Chapter Fifteen
This was the third night in a row Daichi found himself skulking about the streets of Kyoto. There had been a sudden hash of child disappearances, both human and supernatural in the area, so when Daichi had overheard Yasaka discussing the problem with one of her advisors, he knew this was his opportunity to begin establishing a positive reputation for his future occupation as a Problem Solver. It took a little bit of convincing, but he managed to smooth talk the pair into agreeing at the time that it couldn't hurt to have another pair of eyes looking over the situation.
What he had not told them was he was planning to use himself as bait for whatever had taken to abducting children. He was still young enough to fall within his target's predilections, and so he had taken to going out at night and strolling through the neighborhoods in areas where the most disappearances had occurred. He had his tails and ears covered in a Youjutsu illusion, one of the first spells Yasaka had instructed him on in order to allow him to blend in to human society beyond the sanctuary barriers that hid much of the Yokai population.
He paused in the middle of the street, the fur on his tails puffing out slightly as a chill passed down his spine. He wasn't alone any longer. He gave the wind an inconspicuous sniff, scenting his prey. It smelled of blood and death, but not the kind that was earned on a battlefield. It was closer to that of a butcher. The roles of hunter and hunted changed sides in that moment, a savage grin spreading across his face as he looked over his shoulder to a shadowed gate.
"Found you."
Creepy giggles echoed down the street.
"You're mistaken, child. I have found you." Cackles followed her words as the warped visage of a woman stepped from the dark into the light of a nearby lamp post. Her eyes glowed a harsh yellow, twisted horns curved upward from her temples, while her face was stretched and shrunken, almost seeming to have had her features' locations swirled around randomly. Daichi fully turned to face his target.
"Ohhhh! A Kijo! It's pretty rare to find one of you in a city. You must be shacked up in one of the abandoned warehouses near here." The cackles ceased abruptly as a look of wariness finally settled into the malicious yokai's visage.
"You are not a normal child."
"Well, duh. Yasaka's enforcers need to step up their game if they struggled to find such a slow minded monster such as you." His insults seemed to hit the mark as the Kijo's already twisted face twisted further into a disgusting approximation of a snarl.
"That big tit bimbo and her lackeys."
"Hey, those are some nice boobs, and she's very smart. Take it back."
The monstrous woman gave out a shriek as she finally lost her patience.
"Enough! Child! I will take you just as I took the others! Come play with meeeeeeee!"
She went from standing to a forward sprint instantaneously, shooting towards Daichi who casually remained standing where he was. Her claws reached out, ready to grasp his arms to his sides to restrain him and dig into the soft flesh of his back and stomach. Daichi finally shifted, his feet sliding forward slightly as his fist became coated in crimson Touki. His fist met her face in the next instant, the impact stopping her dead in her tracks for a brief moment before flinging her head over heels into a nearby wall. Daichi shook his hand out.
"Sturdy skull. I guess it makes sense for you to be thick headed though." A shriek sounded out from the pile of rubble that had collapsed on top of her, a shadow bursting from the rocks sending debris flying throughout the area. "Running already? I only hit you once though…" Daichi sighed in disappointment as his eyes tracked the shadow that raced away across the rooftops as he muttered under his breath. "Well, at least I'll be able to find her lair too. Might be able to save a couple of the kids. That'd make Yasaka and Kunou happy." A brief crimson shimmer coated his feet as he stepped, bursting into motion to follow the trail of his prey. The lack of a fight had left him irritated, but his predator instincts began to flare as his prey fled before him, his grin returning as he followed behind at a more relaxed pace, occasionally scenting the air to ensure he was on the correct trail.
His earlier guess was proven correct as he landed in front of a series of storage warehouses several minutes later, most looking somewhat worse for wear. He gave a small sniff. The trail was being covered up in this area, but it didn't matter. The subtle metallic tang of blood could still be easily found, the more generic scent leading him to a notably more rundown building within the complex. The windows were already busted out, so with an easy hop, Daichi was perched on a windowsill and peering within, his eyes easily adjusting to the increased gloom. His grin returned, eyes glowing as the moon at his back illuminated his silhouette.
"Hello, little rabbit. You ran awfully fast." A hissing shriek was the only reply he received as he dropped to the floor within the building, his ears and tails becoming visible as he shed his illusion, his tails weaving behind him as he stalked forward. Now that he was actually at the scene the scent of blood was much stronger, though there was little in the way of physical evidence. Glancing around the rather barren space, Daichi stuck his nose out and inhaled, taking a deep, slow breath. He put a hand on his chin as he hummed in thought.
"Interesting." He took a smaller whiff of the air then took several steps forward where he took another quick sniff. "Warmer." He kept moving, a few steps in one direction, sniff, a few steps in another, sniff, until he was finally staring down at a section of the concrete floor.
"You know," he spoke aloud to his sole audience peering down at him from the rafters. "If this was a game, this would be the point where I had to solve a puzzle or find the secret switch to open this smuggler's door, maybe taking the time to torture it out of you if I had to. It's a good thing it isn't and I can just kill you and use magic to rip it open." Her response was a shriek, though it was cut off, a garbled choking replacing it as Daichi vanished and reappeared atop the beam his prey had been perched, a crimson coated hand grasping her throat. His tails struck out in succession, the tips piercing joints and shredding tendons as she moved to thrash and scratch, his grin stretching to display all of his incredibly sharp teeth as a pained whimper escaped his prey's throat.
"I don't normally play with my food, but I'm making an exception for you. Child predators are a particularly disgusting breed, no matter the species or race. Don't worry. You won't suffer long." He stared into the monster's eyes as he tightened his grip, crushing her windpipe then dropping her to the ground two stories below where she landed awkwardly with a crunch. Daichi turned his attention back to the hidden door as he lightly returned to the floor.
"Now… let's see…" He paced around the edges of the mechanism for a few moments as the sounds of choking and thrashing continued behind him. It wasn't long before silence returned to the warehouse. Daichi glanced over his shoulder at the still corpse, sighing and giving a shrug. "Brute force it is. I'll have to learn some telekinesis or something more subtle soon. I doubt I'll always be able to blow up or bash in whatever obstacles show up."
He spread his stance, bracing himself as he reinforced his right hand and arm with Touki. With a grunt of exertion, he slammed a punch downward, shattering the concrete below him and forming a small crater, the concrete coating the concealed entrance crumbling away and falling down into the cavity below. Daichi gave a hum of consideration.
"I held back too much. One more punch should shatter enough." True to his words, one more solid blow blew open a large enough opening for him to comfortably descend the stairs into the dark below. The stench of blood and death became much more prevalent the moment he passed the threshold, his nose crinkling in disgust as he rounded a corner. Blood covered the walls, shreds of flesh and organs flung about the room.
"Was she fucking eating them? Even for a Kijo that's fucked up," he murmured as he did his best to filter the smell through his t-shirt. A few animal cages and kennels could be seen along the edges of the room, most of which were empty, though in one towards the end he spotted a small bundle huddled against the wall shift. "Must have been an endangered animal smuggling station once upon a time." He muttered to himself, stepping carefully through the gore as he made his way towards the caged child. With a couple quick gestures, a ball of light popped into existence above his head, fully illuminating the room. He stared down into the kennel, a pair of chocolate brown eyes staring up at him in terror from beneath a pile of rags.
"Hello there." He flicked his finger in the direction of the stairs. "I killed the bad monster. You're safe now." With a single crimson claw, he cut open the metal, peeling it back to open the crate before stepping back. "Oh. I'm Daichi. Nice to meet you, squirt… even if you're too terrified to actually speak." He muttered the second half under his breath as he returned to looking around the room. "Man… this place is disgusting." He took a few steps back towards the stairs before realizing the kid had yet to move from their spot within their cage. "Come on, brat. I've gotta call my employer to come clean all this shit up." His words finally spurred a muttered response that he failed to hear. He cocked one of his ears back in the kid's direction, pointing to it as he responded. "Speak up, squirt, and get out of there. This place is unsanitary."
"You shouldn't say bad words."
Daichi gave a nonplussed blink.
"I'm standing in a room literally covered in blood after I just finished brutally killing a child eating monster. My language is the last thing I'm worried about. Now hurry up, or I'll leave you in here." With that, he continued, fully intent on exiting the room so he could give Yasaka a call. Sounds of scrabbling and rustling movement could be heard behind him as he reached the stairs, the kid dashing after him, a hesitant hand going out to clutch the bottom of his shirt as he made his way up the stairs.
At the top the kid paused, wide eyes glued to the body of their kidnapper. Daichi placed a hand on… her? He gave the kid a once over, the rags covering them doing very little to spare their modesty. Her. Definitely her. He grasped her shoulder, gently steering her to one of the few objects in the room, placing her atop an old crate in a corner. Once the kid was settled, Daichi whipped out his cellphone, speed dialing Yasaka.
"Good evening. What? What do you mean, 'why am I calling'? No, of course I'm not in my room. You hired me to find the culprit of the disappearances, why would I be sleeping? What do you mean you thought I was kidding?" He pulled the phone away from his ear as a raised voice could be heard berating him. He waited a few moments for the stream to peeter off. "I'm glad you care, but you need to relax! I just got done spending six years training my ass off with a bunch of warriors and their gods. Hunting down and killing a single newly manifested spirit is nothing." He let out a sigh as more shouting could be heard as he looked at the phone in his hand. "Yasaka, can we talk about this later? I killed the thing and need a cleanup crew." He finally caught a break, his nine-tailed mentor's serious side coming out.
"No, nothing is broken… oh, wait that's not entirely true. There's a busted wall… somewhere, and I broke open the floor in this warehouse. Neither of those should be a problem, the crew is for body disposal and to cleanse the Kijo's little hideout." More sound came from the other line. "Oh. That's what you meant. Yea, I'm fine, it didn't even touch me." A goofy grin spread across his face at the sigh of relief that came through the phone before the conversation continued.
"Yea, it was a pretty nasty Kijo. Make sure the crew are veterans. It's… bad. I also have a kid here that she hadn't gotten to just yet. Looks human, might need a mind wipe, but she also looks homeless… Yea… Yea… I'll share my location to your phone so you can tell them where to go. Got it. See you soon." He turned back to the girl still sitting atop the crate.
"Gonna have a bunch of Yokai coming through to clean everything up soon. You alright, kid?" Brown eyes snapped to his own black.
"Mina. My name is Mina, not kid."
"Okay then, Mina. You alright?"
"No."
"Well… at least you're honest."
"I'm not a human." Daichi quirked an eyebrow, eyes turning to saucers as brown ears, one topped by a white spot faded into sight, and a brown tail flicked out from behind her.
"You… My Senjutsu should have told me you were using an illusion."
"Yes, well, my Senjutsu should have kept me hidden from you, but it didn't, so here we are."
"You aren't a normal nekomata." Her ears flicked down as she tensed, eyes darting around for an escape route. "Relax, brat. I won't tell anyone you're a nekoshou." Mina's cheeks puffed out in a pout, still eyeing him warily.
"I'm not a brat. You aren't much older than me."
"True. Fine, kitty cat, I'll be nice." Her glare intensified as he grinned. "Anyway, little kitten, where are your parents?" She gave him a bewildered look, though he could still see pain and sadness behind it.
"You don't know?"
"Know what? I've been in a completely separate dimensional reality for the past six years. I'm a bit out of touch on supernatural news." Her ears and tail drooped.
"The Devils killed us. All of us. My parents too. I was out playing. I only survived by luck."
"I see. I'm sorry." Mina rubbed her eyes, giving him a defiant look. "Still, if you can hide with Senjutsu, how did you get caught by that disgusting witch?" She cast her eyes to the side in embarrassment.
"I got lazy and forgot to put up an illusion before going to sleep. Woke up in that cage but was able to stay hidden from then on." Daichi looked her over with a critical eye.
"You haven't eaten in a while, have you?" It was a rhetorical question nevertheless answered when the mention of food prompted a loud growl from her stomach. "Sustained yourself with Senjutsu, huh? That's fine. Once the cleanup guys get here, we can take a trip to one of the late-night ramen stands. Soup and soft noodles should be okay for you to eat." Barely a few moments later a group of various Yokai dropped into the building through the windows.
"Took your damn time, didn't you?" Daichi called out as the group relaxed upon securing the area. "The body is there," he waved negligently in its general direction. "The underground room is in that corner." He pointed. "It's bad. Brace yourselves. You might need to break open the door a bit more to get down there." The group exchanged glances at his warning, but they were professionals and went to work without a word. Daichi lifted Mina off the crates, taking her hand and leading her along as he made his way towards the door.
"I'm taking her to get some food. We'll be back at the palace after to report to Yasaka." The squad leader gave a nod of affirmation. Daichi had only been in the palace for a few weeks, but he had very quickly been adopted by many of the various groups, the more martial in particular viewing him as their chosen mascot. Kunou was their Bright Princess, the shining beacon for them to protect, and with Yasaka's decree of treating him the same, he became their Dark Prince, the vicious shadow to lead them, though this was the first opportunity he had to actually put truth to the fanciful chuunibyou talk. He absolutely abhorred the nickname, which only spurred the palace staff on further, but he was at least given some measure of respect.
Mina waited until they were outside before finally choosing to speak.
"Why are you being so nice to me? Most people would have immediately shunned me or tried to capture me once they learned I was a nekoshou."
"I'm the son of a god, and I'm a Yako kitsune. I don't give a shit about what other people would do. I do what I want, and I want to help you. That's it."
"Swear." He rolled his eyes at her making her blush before she continued. "Pure whim? That's your reason?"
"Mostly, though I'm betting you grow up to be incredibly powerful and beautiful, assuming we can hide you away long enough. I have a thing for power and beauty. Comes with being a Yako." She gave him a look that he couldn't quite decipher.
"So, you're grooming me?" He glanced over in confusion.
"What? No. That's creepy. I'm hedging my bets. Very different. You probably already have a decent impression of me from saving you," Mina gave a begrudging nod. "If you agree to accept my help, I'll train you and keep you hidden; both of which will build goodwill between us. If I can dazzle you with my charm, seduce you, and have you fall in love with me in the process, that's just a bonus later on once we're a bit older. How old are you, by the way?"
"Eleven. What do you mean, if I accept?"
"Well, I'm not going to force you into doing anything. That'd be almost as bad as grooming. I don't want unwilling lovers or ungrateful beneficiaries in equal measure. So far, you've only agreed to getting food tonight. If afterward you want to leave and return to hiding in the streets, I'm not going to stop you, though I'm hoping I can convince you that is a poor decision." She gave him a side-eye look of suspicion.
"You'd probably keep hunting me down and bothering me even if I did walk away." He gave her a shit eating grin.
"Guilty as charged." They were both silent after that, Daichi leading them to an open ramen stand after following his nose for several miles, Mina deep in thought the entire trip. Just before they finished approaching, she finally spoke up.
"Fine. I agree. Make me beautiful and powerful and we'll see where a relationship takes us later on. I hate being weak. I don't ever want to be so powerless again."
"Great!" He gave her a genuine smile. "I think that's enough serious stuff for now though. Let's eat, I'm starving." They both pulled themselves up onto stools at the counter, Daichi raising a hand with some Yen bills to get the chef's attention.
"Sensei! Two bowls of the special!"
"Oh! Brat! It's you again! Brought a friend this time?" A pair of greying floppy dog ears attached to an equally grey head of hair peered over the counter to the cat girl fidgeting in her seat.
"Yea! Don't stare, creepy geezer! That's weird!"
"Oi! Respect your elders, you little shit!" Mina watched the byplay with a bit of curiosity, giggling slightly as the cook began his work. Daichi gave a crooked smile to the side as he watched Mina nearly drool over the smells coming from the food as it was prepared. He'd been doing his best to keep her distracted. Losing her parents, living on the streets in constant fear, then going through her most recent ordeal, he was already surprised how well she was holding up. Her mentality was made of stern stuff. She had a backbone in her, that was absolutely certain.
The pair were soon gorging themselves on massive bowls of soup, though Daichi was careful to start Mina off slowly to ensure she didn't eat too quickly and vomit. However, it seemed he worried for nothing, her Senjutsu working to take the sudden influx of sustenance and begin distributing and healing the effects of her malnourishment. It would take more than a single good meal for her to fully recover, but since she had already agreed to his help, she would never go hungry again so long as she was in his care. Almost as soon as the food had been placed before them, the bowls were empty.
"Thanks, Sensei! It was delicious as usual!"
"Yes, thank you, it was amazing."
"You're welcome. See you later, Dark Prince. Bring our little princess by again sometime soon."
"Of course. She loves your ramen. Later, gramps!"
The two hopped off their stools, Daichi taking a moment to let out a big stretch, his tails flexing and pointing straight up as he pushed up onto his tippy toes and let out a content sigh.
"Alright. Come on, kitty cat. Let's get home." She was silent for a few steps before commenting.
"Dark Prince?" Daichi's pleasant expression instantly turned sulky at Mina's malicious smile.
"Please don't…"
"No promises, your highness."
Daichi let out a long groan.
"I'm never going to live this nickname down…"
"No. No you will not."
Daichi sulked silently the remainder of the trip while Mina kept up her snickering all the way until they approached the palace.
"Wait." Mina stopped, prompting Daichi to turn with a raised eyebrow. "Prince, as in a real prince? I thought you were kidding when you said you were the son of a god and he just played along with it!"
"Huh? Oh. No, I'm really the son of Inari. Yasaka is teaching me Youjutsu alongside Kunou as a favor for my old man." Mina had a dazed expression on her face as she stared up at the brilliant architecture as they approached, Daichi grumbling beneath his breath. "Little prince, Dark Prince, these assholes think they're so funny." Mina was similarly mumbling in her dazed state.
"…an actual prince… a real palace…"
Daichi pushed his way through the doors, the guards saluting as he passed, only increasing his sullen grumbling as he trudged toward the throne room, Mina trailing in his wake.
"They do that and call me those ridiculous titles because they know it irritates me." He finally spoke up, breaking Mina from her stupor.
"Huh? Why?"
"Dark Prince? Really? I may be junior high age, but I definitely am not chuuni. It's embarrassing. I'm not even really related to Yasaka and Kunou. Yasaka told them all to treat me like they treated her daughter, so they took it literally and now I can't get them to stop." He scuffed a shoe against the floor as he let out a sigh, the throne room doors approaching. Mina giggled at his pouting.
"They must really like you a lot then."
"Yea, well, they have a funny way of showing it." He threw open the doors to the room, Yasaka already receiving a report from a field agent as she sat perched atop her throne. It was only a few moments before she dismissed him, gesturing for Daichi to approach.
"I see you brought along a new friend."
"Yea. She's the one that was still down there."
"I see. We'll be discussing your lack of appreciation for danger later. For now, go ahead and give me a report on what happened."
"I'm going to warn you now, you aren't going to win that argument. I didn't spend six years honing my powers and skills in combat and killing to sit around and do nothing."
"Later. Report, now."
"Fine. I've been walking the streets the past few nights attempting to lure it out of hiding. I wasn't sure what it was, but the fact that it was targeting children made finding it pretty easy once it noticed me. Once it finally targeted me, it was easy enough to track it back to its lair after fending it off where I killed it and uncovered its…" he glanced over at Mina who was studiously ignoring their conversation. "…den of butchery."
"Fended it off? You used yourself as bait?!"
"Yasaka, I punched it once and collapsed a stone wall on top of it. It fled immediately after. In the warehouse I had it dead to rights and at my mercy in seconds, and it was thrashing about as it choked and suffocated to death moments later. I may be young, but I am not Kunou."
"Clearly." She let out a sigh, hands stroking a tail that came around to rest in her lap. "I'm sorry. I was just… so worried. I know you're strong for your age, and have the ability to take care of yourself, but knowing you could have been hurt when it's my responsibility to keep you safe…"
"I understand. I can't promise to not seek out danger, but I can keep you more informed when I do."
Yasaka sighed again in defeat.
"I would appreciate that." He gave her a comforting smile, walking up and plopping down on her lap to tickle her with the tips of his tails.
"Stop that," she said with a smile. "We still have a guest. You can play your games later."
"Okay, okay. I'll be good for now." He stood up to her side. "Mina, this is Yasaka, Yokai ruler of Western Japan. Yasaka, this is Mina, my new pet kitty cat."
"I'm not your pet!" "Daichi, behave." They admonished him at the same time, a hand going to cover her mouth as Yasaka smiled in amusement at the young girl glaring up at her student. He grinned.
"Fine. This is Mina, my new aspiring pet kitty cat." Yasaka rolled her eyes as Mina's bulged.
"That's a demotion! Take it back!"
"Take it back? So, you are my pet kitty?"
"I – No! I'm your… student? Yea! Student!"
He turned to Yasaka.
"So, there you have it. She's my new student."
"I see. In that case, we'll have to make her presentable. We can't have the student of the Dark Prince looking like any common child off the street, now can we?" Daichi groaned as Yasaka stood.
"Come along, Mina. Let's get you a bath and some new clothes." Mina glanced over at Daichi, her eyes showing her uncertainty. He gave her a reassuring smile.
"You can trust Yasaka. She's an angel." Yasaka hid a flattered smile by taking Mina by the hand and leading her away, speaking gently to the young girl and leaving Daichi to his own devices. Yasaka was too good for this world. She would have Mina opened up like a book and have her traumas on the mend before the end of their bath. With Mina in good hands, Daichi took a glance around the now empty throne room and slumped with a sigh.
It was time for bed. He was going to sleep like the dead and enjoy every minute of it.
A/N:
Quick note on my RWBY fic since this one has my biggest cross story follow group: I pulled it to rework it. I've been super unsatisfied with how it's progressed for a while, so I'm going to be reworking it and reposting it in a couple months. The child arc and development just didn't work for that fandom since there wasn't a whole lot for me to work with or do without turning the fic into a fluff piece. If anyone would like to discuss it further, I recommend joining my Discord if you'd like to get more detailed feel for my plans for the fic moving forward.
DarklordUA1323 – We're still a decent way away from canon. He's been in the world for something like 9 years at this point. 3 at the beginning as a fox, 6 training in Asgard, while he guesstimated to have been born around the same time as the main cast, so we've got something like 8 more years before canon. As far as abilities go, for now he's received training in Senjutsu, Touki, Youjutsu, and Nordic Runes. That's already a pretty extensive list that covers most of his needs.
Tristan Mabey – Yea that's pretty much the only thing I can picture as well lol
Reader0007 – Not as near as it seems. 8 years or so is a long time with a lot that can happen. Sorry if I said something previously that was misleading, keeping his physical appearance in line with his actual age and canon timelines can get confusing.
Blaze2121 – They're very distantly related simply by both being kitsune but not literally family.
Yukilumi – Glad you liked that detail since it was something that came to mind spur of the moment lol
I hope my answer at the top answered your FT review's question. It wasn't only based on review criticism. I was also dissatisfied with how the story had played out, so I'll be changing it up to hopefully avoid the pitfalls I fell into with the first attempt.
Zyr0TruthCanExist – There's a more concrete connection between Christianity and Judaism to link them to the same god. It's really just easier for me to write it that way without delving too much into the history of religions. I'm picturing God having a domain similar to an ideal like 'Righteousness'. Something general that would draw power simply from any small act of kindness that occurred which would in turn provide an explanation for his power level. I haven't given Allah much thought since I don't intend to bring him into the story at this point.
