from old stories, old bedtime stories. He frowned and started replaying them in his mind, trying to figure out if there was any truth to their stories.

Raccoon-dog, Fox, Snake, Badger, cats, wolves, spiders, dogs, ogres, spirits formed from regular items like jars, a half fish spirit and the papers mentioned dozens of others too numerous to name. Including some tales of humans possessed and even transformed into demons. Gohan frowned deeply, again. He furrowed his brow, trying to recall the good or evil of the demons, the powers of the demon but even bedtime stories were limited in their knowledge, having become degraded in time.

He knew the fox, raccoon dog and badger to be tricksters but other than that, he was at a loss. He knew what a mermaid was, his father said he'd even found one as a kid but he'd never thought of them as a demon! What kind of powers did they have, aside from breathing underwater? Almost subconsciously, Gohan looked out to where the lake and ponds were. He had seen many things in the water. He usually saw those huge fish but occasionally he saw small other creatures. He scowled, if it had been warmer, he would have gone into the water to seek out more clues.

Plowing his memory, he tried to see if he remembered anything useful. Nothing came to mind; to him the lake had always been one of two things. It was either a place to get an excellent fish dinner or it was a swimming hole. Gohan stood up and walked that direction, though he didn't really know what to expect. There was no snow just yet but he could smell it was almost cold enough for it. He approached the lake, looking down through the water. He could see very few animals now, near the bottom. He walked around the perimeter of the lake, eyeing and looking for anything. Something was telling him that there were answers right around his backyard.

Nothing.

Gohan set his papers down and dipped one toe into the icy water, giving a visible brrr! at the cold contact. He pulled back and on second thought, sat down, focusing, letting his ki flare up around him like a shield. It was an odd technique, a make shift shield. It wasn't very strong, being made solely of aura and quite frankly, it wouldn't provide too much insulation.

Still, determined he was and with a jump, he plunged into the icy waters. The aura kept the intense coldness from sending him into shock but his lips still turned blue and his body still trembled. He plunged deeper, opening his eyes and raising more of his ki the deeper he went. It was still cold, almost burning cold. He could already hear the lecture he'd get from both his parents but he needed some answers. He could see animals deeper down in the depths so he pressed on, shivering more with each kick. He could gauge his lungs fairly well and he had a little bit of time left so he pushed down so that his fingers brushed the bottom of the lake. It was ice cold down here, even more than the ice cold chill when he'd first dove in. However, his eyes were intrigued. Down here, he found several things he had never bothered to notice before.

Slipping forward, he would have to explore quickly. His lungs were beginning their burn of pain. His eyes focused on one thing and that was what looked like the remains of…well, something. It was a ways off, where the lake branched off and into rivers. He could feel the pull of the rapids but followed it regardless. He was about five feet from it when his lungs could stand it no longer and he dove toward the surface, breaking with a loud gasp of air. The winter air cut into his wet face like a knife and after a brief moment of taking in fresh air, he dove back under before the air made him too cold to lose his nerve. As it was, he trembled as he swam.

Determined, he finally came upon what he'd seen, the limp form of some odd looking animal. At closer glance, it resembled some type of turtle or frog creature. He got down closer, having to kick to keep from drifting to the surface. He frowned. It looked like someone had thrown a frog and turtle together. He looked past it and saw small caves, hidden in the mud at the bottom. He slipped his hand into one, digging to try and get some visuals. His hand hit something heavy and limp. Straining, he yanked and after a moment, went sprawling backwards. Glancing down, he screamed, shock killing his concentration and dispatching his shield, causing cold water to erupt onto him so suddenly it took more of his breath away. He kicked and let go instantly. He gurgled slightly as his air bubbles escaped his throat.

Looking back up at him was the corpse of a small human girl. Some of her flesh was missing—

Wait!

Unable to stand it, he shot for the surface and took in air all the while scrambling out. It was one thing to see death on the battle field but in such a creepy way and in his own backyard? That creature he'd seen near the cave…that had to have something to do with it, didn't it? Trembling and soaked, he swam for shore and rushed for his packet of information, hoping to match that creature, to match that cave..anything!

He let out a heavy sigh, still fighting to get his breath normal despite the coldness and flipped through the pages, hoping to find some kind of knowledge.

All he found at first was that demons came in many different forms and types. Youkai and daiyoukai were noted most often. Demon and Great Demon. Apparently, the daiyoukai were supposed to be more powerful. Gohan wasn't entirely sure but it seemed like daiyoukai were kinda like kings or emperors or somethin'. He wasn't sure if each demon type had one or if they were fewer in between. All the papers said were that youkai and daiyoukai lived together and daiyoukai were particularly feared by both humans and demons alike.

But what had that thing been?! It was giving Gohan the creeps...well, not necessarily that but that girl. Why hadn't he noticed before? That girl still had flesh on her. That creature was new!

He sighed and thrust the papers down in frustration. The papers didn't really tell him anything. All they told him were that legends had limited information and that any information spread that had survived the calamity that created the earth as it was. Gohan frowned and looked around the atmosphere, as if the trees and animals might give some answer. He smiled up at a small winter fox that had begun to make its way over, completely unfazed by him as was the norm. It crept over and Gohan rubbed its ears. He smirked as the fox curled up in his lap. It gave him a small sense of comfort, and the warm fur felt good on his cold skin. Gohan reached into the ground and plucked out a small beetle, burrowed deep into the ground and held it out to the animal's snout. He trembled, pondering a moment that he really should head home and get warmed up, facing whatever punishment awaited him, but the fox felt oddly warm to him, almost supernaturally so. Considering this fact, he regarded the animal.

"So, is there really a demon fox species, fox?" He asked softly, smiling. "Or are all these legends more myth than truth?"

He froze as the fox's fur stood up on end and it fixed its big eyes directly into his. It couldn't talk but those eyes were reflections of knowledge and Gohan knew it. He picked the animal up and held it close to his face. "There is, isn't there?" he said suddenly. "Then, that thing I saw…that was a demon too? And it ate that girl?"

He sighed, lying back and set the fox down. It trotted off of the boy's lap but Gohan followed it with his eyes. "Why?" he asked out loud, not necessarily to the fox (as he suddenly felt a fool for talking to it like it could answer) but to anyone around. "Why now? This lake hasn't ever had that kind of thing? Why now? And this Kanna and Kaguara..why now?"

"Arami-tama, nigimi-tama, kushimi-tama, sakimi-tama"

Gohan fell over, onto his side.

The fox's own eyes met his own.

"Shikon." It intoned then vanished in a flash of blue light.