Again, with the no reviews! I guess I was misinformed when they told me there really were people out there. You all must be figments of my imagination. And all figments of my imagination absolutely love my fanfiction. Except for one, just to be contrary. And because you're all figments of my imagination and you all love this fic, you all think my writing is absolutely perfect even though I don't believe it.
It's nice to have such an accommodating audience. Almost makes the complete lack of response sound encouraging.
And as always, The Inuyasha cast by rumiko TAkahashi belong to me until my grand children's grand children's grand children die! I figure by that time we'll be living so long only that many generations have passed before my creative lease expires.
Nuts Ahoy!
Sometimes the unexpected happens right when you're expecting it. For some people there is a set pattern to the unexpected events in their lives. Perhaps one day you meet someone who is a very nice person. This person is very sociable and ever so helpful with everything you could imagine, but they refuse to see other people on every third day. Strange you may think, but that person knows that something dreadfully unexpected will happen on that third day. They don't know what to expect because it is unexpected, but they know that it will happen on the third day. And so, to minimize the impact of the horrendously unexpected, this person cuts off all contact with others.
In this way, the unexpected is like trouble. Whether you go looking for it or you wait for it to find you, when trouble is near you, youcan sense it. Which is why it is so easy to find.
"If I wasn't already dead, I swear you'd be the death of me!" Fred hollered his frustrations to the sky, not an overly wise thing to do in the middle of a youkai-infested forest. You tend to scare up more than the regular wild life.
Aki ground her teeth together silently. The ghost had done nothing but nag and annoy her the last couple of days and she'd long since given up talking to him for the most part. Besides, what would she say to such a comment? 'Um, I'm terribly sorry, but I already was the death of you.' Aki rolled her eyes, she knew exactly what sort of response that would receive. Fred's classic blatant, noisy denial followed by a continuation of his current attempts to persuade her to go home only ever after punctuated by his vague endeavors to dissuade her of the truth in her own words. Moron!
"Are you listening to me?" the ghost continued rather loudly. "How could you decide to wander off on your own in the Warring States period of Japan armed only with a frying pan and a utility knife? And you even refused to take a weapon from Kaede when she offered it!"
"What would I do with a bow?" Aki asked evenly. "I've never touched one before, seen one up close, let alone be able to use it. I wouldn't even know how to string it properly. A bow," she said with mild disdain.
"Alright," Fred conceded, "What about a knife, a dagger, hell a sword?"
She gave her friend a fairly flat look. "I like my limbs properly attached," indirectly indicating just what her skills with an unfamiliar sharp implement might have caused. "Besides, going obviously armed makes people think that you both know how to properly use it and you expect to need to use it."
"It's still not better to go unarmed!" Fred argued with her.
"But I'm not unarmed," she denied gently. "See Fred I have arms and fingers and hands. Look, I even have legs, feet, and toes too." Aki blinked innocently at him.
"You're not funny," the ghost grumbled darkly.
"Oh, pffftt," Aki blew him off. "You worry too much."
"I do not!"
"Look, Fred, I have all of my limbs, a strong kick, and a brain. Something you must realize will come in handy. All of the above will probably be enough to keep me from any great harm because I'm female and all the bad guys will greatly underestimate me," Aki declared absently. "And if that isn't enough, I have a sturdy iron skillet to swing at the head of whatever comes near me. They don't use it as a weapon in cartoons for no reason, you know."
"I still think it would've been wiser for you to have brought along something that was designed as a weapon!" Fred whined. "What about a gun? Couldn't you have brought a gun?"
"Fred," Aki began blandly, "Put your hand up in front of your face."
The ghost blinked at her queer demand; perhaps she really was going crazy. Best to appease the insane woman, so he did as she practically ordered him to.
When she saw him hold his hand up she continued, "Good! Now run into it as you realize the monumental stupidity of what you just suggested."
"You're not funny!" Fred glowered at his friend and anchor.
"I'm serious," Aki glared right back at him. "I can't believe you would suggest such a thing, or did the possibility of time travel and its likely side effects never come up in any of those Sci-Fi shows you watched?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well let's step back to the comment you just thoughtlessly blurted out and examine the situation using some of your profound Sci-Fi knowledge, hmm?" her voice turned acidically sardonic. "We know that we are now in Sengoku Jidai, which places us approximately 500 years prior to the time I left my apartment. By the laws of logic and nature this is not possible, but here we are. Now, we run the risk of changing history in ways that are incalculable. So, we should try to minimize our impact here, meaning we want to leave as little evidence of a visitor from another time and another country as possible.
"You suggested bringing a gun along for the ride." Aki snorted derisively "Lets put aside the fact that I do not own a gun nor know how to use one and focus on the pure idiocy of the idea itself. The fact that we are currently encased by an environment that will be nothing more than a distant memory by the time we're born and I know they were sill using muskets and muzzle loading cannons in the war for what will be the United States more than 300 years from now indicates that a gun, practically any gun that I could get a hold of would absolutely scream 'Hi! Foreign time altering artifact here!' Suppose it got stolen or lost? Worse, what if I actually used the damn thing? Do you have any idea as to how to disguise a bullet wound? Because I sure don't. Let's not forget having to track down and retrieve every bullet shot just to be absolutely certain some archaeologist can never get a hold of it and realize that a bullet with last year's serial numbers appears to have survived 500 years of history to prove the existence of time travel.
"And that's simply barring the possibility that some average person sees it in action and manages to figure out how to make it years before it would've been invented by someone else. Thereby forever shifting around who is the military power in the world. Imagine the change to history!" Aki gave him another reproving glare, "and all because you wanted to bring a gun!"
"Alright, so maybe it wasn't the brightest thing I've ever said." Aki's flat look caused him to change his statement. "Okay, so it was a completely stupid and recklessly moronic thing to say. See, this is my forehead running into my hand repeatedly." Funny thing about ghosts, they are completely intangible, even to themselves. The only thing that saved Fred's hand from coming in contact with the back of his head after passing through his eyes, nostrils and somewhat bad haircut was his soul's memory of what his body's dimensions had been. In actuality the only strange thing about Fred smacking himself was the lack of sound on contact.
It was because of Fred's silent head smacking and the conclusion of the argument that they were able to overhear someone else's argument.
"I really wish gramps would just grow up!" a rather small and frustrated voice vehemently exploded from the ground a few trees over.
"Watch what you say," another voice scolded from the lowest branch of a tree. "You should respect your elders!"
"I'll respect my elders when they start acting their age!" the first voice retorted.
Fred and Aki shared a bewildered look before following the sounds.
"They've even taken to competing over whom can more viciously guard their perceived territory!" the little voice went on. "It's worse than when they tried to out procreate each other! The whole community's near to starvation because of their on-going food-harvesting competition which they started so long ago nobody can remember ever eating to the point of being full anymore. All my family has long ago relocated because of the neighbor's hostility and the constant run ins with the squirrels. Gramps' intolerable childishness grates on my nerves!"
"I do agree that this has gone on long enough, Kashi." A long-eared owl youkai answered what now appeared to be a young chipmunk youkai. "Unfortunately, your Grandfather and his self-proclaimed rival have slighted and upset so many of the community that there's no clean cut way to end it without somebody getting hurt."
"After the incident a couple days ago, some of the older members of the community are talking blood," Kashi related to the elder bird. "I'm afraid of what will happen to gramps. I mean I was worried before when his health went bad on him, but now…"
"Sounds like you could use an outside party to mediate the problem," Aki spoke quietly, trying to be as polite as possible, though butting into someone else's conversation is rude by definition. "An uninvolved individual would be able to rectify the situation in a manner uninfluenced by personal feelings or threats from the people they would have to live with after a judgment has been made."
"The idea holds merit, except for the whole stranger part," the old Owl began, warily eyeing the new comers. "After all, not all Strangers are friendly and trustworthy."
"How very true," the no longer silent Fred agreed. "But then, if nobody trusted anybody else, how would strangers become friends that can help us?"
"You do have a point," the owl agreed.
"And your problem seems to be a somewhat desperate one," Aki added. "One that needs to be resolved."
"What are you after?" Kashi accused the strangers.
"To help you, nothing more," Aki answered.
"Yeah you wanna help us, help us into an early grave!" the young chipmunk declared, not even attempting to hide her healthy suspicion.
"Kashi!" the long eared owl scolded the younger youkai.
"It's quite alright," Aki assured him. "We won't take offense. These are hard times, and there are untrustworthy people in abundance these days. It is generally much safer for an individual to be wary of the unknown with so many bad influences out in the countryside."
"Stop trying to get on Torafu-zuku's good side!" Kashi ordered. "He's definitely not going to fall for your all innocent act."
"Kashi!" the owl tried again to contain the youngling's rampant paranoia.
Aki just smiled at the little chipmunk before hunkering down to the six inch tall Kashi. "You are quite right to suspect travelers of dishonesty little one, but you should be a little more careful in just how much of your suspicion you let strangers know. For one thing, you have just declared what you suspect me of, and if I were such a person, you really shouldn't give people ideas. Also, you should never give away your name or the names of your companions. Treat this information like a profound treasure that you share with friends and family only. Thanks to you I now know the name of your good friend Torafu-zuku. You should also be more careful of your surroundings when discussing private information, lest it be overheard as it just was." Aki reached out and tapped the little chipmunk youkai on the nose. "Lucky for you I am not the type to exploit this sort of information. AS I'm sure you're elder, wiser friend was going to point out to you; it is very rude to accuse people of things before you have proof of any wrongdoing." She paused before continuing, "What I'd like to point out to you on my own, and I'm sure Torafu-zuku in his vast experiences could support my suggesting that if a supposed ruse looks so incredibly and quite painfully genuine it probably is true. Fred is quite dead. Just who would go to the trouble of being or getting killed just so a stranger can come here with a ghost in tow to exploit a somewhat widely known and long standing community issue?"
"Nobody, that's who," Fred grumbled. "And for the record I've been dead over a year."
"Now," Aki finished pointing out the stupidity of Kashi's accusations, "all that remains is you two's decision to either accept our help and trust in our good will and judgment as will be seen by the majority of your community and then accepted by it if it is sound or not. Either way, you will not being seeing us very long. We're passing through on our own business."
Kashi's moment to feel sheepish came and went like a breath of air once in, then right back out again. Immediately on the heels of it came her anger at being made a fool of. "I don't care! I want no part of it!" she declared and disappeared into the miscellaneous underbrush.
Aki gazed after the little chipmunk, "It's just as well, if we were presented to the community by you and her, half the community might assume we were biased by her view on the situation." She paused in thought, "You're not especially affiliated with any one group in the community are you?"
Torafu-zuku chuckled, "Not particularly. I'm the oldest of the elders and most the rest of the community defers to me in my greater experience." He sighed tiredly, "Though they might take ill to strangers passing judgment on the situation, I don't think there will be any serious objections."
"Well, on the plus side we won't have to worry about it too much," Fred pointed out, "I mean, we can always just leave."
Aki raised an amused eyebrow at Fred's homing in on the 'walk away option'. He most assuredly was not thrilled to be acting the mediator. A sudden semi-familiar tingle distracted her from the subject of Fred's reluctance. Directly on the heels of the tingle came a bird flying in a panic.
The ridiculously puff-like bird alighted on the branch next to Torafu-zuku and related his news so quickly it was unintelligible to Aki and her ghost friend. They did however, understanding the old owls instant bolt through the trees. They immediately followed the trail of dislodged leaves that marked the trail after him.
Their first true warning of what was ahead started as a dull but constant hum of noise. "IS there normally so much noise in the middle of the forest this time of day?" Fred asked as his unease grew with each passing second. Inane chatter and sarcasm were his defense against anxiety.
Aki dipped her hand into her shoulder bag to extract her iron skillet. Their future looked to be full of trouble of a somewhat violent nature, the noise told her that much. She really didn't think the Forest youkai were all that different from their near silent animal neighbors, so whatever it was that had set them all off must be serious in nature.
"What the hell could be…" and Aki stumbled upon the scene of chaos before Fred could finish the question.
"I say we drown the both of them in the river, they've done more than enough to deserve it!" a rather disgruntled badger shouted above the rest, only to be followed up by a louder voice of a bear. "Nay! Roast them! Burn them! Drowning would be too quick and painless!"
A score of squirrels burst out almost in chorus, "It's the chipmunk's fault! Burn him! Drown Him!" to which a single chipmunk voice shrieked in indignation, "Don't even try to blame it all on my Grandfather, you great big bunch of feather dusters!"
"Who you calling a feather duster!" a particularly robust male squirrel jumped up and poked the younger, smaller chipmunk in the chest. The little chipmunk's response was drowned out by the sudden violent snarling of the older chipmunk and squirrel that were quite obviously the source of the crowd's maniacal rage. The rustle of long ears alerted Aki to the presence of some of Hanako's people and even more birds rustled in the branches over the chaos.
And in the middle of the free-for-all, Torafu-zuku flew trying to figure out just what had set it all off.
It didn't take long for Aki to decide the noise had gone on long enough. She hefted the skillet and promptly smacked into the bear, the elder squirrel and chipmunk. Profound silence convened as the ring from the pan began to dissipate. "Now that we have some semblance of order, shall we attempt to figure this out, hmm?" Aki said to the wary creatures that stared at her. "First off we should make sure everybody knows just what has happened. Fred, care to start?"
"Gladly," the ghost began, cheerfully smug. "My friend, Aki," he gestured to her, "and I just stumbled across a rather noisy lynch mob in the middle of an otherwise charmingly quiet forest. We then watched as a somewhat large and angry bear youkai lunged at a granther squirrel and grandpa chipmunk here. I can only assume that the bear was so blinded by rage that the fact that such a move would've inevitably lead to the possibly fatal flattening of two rabbit youkai, a smattering of mice youkai and a walking stick youkai. In order to prevent this accidental carnage my friend stepped up very carefully and stunned the bear with her wonderfully sturdy pan. She stunned the old squirrel and chipmunk for good measure because one had moved to snap his teeth at a particularly young looking badger youkai while the other tried to claw the poor thing. Aki does not tolerate violence to children and that's what I know happened." Fred concluded to a mass of confused and slightly shame faced crowd of youkai. "Who's next Torafu-zuku?"
"You brought these strangers into our midst?" the robust young squirrel accused the old owl.
"You think they wouldn't have been drawn by so much noise in the middle of the forest?" the little chipmunk mocked his accusation as she rubbed the spot on her chest that had previously been abused. "Are you sure you have a brain in your thick head?" To which the squirrel retaliated by throwing a fist that was successfully dodged before a deer youkai and another rabbit jumped in to restrain them and the shouting broke out again.
Torafu-zuku flew over to Aki and rapped a hardened talon on the skillet until it out rang the crowd. "Everyone will quiet and remember their manners!" he shouted as the mob slowly returned to order. "The next time somebody gets out of line, feel free to apply that marvelous pan of yours again," he suggested to the side in a stage whisper. "We are going to be civilized about this even if we have to rely on strangers to enforce the peace!"
"We can't even trust our own and you want us to trust these," and here the especially outspoken young squirrel's face was twisted into a scowl of disgust, "others? They won't have to live with whatever is decided!"
"It is for that reason exactly that you should want them to make this decision!" The old owl gave the youth a rather droll look. "Actually I'm surprised you would be against this. Do you think your greatly wronged and much angered neighbors are likely to judge your wrong doings in a fair if not kind manner? Especially after this last turn of events?" Torafu-zuku looked away dismissing the boys seeming lack of intelligence, "Attacking the young of another youkai is a terrible offence with severe consequences. And the community has quite had enough of your grandsire's never-ending competition with the old chipmunk. A behavior you and your brethren have taken to following. Do you think a community that has been galvanized into action over one such squirrel will desire to leave other such creatures in their midst to have the same effect?"
The young Squirrel blanched at the direction he saw the old owl heading in. If the community acted in the way most Youkai societies would, he might well be looking at his own execution in the near future at the hands of his neighbors… "Ah, yes," he squeaked out, "let the strangers be judge!"
Aki gazed down at the little rodent, "While I do thank you for your approval, my decision isn't likely to be more than empty words if the whole community does not deign to follow what I suggest be done."
"That is a valid concern," Torafu-zuku concurred. "Which is why this community is going to swear, right now, that your judgment will be honored by all present." He increased his volume sharply, "Anyone who does not so swear to uphold the decisions reached today will be declared no better than a rabid animal and will be game to any youkai for whatever purpose!"
A cricket chirped in the encompassing silence and was immediately shushed. A tremulous voice offered an apology and "I chirp when I'm nervous" as explanation.
"Are we agreed then? These strangers shall pass judgment on the events of this day and the punishment thereby meted out will be honored as it was given," his round eyes stared at each and every creature within sight. "Any who disagree, speak now or find yourself sworn to this agreement." He waited a long moment in which no sound was heard. "Then it is settled."
"Before we start," Aki spoke evenly, "I would like the young chipmunk and vocal squirrel to collect the Shikon shards from their respective grandfathers and place them here," she indicated a flat rock well in view of the entire gathering amidst a group of rabbit youkai and a quadrant of Butterfly youkai. "No one is to touch them until a decision has been rendered in regards to the accused and then about the shards. I assure you I will try to be as fair as possible, but be warned, I will not use death as punishment. The dead feel nothing, suffer nothing, learn nothing, and atone for nothing. Only the living can." Fred was going to interrupt, but Aki's sharp pointy look impaled the words before they could escape him. "May I please have this space around my feet cleared so I can sit through this endeavor?" A flurry of motion about her ankles made it apparent just how important that question was. A good-sized number of mice, crickets, and various other ground insects evacuated the area. "Is that everyone?" She asked just to be safe.
"I believe so," an extremely brave mouse squeaked out from his new place of cover.
"Thank you," she replied politely and sat down on the ground. "Now," Aki began assuming a rather authoritative tone, "Torafu-zuku, call on the accusers, please."
The informally appointed bailiff addressed the large group of youkai, "Alright then, who saw what started all this?"
"I did," a rather timid, young rabbit youkai raised her slightly clawed hand.
"Alright then, tell us what you saw," the owl encouraged the quaking creature.
"I was running an errand for my grandmam when I heard a scuffle, like creatures fussin' or fightin' in ways that they shouldn't. So I went to see what it was. My mam's always telling me I should mind my own doings rather than worry over the doings of others, but this didn't sound right. I came 'round that tree right there and saw these two old blackguards, if you pardon me for saying so, a-laying into that young badger tha's partial to playing real nice with the little wee rabbits. He's recently gotten real attached to this one young male who's been real sick-like. Everybody's been saying that if the little mite could just get a bit more to eat he'd perk right up-"the little female rabbit went off on a tangent as she picked at her clothes nervously.
"Yes, yes, child," Torafu-zuku interrupted her. "Can you get back to what you saw?"
"Sorry," the female mumbled as a congenial chuckle rippled through the crowd.
"It's alright," Aki offered her a smile for comfort, "please continue."
The rabbit youkai took a deep breath of courage before continuing to speak. "Right, I saw them two going at the young badger and I know it's not right. Toga's a real gentle creature and still too young for his mam to start teaching him how to fight. I'm a bit older and my mam's already taught me quite a bit, but none of our kind is strong enough to stand alone in the face of those two mad creatures. But I know Toga won't last much longer so's I decided to try to help him the way my mam's been trying to teach me. I managed to stop them, but I knows it won't last long as I send my pet cricket for more help. They was just breaking free when Yama-sama and that gang of squirrels showed up," the bear youkai nodded his head when Aki raised a questioning eyebrow at the name. "After that, the crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger. Then you came and it got quiet and I told you what I saw," the little rabbit finished up, twitching her black and white ears happily relieved that it was done.
"Thank you," Aki dismissed her.
"Anyone else See something before the rabbit?" Torafu-zuku addressed the group.
"Oh, hem-hem," the puff-bird that had lead them into this mess spoke up. "I saw, I did, before the little long-ear, hem-hem. I saw little three stripe, yes, the goodly gentle one carrying the little sick long-ear, hem-hem. The sick long-ear was making much noise, wailing you see, heard him, yes. Three stripe was trying to quiet the sick long-ear, offered to find sick long-ear some food, hem-hem. Bad tempered ground-rat and tree-mouse heard too, near their storing ground three stripe was, Ground-rat and tree-mouse assume three stripe will steal from them, accuse him they do, hem-hem. Three stripe try to protect little long-ear, hide long-ear behind three stripe. Ground-rat and tree-mouse assume three stripe is hiding stolen food, they do, hem-hem. Ground-rat and tree-mouse attack Three stripe, I leave, go for help, hem-hem. Where little sick long-ear, Long-ear alright?"
Aki blinked at the first semi-intelligible thing the bird had said. "A little clarification please, three stripe is?
"Toga," The young female that had previously witnessed offered in translation. "Ground-rat is Yuuji, the old chipmunk. Tree-mouse is Kado, the old squirrel. And the little sick Long-ear is the mite I was talking about before, he doesn't have a name yet. He's got another year before he gets one.
"Well, where is he, please?" Aki asked. "Our good friend has asked after his safety and I find myself curious as to his whereabouts as well."
A buck called softly from the edge of the crowd, "He's right here. He's seem alright, but we can't seem to get him to wake."
"May I see him?" Aki asked gently.
It took a bit of fancy footwork and concerted effort to finally carry the baby youkai into Aki's arms. Once she caught a good look at the little thing she immediately dug through her bag for a bottle of water and a metal spoon. She placed both on the pan she upturned on the ground before her foray into the depths of her shoulder bag. Aki then carefully poured a bit of water into the bowl of the spoon. Taking the tip of her finger, she dipped into the water and proceeded to wet the fur on his little face.
Almost immediately, the little thing began to rouse. Once he was awake enough, Aki lifted the spoon to his tiny mouth and began to trickle water between his lips. The little thing grasped onto the bowl of the spoon firmly and quickly drained it of its contents, almost whimpering when it ran out. The spoon was quickly refilled and drained again. The very round eyes that gazed up at her were wary and terribly tired looking. Aki then dug out a little bag of trail mix and scooped up a small handful of nuts and raisins to pass on to the little tyke.
After the food was gobbled up hastily, she handed the baby youkai back to his deer keeper. "We'll address care for him and Toga later. Right not let's continue where we left off. Did anyone else see anything?" she asked the audience before her.
When no one else came forward Torafu-zuku took up the inquiry and it was again met with silence.
"So we've exhausted the list of accusers that saw something. Now for the accused, Kado first," Aki ordered.
"I object to his going first!" Yuuji yelled. "He'll only incriminate me before I have a chance to speak my piece!"
"Well, I'm most certainly not letting you go first!" Kado yelled back. "Besides, I'm the better youkai here so I should go first!"
"Like he-" Yuuji's retort was cut off by the loud banging of a spoon on the back of a frying pan.
"Enough!" Aki practically growled. "Since it seems you can not spare us your childish antics and behave like responsible adults, the both of you are restricted from speech unless given a direct question. You will not move unless given leave to do so by a direct statement from me!" she took a deep breath before continuing. "Now, Kado, did you think Toga was going to steal from you?"
"Of course, he practically said he was going to," the squirrel answered sullenly.
"Are you the only creature in the forest that has food, Yuuji?" Aki demanded cutting off the belligerent answer Kado was preparing to give.
"No, that damn feather duster has quite a store of food too," the old chipmunk answered as disdainfully as the old 'feather duster' had been.
"Does no one else in the forest have access to this food? Kado?" Aki continued her questioning.
"Of course not. They didn't gather it, did they?" Kado replied.
"Are there a lot of hungry youkai in the area, Yuuji?"
"I'm confused by the question."
"I was merely wondering if there are a lot of creatures around here that don't get enough food to eat. Yuuji, do you know if there are?"
"I suppose some less industrious creatures might be."
"Less industrious?" She couldn't believe it. The old chipmunk was trying to tell her the starving community wasn't getting enough to eat because they weren't working hard enough. "Are his parents," Aki indicated the sickly little youkai, "his family not working hard to try to feed their young?"
The buck looked affronted at the insinuation, "We all work to gather enough food for the young. We work very hard, there just isn't enough to go around anymore."
Aki nodded before directing her attention to the rabbit youkai that had previously spoken. "Why is there not enough food? Does the forest not supply all that is needed for your continued survival?"
"Those two horrible creatures gather all the nuts and seeds before they have chance to sprout. There are no new greens, needed to keep young ones strong, no nuts to see us through the winter because we are forced to eat them right after they're harvested for there is nothing else to eat. Berries and fruit, what little is left after they get to 'em, go quickly and are seasonal." The little female answered.
And then the slowly calming bear spoke, "We larger youkai that would normally feed on the small animals of the forest are feeling this shortage as well. The lack of new growth has sent a good number of the forest animals to other areas in search of food, and I grow tired of fish," The great size of 'Yama-sama' shifted against a tree.
Aki nodded to the great bear before resuming her questions. "Why is it that you, Kado, have a surplus while your neighbor's children slowly starve?"
"How should I know?" came his disinterested reply.
"Why do you, Kado, and your chipmunk friend here gather so much food?"
"He is not my friend!"
"That is immaterial, answer the question, Kado."
"Because I swore I could gather more than that damned striped rock-kisser!"
"And you swore the same Yuuji?"
"Yes."
"Could either of you eat the whole of even one of your stores Yuuji?"
"That's very unlikely, though that glutton of a feather duster might certainly try."
"How long are stored nuts good for Torafu-zuku?" Aki asked.
"Quite a while. They could probably stop gathering and live off their stores until well past their likely extermination date," the owl answered blandly.
"Really," Aki said with interest. "Now for Toga please."
"Toga?" the buck asked incredulously.
"Yes, Toga," Aki repeated. "We're going for the full picture and his is the last piece of it."
"You think you can do this boy?" the still somewhat disgruntled badger tenderly asked the younger one.
"I'm fine!" Toga growled, embarrassed by the fuss.
"I'm glad to know you're alright," Aki began mildly with concealed amusement. "Now I'm going to ask you some questions and I would like you to answer them, okay?" Toga nodded bravely. "Alright. It's been said that you offered to get your young friend some food, is this true?"
"Yes," the young badger answered.
"Where did you plan to get this food?"
"I'm not sure but I would've gotten it! He needed it!"
"Would you have taken it from Kado or Yuuji?"
"NO!" he fairly shrieked as his voice cracked with fear.
"Why not?"
"I know they would've never given it to us because they never have in the past. Besides the way they've been lately, everybody's been a little afraid of breathing wrong around them."
"Don't they have a lot of food?"
"Heck yeah! Just one of their stores would feed the whole community for a couple seasons, easy. I overheard the bragging squirrels say so, just last week. They like rubbing it in the face of the little ones when their stomachs would growl from hunger."
Aki's eyes flashed somewhat with outrage, but she controlled it. "That does seem like a lot of food." Toga nodded. "You say Yuuji and Kado have been more stand-offish lately? More likely to take offense or think ill of others?"
"Yeah," Toga trembled slightly. "There's not a lot of animals left in the forest anymore now that the foods gone scarce, but what few there is we try to be careful of. They," his voice cracked at the memory," just a couple days ago they mauled a fawn. A tiny little thing, still in its spots. They said it had grazed too close to their trees. They've never claimed the trees before! The poor thing couldn't walk and could hardly see. Yama-sama had to put it down 'cause it could never get better again! It was so terrible and the sounds it made," Toga shuddered, his eyes tearing up in remembered horror.
The older badger cuddled the younger one, attempting to soothe away the bad memory. Aki merely sighed in sorrow. One couldn't soothe away bad memories, you could only bury them in more pleasant ones until the horror and pain of it didn't seem so overwhelming.
She sighed before addressing the full gathering "I have made my decision, and the punishment shall be suiting for the crimes against this community. But first, I would like to commend Toga for his quick thinking and bravery in protecting his younger, weaker friend in the only ways he had to hand. My compliments to the young rabbit youkai for interfering in such a wise and level-headed manner. Restraining the aggressive parties rather than attempting to fight in a reckless manner was the right thing to do to prevent this mess from becoming an all-out tragedy. I'd also like to thank the bird that wisely went for help. Because of you this situation was not allowed to dissolve into a murderous mob lynching that would've scarred the community just a surely as these long-term harvesting fools have already.
"As for Yuuji and Kado, the main culprits responsible for this upheaval, your conduct is and has been reprehensible. Saying something and doing it are two different things, you jumped to conclusions in a situation that has been a long time in coming due to your own foolish actions. You are ordered to open Kado's food stores immediately for the benefit of the community. The food will be wisely managed and dispensed to those in need of it throughout all of this winter and into next summer until the food runs out. Then Yuuji's stores will likewise be opened to community use for the following cold season. There will be no harvesting of anything during the next warm season. Everything will be allowed to fall where it will and sprout or not as nature decides. The harvesting season following the opening of Yuuji's food stores will be time for moderate food gathering. Yuuji and Kado will not be allowed to eat freshly harvested food or harvest anything until the final food in their stores have been exhausted.
"After their stores are emptied, their harvesting competition may resume, but with community set limits. I suggest a time limit or a cap. The community will set these limits but they may not make the competitions impossible to conduct and they cannot outlaw the competitions. Personally, I'd have them harvest all the food for the community since they enjoy their stupid competitions so much.
"That brings me to my next stipulation. In the future, if Yuuji and Kado manage to harvest a surplus, they will share with those less fortunate. A community cannot stand on the achievements of a few if those few do not take care of those less talented than themselves in some things.
"Lastly, since you have already proven yourselves incapable of responsibly conducting yourselves while in ownership of the Shikon shards, they will be permanently removed from your possession. The community will have to decide what to do with them beyond that, but rest assured they will not be returned to Yuuji or Kado.
"Yama-sama, I would ask that you enforce these decrees I've made if you find them to be justified and fair. If you find either Kado or Yuuji Harvesting food before their stores have been exhausted and there is enough food contained there in to last them out the coming season I want you to thump them once. If you find them breaking the rules set by the community for their continued competitions, I want you to thump them. But remember I said only to thump them, not kill, and not render them insensible. They will not learn the lesson if they cannot remember it."
Aki studiously watched the reactions of her semi-captive audience. "If there are any strong objections, please, raise them now while I am still here to address them."
"I object!"
"Hell, yeah I don't like it!" Yuuji and Kado practically yelled in a race to voice their upset first.
Aki raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Then please do itemize your objections and recite them in a civilized manner, but keep in mind that unless your food stores have magically shrunk down to barely being enough for you to survive the coming barren season with difficulty, you stores will be opened and shared." Her stern statement had quite fully taken the wind out of Kado's sails, but not Yuuji's.
"I'm worried that whomever will be in charge of the food distribution will short myself and my family out of their own feelings of abuse whether those feelings are justified or not," Yuuji stated his concern.
"That's a very valid concern. I would suggest that the community elect a group to take care of managing the food and that the group should include a representative for the chipmunks and the squirrels to be absolutely certain that it doesn't happen, but I am not a part of the community and it is up to your neighbors to decide. I will however feel very disappointed should such a petty revenge be exacted by manipulating the punishment I have dealt in order to help that community. If you were to be starved as they have been, it would make me responsible and I would forever have that darkness besmirching my future. It would be quite a horrible group to wish that upon a stranger that has done nothing but help you, but there is nothing I can do about it," Aki sighed.
"I will most certainly not allow your fair and just help to this entire community and its future to be so tainted," Torafu-zuku declared with vehemence. "And I am a part of the community. If these creatures are the good creatures I've always thought them to be, they most certainly feel the same. The punishment is just and good. The judgment passed fair and unbiased. If we cannot honor what you have offered for us, then we are no better than the common animals we shepherd."
Fred shared a sardonic look with Aki who just shrugged before applying all her attention back to the crowd. "Does anyone else have a problem with my decision or its application?" She gazed over the assembled youkai, "Speak now or be bound by it."
Again the lone cricket chirped and the crowd gave a nervous chuckle. Aki grinned in shared amusement. "Then the matter is closed."