She once taught him how to wield a sword. Centuries later, he finds her reincarnation and decides to return the favour.
眠っている神を目覚めさせる
𑁍
Unedited
The leaves shuffled as the wind breezed through the trees. A soft rustling sounding as the wind ruffled each leaf. Elegantly, a single petal drifted delicately and spiralled from a cluster of pale pink blossoms, downwards onto the shimmering surface of cool water where three distinct ripples disturbed the calm pond. The red, black and white speckled koi swimming ignorantly beneath.
Beside the gleaming pool of tranquility sat a young maiden, still, and in a state of deep contemplative meditation. Accompanied with the wind was silence with the few wondrous exceptions of the dancing grass, songbirds and swaying trees.
To the earth, she sat and listened.
Two soft thumps and two marks of crushed grass were made on the moist earth behind her. Still, she remained unmoved and unbothered, reluctant to even acknowledge. Only the slight twitching of her fingers showed any indication of her sensing the stranger's rustling of fine silk fabric and the approaching sound of footsteps caused her to pause and tilt her head. The slight inclination was all the stranger would receive as greeting. Therefore permitting the stranger to speak and urging him to speak quickly.
"Gin-sama, I come carrying a request." The stranger declared humbly, his deep, mellow voice soft and respectful. At this her lashes fluttered but no other motion was made so the stranger continued. "You are the current bearer of the Gin-ha line and heir and master of 8 styles, isn't it so?"
The maiden rested her hands on the hilts on her katana and wakizashi and nodded.
"It is." She agreed cautiously.
"Are you willing to take on a student unlike any your forefathers and foremothers have ever accepted?"
Her eyes opened revealing a cloudy white left pupil cursed with a deep fog that could not be seen through and that seemed to gleam blue under the shade. In her eyes was wariness of the stranger and his commanding presence. Even more so, at the contents of his request.
"The Gin-ha line will perish with me." She replied in a clipped tone. "I will have no heir."
"I do not ask that you find an heir to carry on your line's legacy." The stranger assured her gently, "I ask something else...to teach a being, someone who is not human."
Her voice faded into silence. Annoyance, then curiosity and finally recognition flashed through her eyes. Then she found her voice once more.
"You are the one the people call Inu no Taishō." She stated, not as a question for him to answer but as a remark to herself.
"I am known as such by some." He acknowledged carefully. "Though I am also known as Tōga."
Her lips quirked into a slight smile. It was quite grim and bare.
"Many have come seeking me in hopes that I would slay you." She mused in amusement. "How strange it is that you would find me instead, and even request something of myself."
The daiyokai remained silent at her pondering, unsure what to make of her casual statements and confessions.
Pursing her lips, her eyes flashed with a subtle yet ever-present glint of satisfaction.
"I refuse." She said, her tone being one of finality. "You are already skilled with—"
"Respectfully, I correct you." Toga bowed, lowering to his knees, "I wish for you to consider teaching my firstborn. My son is proud and ignorant of the ways of the heart and of humans."
She dared to chuckle.
"And you wish for me to throw my life away to try and change him?" She quirked a brow, finally turning around to stand and face the daiyokai. "Why should I? Your son has an eternity to detest and mock our mortal ways. I may no longer be a child but I'm not yet an adult and I am wise enough to know that my time in this place becomes shorter each passing day."
"My son will grow to become strong...of that I have no doubts." Toga slumped slightly, his voice wavering. "But if I do nothing he will grow to never learn compassion. Already I see my hold on him slipping as he descends further towards a path filled with meaningless blood and endless death. He wishes to pursue honour and strength but knows no limits. He is ruthless and cold while desperately consuming knowledge and for him...I am truly afraid."
"Why should I care?" She wondered, her eyes steely and cold. Her voice icy and indifferent. "I will be dead by the time he becomes strong and your concerns will never be my own."
"Because you are a kind soul."
The corners of her lips lifted at his confident remark.
"So you say." She tilted her head thoughtfully.
The satisfied glint in her eyes mixed with one of calculation. Equal arguments opposing in her head on whether humouring the deity's desperate request would be worth it.
Finally she resolved the conflict with a condition.
"Perhaps, I can reconsider..." she told him slowly, "on a condition."
"A condition." He echoed warily, with equal caution and intrigue.
A fire ignited in her as she nodded. Excitement bubbling within as she gripped each of her swords.
"I want to duel you."