Warning: child Abuse, physical abuse
Terms:
Kanabo - studded two-handed war club traditionally used by the samurai
Chigiriki - Japanese flail weapon
Chapter 1
Asha returned home after escaping the daimyo's palace. Somehow, miraculously, she had survived, having gone undetected by the Schichinintai. Before fleeing she witnessed a confrontation between the band of ruthless mercenaries and a small group of humans and yokai working together.
Now there was a strange sight.
Amidst their fight, she'd made her escape, going around the side of the castle and fleeing into the surrounding mountains.
Trudging back home, she arrived on her family's estate and was embraced by her parents and brothers whom she had sorely missed over the past week. It may have been a short time apart, but she was not sure she would even have made it back considering the context of her deployment.
Her father, an ex-slayer named Takeo, embraced his daughter, tearfully. "My sweet girl, you've returned home. Oh, I'm so happy your alright." He stood back, his stern eyes assessing the condition of his only daughter.
"You're okay, right? You weren't hurt too bad?" He looked over her. "It doesn't seem like you have any injuries," he said, surprised.
Asha shook her head. "No, I-I managed to escape," she said, quietly. Unsure of how her father would react. "It was a bloody battle – more like a massacre, really. The daimyo and his army didn't stand a chance. He's likely dead."
She looked up at her father from under her lashes, worried that he'd be upset for her defection.
But he simply shook his head. "I'm just thankful that you've come back to us safe and unharmed. That's all I could have asked for."
At that moment, her mother and brothers entered the room with sighs of relief as they surrounded her in the foyer of their home.
Her mother pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank the gods you're home. I was so worried," she said, running her fingers through her thick hair, so similar in texture to her own.
Asha's mother was from south of the mainland continent. She had arrived on the island with missionaries who hoped to establish deeper trade relations. At the first sign of escape, she fled from them.
Her mother warned her to be cautious of these missionaries if she ever were to run into them. She explained that their skin and facial structure differed greatly from their own, so she would immediately recognize them.
Asha's mother had very striking features as well. With warm brown skin and her foreign name, Amrita, it was ensured that she would also stand out wherever she went.
Next, her eldest brother Shun came up from behind and tackled her with a fierce hug. "Thank fucking god. Those assholes," he said, voice thick with contempt, "I'm sorry none of us were home when they showed up. They just couldn't wait a few damn hours before taking you away could they?"
Asha returned her brother's hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. "It's okay. I know you would have gone instead if they'd just been patient. But they seemed to be in a rush, so I went." She chuckled, wryly. "At least they asked if I had any training before taking off with me."
Pulling back she looked into her brother's concerned eyes. "It's okay," she affirmed. "I'm home now and I'm more than capable of handling myself."
Shun simply nodded and gently kissed her forehead before placing her back on her feet. He had always been tall, standing at six feet towering over everyone including their father who was quite imposing himself.
Her two younger brothers, Touma and Aman, were also taller than her, having sprouted up in the last few years. Smiling, they ruffled her hair and clapped her on the back with a job well done, even though she really didn't do anything but survive. Though, she supposed that in of itself was an accomplishment.
She was just happy to be back home with all her limbs intact and her family surrounding her.
"Come inside, let's all sit down and talk. I'd like to hear all about these mercenaries the daimyo and his men so feared. Were they truly as frightening as the villagers described?" Her mother asked, leading her further into the house.
Her father and brothers followed behind and together they all spent time catching up before preparing for dinner.
Asha shared what she saw: the leader of the band, carrying the biggest weapon she'd ever laid eyes on. She described the man made of metal and how they stormed the palace grounds, riding on top of him like a wagon.
Her family listened, enraptured, asking questions here and there.
If only her brothers could have seen what she saw. Alas, they were all busy working and weren't there when the soldiers first came looking for a son to take with them. But now that she was here with them, she would enjoy her time.
/
Two weeks went by. During this time Asha helped her mother and father win the farm while her younger brothers trained. Occasionally she would train with them, wanting to keep up her strength and prowess as a self-proclaimed slayer. Shun continued working with their father in the shop, taking on clients who needed weapons made or fixed.
It wasn't until the sight of yokai fleeing in massive swarms away from Mount Hakurei, that everything changed.
She had been outside training with Touma when they saw hordes of demons fleeing the sacred mountain. The two of them gaped at the breathtaking sight. Asha had no idea the ancient mountain harbored so many demons. When the hell did they all get there?
Spiritual barriers surrounding the mountain should've made it impossible for any demon to enter and yet, here she was witnessing hundreds of them soaring through the air in a mixture of bleeding reds and purples. They looked like a swarm of angry locust's that screeched in anger and anguish as they flew through the air.
The clouds in the sky itself turned into a pale pink with whisps of purple as the mountain began to crumble down.
Touma threw his sister a wild look. "What the hell is going on?"
"No idea. Get to the shed. No doubt we'll have demons to deal with soon enough," she replied, sprinting towards the shed that housed all their weapons.
The rest of her family, with the exception of their mother, exited the house, making their way to the weapons shed.
"Dad, what's going on? Where did all these demons come from?" Asked Aman as he lifted a hefty looking kanabo onto his shoulder.
"I haven't the foggiest, son," Takeo replied. "We'll find out once we're in the clear." He pulled over his face a traditional mask made of sleek metal that he'd once told them all taijiya wore to protect themselves from the intoxicating air many demons emitted. His mask had carved into it traditional patterns unique to the slayer clan he was part of.
Shun and Touma followed their father's example and quickly put on their gear, grabbing weapons carved from the bones of yokai they'd come across in the past.
Once they were all geared up Takeo gestured for his children to follow him. "Let's go. Remember we're a team. Only take on as much as you can handle and work together."
With that they exited the shed and hastily made their way into the nearby village with Touma and Aman staying back to guard the house.
No doubt, many demons probably went to raid the first signs of human settlements surrounding the mountain.
/
They fought as best as they could, leading villagers into hiding until the attack was over. But with just the three of them against an army of yokai there was bound to be some collateral damage.
At some point Takeo got injured, a demon managed took a piece out of his side, a deep gash that penetrated through his protective armor. Though none of his children were around to see just what kind of demon had attacked him.
When Asha and Shun came onto the scene, their father sat propped up against the crumbling walls of a dilapidated house. He gripped his side as blood slipped between his fingers, his expression pinched with pain.
Shun got down beside him and lifted his father's arm over his head. Asha came to support him from the other side, guiding him with a hand on his back to stand up.
The pair managed to get Takeo back home, the attack seemingly over. Once they were back home, Shun and Amrita got to work treating him with Asha running around gathering medicinal herbs from their garden.
After they dressed his wounds and put him to bed, the two siblings plopped down from exhaustion. Amrita stayed by her husband's side to help break the fever he had developed. It wasn't surprising given his injuries.
"Don't worry. He'll be okay," Shun said, taking note of his sister's worried expression.
He ran a hand through his mussed-up ponytail. "He just needs rest now is all. He'll break his fever soon."
Asha nodded. "But what was that? I-I've never seen anything like it." She turned to face him, grasping for words.
Shun tiredly shrugged his shoulders. "No idea, little sister. You're guess is as good as mine." He rested his hand on his knee, a thoughtful expression on his face. "However, I suppose the purified barrier may have finally been too much for them and forced them all to leave."
Asha gave him a pointed look and said, "how did they get in there in the first place then?"
Her older brother simply shook his head. "Not a clue."
And they never did find out what really happened on Mount Hakurei that day. She and her brothers tried to scope out the fallen mountain, searching through the rubble and debris, but no such luck. Afterwards, they returned home ready to move on with their lives and help the villagers rebuild.
But what transpired over the next few days after that, altered their lives forever.
/
"Aman, harder! Put more back into it, boy!" Takeo shouted, commanding his son.
The youngest sibling looked at his older sister warily. Clearly, nervous about hurting her.
Asha shot her father a confused look. He could definitely be hard on them at times, but never had he been so commandeering. There was a hard look in his eyes that she couldn't quite place.
Turning to her brother she said, "Don't worry. I can take it." Confident smile in place.
He nodded, swinging the chain of the chigiriki at her with more force behind his swing as their father had instructed.
She dodged the bludgeon with ease, landing a couple yards away from where she first stood.
They continued like this for another hour, Takeo shouting out orders and talking down his son's skills as they worked through sparring with different weapons.
Finally, she'd had enough. With a low growl she threw down her weapon and turned on her father. "What is going on? Why are you being so belittling? He's trying his best!" She said, pointing at Aman.
"You seem to forget. He's still kind of new at this. He's not going to be perfect right away!" She said, breathing heavily. Winded from hours of intense sparring.
Takeo glared right back at his daughter with shrewd eyes. "We are living in a time of war. Attacks like what happened a few days ago are only going to become more frequent. He needs to be prepared for when something like that happens again."
She narrowed her eyes, her lips forming into a thin line. "All that's fine, father. But you can't talk to him like that. It'll only hinder his confidence, you know that," she said, imploringly.
Something strange happened then.
For a brief second, Asha swore her father's eye's flickered from brown to scarlet red. But when she looked again, they were back to normal. Maybe it was a trick of the light?
But if that was the case, why was he staring at her like that, wild, almost unhinged, as if she'd seen something she wasn't supposed to see.
/
After that day Takeo's behavior only became more irrational and perverse.
Slap!
"Go. Help. Your. Mother. I've asked you once already," Takeo said, his voice trembling with restrained rage.
Touma massaged his face, his cheek burning from the powerful strike.
He swallowed; his mouth suddenly dry. Any harder and he might have lost teeth. Father's slap felt like a full-blown punch and it was strong enough that it knocked Touma straight to the ground. He barely avoided his head getting slammed against the corner of the sliding door.
"What's going on here?"
Father and son turned to see the eldest, Shun, striding toward them in the narrow hall. His eyes swept between his father and little brother. Once closer, he noticed the red flush on Touma's skin and inhaled sharply.
He bent down and gently cupped his jaw, turning his head to examine the reddening skin.
His eyes flashed and he looked up at their father. "Did you do this?" He asked, his tone light, almost conversational.
Takeo sneered. "And what if I did?" He asked. The taunt in his voice did not go unnoticed by the two brothers and they stared up at him wide-eyed.
Shun stood up, his full height commanding the attention of both men. His father looked up at him, unimpressed.
"If you did, I'd like to know why?" He asked, searching Takeo's face for any explanation for his uncharacteristic behavior.
Sure, they tested their father's patience from time to time, but never had he lay a hand on any of them. Even when he was at his most enraged.
Many other fathers were known to discipline their children for uncouth behavior. But Takeo had always been different in that regard. He believed corporal punishment to be ineffective and only served to instill imbalance in children's psyche.
Most parents thought him crazy for spewing what was seen as nonsense to them. But he remained firm in his stance. Which is why Shun was having a hard time understanding what led his father to strike Touma.
"I-I was putting away dishes. But there were a lot more than I expected so I ended up taking longer. I was going to help mother in the farm after," he explained quietly, refusing to meet Takeo's accusing glare.
Shun helped his brother up and glared right back at his father. "That's why you hit him? He's done much worse than that before."
Takeo simply scoffed and turned on his heel, ignoring his son's comment. "Don't be late in completing your chores again," he said, his unspoken threat hanging in the air.
He threw his sons one more warning glare before leaving their company.
It was at that moment that Shun saw something.
Father's eyes. They flashed red. It was for just a moment, but it was there. Or maybe he was just seeing things. But...
He turned to his brother. "Come on. I'll help you take care of that," he said, ruffling Touma's hair affectionately.
The younger one offered his elder smile. Though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks," he said, voice cracking. Tears began to pool in his eyes.
Shun placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and steered them towards the kitchen, his brows furrowed.
First with Aman and now this? What the hell is going on with father?