I shall speaken truth. zis is chapter is a pacifist one.
no seriously. Most of this content is just interactions between characters. Working on the next chapter, i can say with confidence it will be the same but maybe with a bit more cuteness. Those expecting combat shall be disappointed. Oh and I'm feel that I'm straying into a minefield of sorts in my opinion for this chapter. A internet if you can find it.
This is also my shortest chapter yet. SORRY!
BIG thanks goes to Ban3 for editing.
Hermit Mansion
Dutch climbed out of the bath. He picked up a silken robe, ruby red and deep viridian green in design, and pulled it on over his aching body. He let out a contented sigh, marveling at its soft texture. For a hermit, she really had great taste in clothing.
Looking back at the stained water, the colour of blood roses, Dutch let the whole fight play out in his mind once again. From the swift strikes with his knife to the grisly, heart ripping conclusion. He had screamed into that youkai's face, a visceral denial as he tore out its heart. Throughout the whole fight, he had felt a primal burn.
To wipe them out. To tear them apart.
Dutch shook his head to clear it. There was a time and place for everything and standing outside a bath was definitely not the correct place to go into a primal rage.
He left the bathroom and returned to the main room. Inside, the owner of the mansion reclined in meditation, eyes closed and body in a peaceful state.
She opened her eyes and turned to face him.
"I trust that the bath was to your liking?"
Dutch nodded thankfully. "For a hermit mansion, your facilities are impressive, Ibara-san."
Kasen Ibara smiled. "You flatter me, Dutch-san. It is simply more for practicality than anything else. Meditation periods sometimes stretch for days on end and cleanliness is not something one can ignore. Its nothing more than a simple bath, nothing else."
Dutch took in the information.
"Still, this place is very well kept. I thought the stereotypical hermit would be rid of all worldly desires? This place speaks of wanting to create a good impression with any viewer."
Kasen's smile turned into a slightly mocking smirk. "And the stereotypical hermit you are talking about, does that person let dust and dirt pile up around him or her?"
Dutch opened his mouth but could not find an answer. He eventually closed his mouth, smiling sheepishly.
"There is a difference between wanting to make a good impression and keeping a place well kept Dutch-san. This place is simply a dwelling spot for me, nothing more, and I am obligated to keep it clean. Do you see any worldly desire in that?" Kasen asked, the slight mocking tone still in her voice.
Dutch chuckled at her answer. "Can't say I do."
Kasen smiled and adjusted her position, her legs sliding out beneath her she slumped a bit, allowing her weight to rest on her hip. "Humor aside, what are you doing on the mountain without an escort? The youkai here are known to prey on humans and your wound would draw them out." She asked, concern evident on her face.
Dutch sighed. "My companions and I were to head for the shrine higher up the mountain. We were intercepted by the youkai and had to separate. The last I saw them, they were heading for the shrine with a quarter of the youkai after them. I took another route to distract the majority of the youkai."
Kasen frowned. "If you distracted the majority of the youkai, how are you still alive? It would be almost impossible to fight them off and you can't fly to escape."
Dutch's smile widened into a chilling grin that spoke of dark deeds. "I fought them until they ran away in fear. Incidentally, that was why I appeared in front of your doorstep drenched in blood." He finished.
Kasen nodded in acceptance. As she looked at him she noticed something that she had missed before. Something that gave her the chills.
To her eyes, so adept in finding vengeful spirits, they could see an almost imperceptible black aura enshrouding the young man. Although it was barely visible there was no denying its existance.
The aura of death.
It clung to Dutch, like a cloak enfolding him. Like the shinigami when she came to visit her, it did not show the coming of death but instead indicated the experiences of death.
It did not radiate outwards. As is the case with a person who actively set out to kill.
His was the mark of a being that has spent its time around death for too long.
'What happened to this person?' She could not help but wonder.
'This outsider is different. Far too different.' She concluded.
Night
Kasen sat, enrapt in meditation once again.
Around her, the room lay bare. Dutch had retired to the quarters designated for him and the mansion was silent.
Death approached hidden deep within the gloom.
More silent then the passage of a soul and sharper than a wisp of air, the scythe lowered dangerously around Kasen's neck.
"How many times do you plan to appear with that entrance?" Kasen asked her voice steeped in disinterest, eyes still closed.
Komachi Onozuka drew her scythe back from Kasen's Neck. The shinigami boat women of the Sanzu river lowered herself calmly onto the floor and set aside her scythe.
"You did destroy another spirit a couple of days ago." She muttered as she lay on the floor.
"The spirit was threatening the living. I believe that counts as enough reason to destroy them?" Kasen answered.
Komachi smiled at her answer. "A reason the other shinigami agree with, but just this once."
The room was cloaked in silence.
"Just today, the souls of twelve youkai appeared at the Sanzu river. They were sent there by the actions of a human. He currently resides in your dwelling."
Kasen nodded. "He was attacked by the youkai. He fought back."
"Shikieiki-sama wants me to observe him. Apparently he did some things outside her jurisdiction that caught her attention" Komachi continued.
"What does the Yama want with him? If it was outside her jurisdiction, she has no say in it." Kasen shot back testily.
Komachi shrugged. "I personally have no idea either. I came here to ask your opinion since you had some contact with him."
"Young. Average looking. Has the spark of youth in his eyes. All in all, your average human at his prime. Polite. A warrior of some sort. Has standards for fighting. And is apparently quite competent, seeing as he sent twelve youkai to the Sanzu river." Kasen rattled out.
Komachi blinked. "You have been judging him as well?"
Kasen nodded. "When I first met him, he did not seem like the other outsiders. Taking from what I knew from him, that was my conclusion."
"I see. Well then, I will be watching him from your dwelling. Yama's orders." Komachi announced as she stretched on the floor.
Kasen said nothing as she settled back into her meditation position.
Moriya shrine
Maribel lay on her soft futon and sighed in comfort as she felt her body relax against the cloth.
Today was a day of days.
After Renko had calmed down, she had apologized profusely to Sanae for her behaviour. Sanae simply brushed aside her apologies, claiming that she understood where the anger was coming from and Renko was fully within her rights to have such a reaction.
After that, Sanae had led them to the shrine where she had revealed the existence of gods that still walk the earth to the two outsiders. Needless to say, both Renko and Maribel were amazed. Their amazement had increased tenfold when not one but two gods revealed themselves in person.
Unsure of what to do, they bowed to the greater beings. The two gods, so delighted by their reaction, had offered them a room to stay in for the time being. Tired, sore and having no place to go, they accepted graciously.
Maribel took in the room with her eyes. The room was the standard type for a shrine; knotted wooden walls and a small table set in the center. Very spartan. However one difference was the out of place power sockets built into the walls. She was thankful that the shrine had given them a place to stay for the night although since Yukari told them to head here, it may have be planned.
A smart person does not look too deep into another's kindness. Dismissing this thought, Maribel focused on other things. Like Gensokyo so far.
In less than a week, she and her best friend had learned or confirmed so many things that they had thought they had known, that it was staggering. In fact, Gensokyo had smashed most of her theories and then rebuilt them as one that was so similar and yet different that she had decided to meet the magic as it came.
The door opened and Renko walked in, dressed in a neat, coffee brown robe. She dropped onto her own futon with a groan.
"The bath is yours." She said yawning tiredly.
Maribel nodded as she stood up. Just as she was about to leave, she remembered something very important which gave her cause to pause. She turned back to her friend.
"Renko, just now when we were running, you shot a youkai off me and saved my life. Thank you so much, I really owe my life to you." Closing the door quietly behind her she left the room.
Renko blushed at the unexpected gratitude shown to her.
"It's nothing." She murmured to no-one in particular.
Tengu village
Tengu palace
The last of the tengu leaders left the room and the doors closed. Tenma closed her eyes in relief as she leaned back in her throne.
She did not regret ordering the attack. It showed her where the white wolves needed to improve. She would rather lose the respect of the tengu than see her beloved village destroyed.
Which was exactly what had happened.
After she had revealed her attack orders, she could see that some of the white wolf commanders had lost their respect for her. That was understandable. She was more worried though about what these commanders would do now.
Already, the white wolf response was less than welcoming.
Her requests were taking longer than usual to be completed and she could not reach any of the commanders at all. Liaison staff politely rejected her requests citing that the commanders were too busy managing the aftermath of the attack and it was too important to be interrupted.
Nonsense! She knew for certain of at least one commander that was busy berating his tengu over the escape of Dutch. Hardly important at all.
At least she had managed to keep the number of people aware of this information to an absolute minimum. Yukari had provided a perfect solution for her.
By using an outsider, the problems of having to silence any tengu that might leak the information was eliminated. She despised having to eliminate any one of her people for any reasons.
And about that man, that human, Dutch.
Tenma realized that she liked the human. He gave her the impression of a modest man. Hardly anyone else would ask for his role to be kept quiet in such a endeavor. He wished to be kept in the shadows and Tenma honored his request.
And to kill an assassin drone. That was no mean feat. She remembered the confusion all those years ago as the drones hunted and killed all the leaders of the youkai army from the shadows.
She stood up from her throne and walked to the hidden door connected to her quarters.
Inside her quarters, she released her hair from its shackles, namely a golden pin embellished with intricate patterns and crafted into the shape of a feather. Dropping the regal mask her face took in front of her subjects, she gazed at the reflection in her mirror hesitantly.
A young, striking, youthful beauty with a sleek sliver mane looked back. Burgundy eyes, tempered by eons of experience yet shining with the light of life graced her beautiful face. The face of the tengu village for the last 1000 years.
'Humans age so fast.' She thought with a sigh. The amount of years she had seen would be insurmountable to the common man but common for a youkai. Humanity had changed so many times she learned to treat each new person with caution. Youkai intolerance seem to be a recurring theme through time.
Tenma looked away from the mirror. She loved her village and all it's occupants. It gave her great satisfaction that she could guarantee each and every occupant of her village the absolute best she could provide. She loved her job. So why did she feel so... so restless? Why did she feel unfulfilled?
After Dutch had briefed her on his actions, it had created a spark. The spark had struck long dead tinder and ignited a fire.
The fire of adventure burned. The urge to travel, encounter danger and reach a destination was very much alive inside her.
At first, Tenma had regarded the urge with surprise. Such an urge had no place in the life of a village leader. So to quench the urge, she decided to leave the palace in secret to meet Dutch, hoping the thrill of traveling in secret would put out the fire.
It had backfired. As the tengu leader, she knew the village better then she knew the back of her own hand. Heck, sometimes she would discover food particles on the back of her hand that she could not explain, but she could mark out in less than a second every food storage on the tengu village, even the secret ones, and know as well which ones contained what.
In short, it was no different than sneaking around her own home. In fact, it fed the fire, making it flare up into an inferno. Hardly a second passed without her feeling like throwing off all her responsibilities and running off in a random direction. Just her, a sword, supplies and the great deck of encounters called adventure.
It scared her.
She needed help. Yet she could not ask her advisers for it. If even a wisp of information reached the ears of the white wolves, what little respect they had left for her would shatter. She needed at least a civil rapport between her and the village defense force.
So for the whole day, she wondered who she could ask. Obviously not Yakumo. She would use the resulting favor to profit in whatever ways her trollish mind would think of.
Definitely not the mountain gods. She had an image to keep with the faith based beings and she would not waste it for such a trivial reason.
Out of options, Tenma turned to the source of her problem. Dutch. She would ask the opinion of the outsider. At least she knew that he could probably keep his mouth shut.
The message would reach him in the morning. Hopefully he could answer with something helpful.
Tenma stripped herself of her regal attire and entered the lavatory connected to her quarters. Inside, she released the magic that she cast on herself everyday .
A pair of shiny black crow wings appeared on her back and unfurled. Speculation about which tengu the leader of the village was was still a hot topic. Theories of which one she could be were always thrown around with sometimes weird and wacky reasons to accompany them. It provided a good laugh for Tenma when she needed it.
For the sake of village stability, Tenma decided to keep her tengu type secret. It required magic as well as years of tweaking to achieve perfection. Every crow tengu learned to use magic to hide their wings before they took to the air. Even the magically inept ones somehow managed it. It served its purpose well.
However, crow tengu and those who lived among them knew that the magic used is not perfect. There are several flaws in the spell itself, flaws that are obvious to eyes looking for them. To any other person, the wings never existed. It became a rite of passage for crow tengu to spot a fellow crow tengu in a crowd.
Tenma needed a spell that would completely hide her wings so she did what any person in her situation would do. She took the magic and made it better. Now she could appear in tengu public without showing off her type.
Tenma climbed into a large, lavish Japanese style bath already prepared for her by her personal staff. She involuntarily shivered as her wings entered the comfortably hot water.
As she leaned back against the side of the tub, she suddenly had a weird flash of imagination. She imagined Dutch at the other side of the bath, in the water and speaking to her. A blush crept onto her face along with a rush of hormones.
Shaking her head to clear the image, Tenma sank up to her nose and sighed, agitating the water in her frustration.
Lunar capital
Lunar noble quarters
"How is this possible!" Lord Takaru spluttered as he smashed his hand in anger on the table.
The sound made the messenger rabbit flinch. He cowered before the blazing anger of the lunar noble.
"The impurity managed to defeat the drone sir. There was nothing that we could do." The rabbit answered, hoping that the answer would satisfy his master.
"Impossible! It is a Human! Not even a youkai! You expect me to believe that such a weak creature could defeat a creation of purity!" Takaru roared.
The rabbit wished the floor would open up and swallow him. He had no answer for his lord.
"Get out." Takaru growled quietly. Happy to be away from the enraged lunar noble, the rabbit bowed and exited the room as fast as its feet would carry it.
Takaru took the cup of tea on the table next to him and hurled it at a pillar.
This impurity was a problem... A problem he needed dead.
He fully understood that he was going against the lunar emperor decree. However he also knew that the impurity was a danger to the moon and should be eliminated.
In fact, that should be applied to all inhabitants of the earth.
Takaru had a problem. He could only send in small increments of drones to kill the impurity. Any larger and the lunar emissaries would notice. He needed a different approach.
The splatter of tea began to ooze down the marble pillar as though a blood stain from a recent kill. Takaru smiled ominously.
Why not use the other impurities?