Disclaimer. I do not own Yashahime. All rights belong to the creators.
CHAPTER THREE
Moroha looked offended as Reasui made her way back down to the village. "H-hey! You're going to insult me again?"
She bounded after the kitsune.
Reasui glanced at her as they reached the hut. "No, I'm going to teach you. If we'll be travelling together, the first thing that comes to mind is eating. And I'm not eating anything you cook as of right now."
Moroha crossed her arms as Reasui pushed aside the cloth and went inside, the smell of soggy food now in the air.
"Why don't you just cook for us then? Isn't that easier?" Moroha's voice sounded from outside the hut. She had not come in.
Reasui blinked, as she considered what the small demon had said. "I suppose. But I can still teach you. After all, if I ever leave, you'll be able to handle yourself."
Reasui disliked the smell of soggy crab very much. "Moroha. Please get in here and help me."
The thumping of bare feet on wood answered her. "Where are the spices? Or herbs? Do you not have any, in this hut?"
Moroha walked in front of her, and grabbed the handle of the cook pot, straining to pull it off the hanger. "No. I didn't see any when I inspected the village. We can grab fresh ones!"
Reasui watched her struggle to take the cook pot off. "Alright that's enough. Let me handle that, you can go and grab some fresh herbs then."
Moroha let go of the pot, panting. "Yeah…haha. That would probably be best."
Reasui turned and watched her rush out the hut, sand baked yellow eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Is it just me or did she seem offended?"
She waited until the sound of Moroha running faded, and turned to the cook pot. "Let's see…I'll just use a little force."
Reasui raised a hand, and shot a blast of hot wind at the pot. It swung off the hanger, and thumped onto the floor.
She darted forwards and stopped it before it could spill. Bracing her legs, Reasui started dragging the pot across the hut, and out the cloth covering the door, blowing it away from her face.
"Why do humans make things so heavy? This is inconvenient."
Once Reasui was a fair ways away from the hut, she pushed the pot over, and the bitter smelling crab stew spilled out onto the dirt.
She gagged, and started kicking dirt over it. "How has Moroha not killed herself with her own cooking?"
"Heeeey!"
Reasui's ear twitched, and she glanced up, seeing Moroha dash towards her, waving large clumps of uprooted herbs.
"Is this what you wanted?"
Moroha screeched to a halt, wrinkling her nose at the soggy mess in the dirt. "Gross."
Reasui resumed kicking dirt over it. "Your cooking is gross. Now listen up. Is there a stream nearby?"
The smaller demon harrumphed and went into the hut to put the herbs down and came back out. "You said you wouldn't insult my cooking anymore! And yes, it's on the other side of the hill."
Reasui waved her tails randomly. "Hm? Did I say that? I don't remember."
Moroha's eyes flashed dangerously, then punched Reasui in the shoulder. Reasui raised a tail and slammed it into Moroha, knocking her off her feet onto the ground.
"Hey! Ever heard of a playful punch?"
Reasui stood up, the disgusting task now done. "Friendly violence? What land do you hail from?"
Moroha snorted at her.
The red haired kitsune wiped her feet on clean dirt. Her thin brown pants were dirty, and she brushed the dirt off.
Then she rolled up her long white sleeves, and grinned at Moroha. "Time to catch us a crab. You coming?"
Moroha rolled up her red haori sleeves, and nodded. "Lead the way!"
Reasui started running up the hill, Moroha in hot pursuit.
She slid down the other side and landed gracefully on the bank of the stream.
Reasui knelt down by the water's edge, and peered into the water. It was not the cleanest spring, having not been tended to since the village had been abandoned.
There was thumping behind her then a 'watch out!'
Reasui leapt up into the air, then thrust a hand out and grabbed the neck of Moroha's haori.
She landed, and pulled Moroha away from the water. "Careful! You'll scare the crabs away!"
Moroha stared at the kitsune in astonishment. "You're just so amazing! I feel boring. Darn. No wonder all the demons laugh at me."
Reasui let go, blinking at her. "What do you mean? Everyone is different."
Moroha sighed, and scooted to the edge of the water, sticking a hand in and sifting through the dirt. "Yeah, but I'm not a full demon. I'm not even half. I'm just a quarter demon. So I don't have much going for me. I trained myself to fight, which has gotten me far enough."
Reasui walked up beside Moroha, and crouched down, sticking her arms in the water.
"I mean, I didn't want to say it."
Moroha flinched, and glanced at her sullenly. "You knew?"
Reasui concentrated on crab hunting, an ear turned towards Moroha. "I could smell the human in you. But I figured that would be highly offensive for me to say out loud."
Moroha grabbed at something in the water, but whatever it was she didn't catch it. "I'm used to it. Demons I slay always say the same old insult. What can you do, with being almost all the way human. Then I would kill them, and look into their eyes.
I'd always say, enough to be able to kill you."
Reasui sniffed, impressed. "Pretty cold words. Let them die in shame."
Moroha snatched a hand out, and brought out an angry crab, it's pincers waving and snapping. "I caught one! But it's kind of small…"
Reasui took her arms out the water, and shook them dry. "It doesn't matter if it's small, Moroha. We'll just be using this lesson as an example."
Moroha held the crab away from her face as it tried to pinch her nose. "Okay!"
Reasui stood up, and motioned for Moroha to follow. "Now we need to put some water in the pot. I'll go grab it, and you can wait in the hut."
Moroha stood up, holding the crab with one hand. "Will you be able to even drag it back when it's full of water?"
Reasui halted, and then crossed her arms. "Ah. I didn't think that far ahead. I can only use a small amount of magic that I was taught. And it all has to do with fire, or hot wind. That's how I was able to get it off the hanger. I can't use much else."
She scrunched her eyes in thought, but couldn't come up with anything.
Moroha walked up to her, and held the crab close to Reasui's ear. It pinched her.
"OW!" Reasui leapt away, holding her ear and glaring at the crab. "What did you do that for?"
Moroha raised one hand and wagged a finger. "We have one option. I have a friend, he's kind of like a tanuki. He can fly. I'll whistle and he'll come."
Reasui blinked at her. "What."
Moroha put two fingers in her mouth and whistled, the shrill sound lasting only seconds.
A shape started flying towards them. Reasui watched as it got closer and closer.
"That's…your friend?"
Moroha chuckled. "Well, part time. He likes doing his own thing, mostly because I get him into dangerous situations and he doesn't like that."
Reasui raised a hand, shielding her eyes against the bright sky as the shape flew closer.
"Does it…have a turtle shell?"
Moroha looked up as well. "He's not an it. His name is Takechiyo. And, yes. He does."
The tanuki shrunk as it got closer, and turned into a small tanuki child, landing on the ground in front of Moroha. "Here I am! You called?"
Reasui knelt down, staring curiously at him. "You're…cute." The words felt foreign, but she meant it.
Takechiyo blushed, and scrambled backwards. "Woah! Who are you?"
Moroha coughed. "Ahem. She my fr-" Reasui glanced at her. "Acquaintance. I mean. She'll be travelling with me."
Takechiyo looked apologetic. "Wow. Do I feel sorry for you. Don't get poisoned by her food."
Moroha stomped on his tail, teeth clenched in an angry smile. "Actually, she's going to teach me how to cook. And we needed help carrying the pot."
Takechiyo was flat on his face, slapping the ground with a tiny hand. "Ow ow ow ow! I'm sorry! Let my tail go! You're going to crush it!"
Moroha took her foot off, smiling smugly. "Then let's go!"
She walked happily down the hill, the crab being held tightly in her hand.
Reasui knelt by Takechiyo, helping him off the ground. "Does she always treat you like this?"
Her own tails felt sympathy for Takechiyo's.
"Ah, thank you."
The tiny tanuki brushed himself off, and started walking down the hill. "Yeah. She does. She calls it friendly reminders."
Reasui got up, and with one stride fell into step with Takechiyo.
"Moroha certainly thinks she can get away with doing that over and over. She friendly punched me earlier."
Takechiyo glanced up at her, then down at Moroha, who was by the hut. She was busy antagonizing the crab with a stick.
"She doesn't mean any actual harm."
There was a pause.
"I think."
Reasui snorted. "That sounds…doubtful."
Takechiyo looked up quickly. "I guess. But if she actually wanted to hurt us, she would have done so sooner. Moroha likes action, and not too much pussyfooting around."
Moroha yelped as the crab snapped her stick in half. She looked at Reasui as she reached the bottom of the hill, having moved slowly as Takechiyo could only move so fast on his tiny little legs.
"Can we eat this crab yet?"
Reasui sighed, and went past Moroha, into the hut. "Kill it if it annoys you. Either we boil it alive, which is fresher, or we kill it and let the meat stale a little."
Moroha came into the hut, grabbed a woven basket, put the crab in it, then set the basket upside down, trapping it. "You're the expert. Fresh is better!"
Reasui was busy sorting through the herbs Moroha had collected. "Why don't you and Takechiyo go and get some water now? I'm preparing to ground these herbs."
Moroha pointed at Takechiyo. "Your assistance is requested, my loyal companion!" The tanuki saluted. "Yes Ma'am!"
He and Moroha darted out the hut. "Come on, grow bigger than that or the pot will crush you!"
"Ow! Stop it! I'm just a child you know! It's amazing I can even transform this big al-oof!"
The sounds of struggling ensued. "It's heavy!"
"Forward ho!"
"Yes Ma'am."
Reasui started to smile, amused. 'They are quite the pair. It's hard to remain serious near them.'
She started pushing her palm against the herbs she picked out from the clumps of muddy herbs Moroha picked.
The strong smell of herbs filled the air as she continued to ground them.
'I think…it'll be okay for me to smile more. Moroha has a good personality. I think our time together will prove beneficial. I'll have to do something about her friendly violence some day. People might get the wrong idea. And maybe, just maybe, being with her will help me find…my lost clan.'
END OF CHAPTER THREE
Author Notes
-I don't really know Takechiyo's real personality. So I gave him a general friendly one with a sense of humour.
-Reasui wears thin pants like what poor people wore back in the day. Her shirt is one of those old fashioned cotton kimonos. I don't know how to explain it.
