In ancient times, before any of us were born in this world, there was conflict stirring.
It was a conflict between the humans, the children of the Kami, and the yōkai, the denizens of the natural and supernatural worlds.
With their supernatural abilities, the yōkai would do everything they could to assert their dominion. At best, they would torment and frighten humans. At worst, maim, torture, and even slaughter them. They would wreak havoc, cause misery, and then retreat into the darkness. Forests, mountains, alleyways, underneath bridges, within the dark crevices of human homes; if the light left it, the yōkai could claim it.
Humans could never truly be safe from them. Even in death, yōkai could feast on their bodies or hold their soul hostage, preventing it from moving on to the Spirit World.
The only advantage humans possessed was their intelligence, which helped them in outsmarting their enemies and creating tools and methods to help turn the tide. While it proved valuable, it could only slow the onslaught. The yōkai still held superior numbers and powers.
Among the humans, there was one who recognised that they were fighting a losing battle. She was a miko, one who had devoted her life to the Kami-sama and their children.
Instead of falling into despair, she took matters into her own hands. Alone, she journeyed to a shrine dedicated to the Kami-sama Amaterasu and meditated in silence. She prayed for an advantage against the yōkai and other evils.
Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, but the miko held firm with her mediation and prayer, hoping to earn Kami-sama's favour.
And one day, after it seemed the most unlikely, Kami-sama Amaterasu responded to her prayers. How she did so is lost to time, but one thing was certain. She was impressed by the miko's unwavering faith and dedication. As a reward, she bestowed upon her a sacred power, a divine light that was stitched into the very seams of her spirit.
The Kami-sama told her that this power was a divine light that could purify evil. It could be used against whatever evil targeted humans, be they yōkai, demons, or spirits. Kami-sama Amaterasu taught her how to wield the Sacred Light, and informed her of the only condition to this awe-inspiring power.
"You may use this power to purify, to bless, to ward, or even to abolish. However, you may never use these powers to kill a human–"
"Awwwww, why would she say that?!"
The old priest lowered the scroll he was reading off of to a group of young children, fixing an annoyed stare at one child in particular. "What did I say about interrupting the lesson?"
The child looked completely unapologetic at having interrupted the priest, instead continuing with her questions. "How come she couldn't use the light powers on humans?"
The priest let out a weary breath and shook his head.
"Refer to our gift as the Sacred Light, child. Nothing else…" he said to her with a warning in his tone. "And as for your premature question, the Sacred Light must never be used to kill a human, for it was gifted to us to better humanity."
The girl wasn't satisfied by that answer at all, scrunching up her brow and leaning forward on her hands and knees. "But what if the bad guy is a human?! Won't it be allowed then?"
After another long-suffering sigh, the priest said to her "If the 'bad guy' is a human, we have laws to deal with them. Humans still abide by our laws, Yōkai and other evil entities do not."
"But–"
"Asuka-kun, cease your interruptions!"
The little girl flinched back. The priest took a deep, final breath to dissipate his ire and then added "I could not have made it simpler to understand. Now hold your questions until the end of the lesson, or remain silent for the rest of the day."
Asuka's shock turned into irritation, but she chose to sit back down and cross her arms. A few of the other children giggled to each other, and her frown became more pronounced.
"As I was saying…" the priest began again, lifting the scroll up. "–you may never use these powers to kill a human. For if you do, the same light I have imbued in you will scorch you from within, body and soul."
"That sounds painful…" a girl whispered next to Asuka.
"The miko nodded, agreeing to these terms, and prostrated to the Kami-sama in gratitude and reverence. With this new power, she would rush back to her village and immediately begin fighting back against the yōkai. And, despite her inexperience, she made her village the safest it had ever been since the first appearance of yōkai, centuries ago. The villagers were overjoyed, and celebrated the miko's bravery and dedication. This miko was none other than Kazama Junho, the founder of the Kazama clan as we know it now."
"Hey! She has a name like my auntie!" Asuka chirped out.
"Yes, it is not uncommon for children of the clan to be named in honour of her," the priest said, nodding his head slowly. "Like young Junpei–kun and Junko–kun here."
"What was her name Asuka–chan?" asked a girl sitting behind her. Asuka turned in place to give her a grin as she proudly said "Jun!"
"Kazama Jun?!"
The mood instantly changed in the room. Some of the children gasped in surprise, while some averted their eyes from Asuka. The priest's lips were pressed into a thin line and his hands began to shake, rattling the parchment in his grasp. Asuka looked around the room with a confused expression.
"You–" the priest let out in a strangled voice, before composing himself and setting down his scroll. "Gah! So then… you are Junichiro's daughter."
Asuka nodded and then tilted her head in confusion. "Why'd everyone go quiet?"
There was a silent, tense moment before someone responded to her question.
"My mother said Kazama Jun was a Shinigami…" said a boy towards the edge of the group in an anxious murmur. The girl behind Asuka piped up "That's what my daddy said too!"
"Shinigami?" Asuka repeated, her eyes growing wide. The priest loudly cleared his throat, summoning the children's attention back to him.
"This is a lesson on the founding of the Kazama clan! Merely to help you all understand the importance of our roles in the world before you must work alongside your elders! Not an excuse for a little chit-chat about unspeakable topics! Pay attention now, or I will have to inform your parents about your misbehaviour!"
Many of the children immediately straightened up at this. Asuka, however, spoke up yet again.
"We were just talking about my auntie! What's wrong with that?"
"Asuka–kun, cease your–"
"And hey," Asuka interjected, turning her head to the children who sat behind her. "Why's auntie called a Shinigami? That sounds so–"
The priest slammed his withered hands onto the table, eliciting a few gasps from the class before the room was filled with silence. The priest's eyes, burning with anger, were fixed on Asuka.
And she shrank into herself for the first time that day.
Later that day, Asuka sat at the dining table of her home in silence, moving around the rice in her bowl with a pair of chopsticks. Her father lowered the parchment he was reading, staring at her with a creased brow.
"Asuka, is it true you disrupted the lessons at the shrine today?" he asked. His tone didn't betray how he felt about the situation, which only encouraged Asuka to avoid his gaze.
"Asuka–chan…" her mother called out, placing her cup of tea on the table. "We are not angry with you. We just want to know what happened."
She met her mother's eyes and said with a huff, "I was just talking about Auntie Jun…"
Her mother's face changed from one of concern to that of shock. Her father shook his head and sighed.
"I see…" he said, brushing back the hair that had fallen loose around his temple. "Asuka, we have discussed this before. You should not speak of your Auntie to anyone but me and your mother."
"But why?" she asked immediately, looking up at her father. Her parents exchanged a silent look.
"Is it because Auntie is a shinigami?"
Her mother's gaze whipped back to her in alarm. "Who told you that?"
"Is it true?!" Asuka exclaimed, energetically leaning forward.
"No," her father said firmly. "If people are calling your Auntie that, they are just being nasty."
To the surprise of both parents, Asuka immediately deflated at his words, dropping her head on the table. "Awwwww, that sucks."
"Language, Asuka," her mother reprimanded. Her father, however, let out a small laugh at the sight of his daughter.
"Why are you upset now, Asuka?" he asked her. She mumbled something against the table, making all but a few words inaudible.
"… shinigami is cool…"
Both parents responded to that in different ways. Her father laughed heartily, wrapping an arm around his stomach in support.
"Kami-sama…" her mother cried out, massaging her forehead. "Junichiro, it is not funny that our daughter thinks shinigami are 'cool'!"
"You should not be surprised, love," he replied in between his laughing fits. "This is simply the next step after saying she wanted to be a tengu when she grew up!"
Asuka's mother frowned severely, yelling "Don't remind me of that!" before she leaned over to push her husband.
Asuka chose that moment to lift her head and chime in with "Yeah, shinigami are cooler than tengu! Yōkai are just awful!"
"Young lady– Agh, we will discuss that later. Asuka, it is better if you just refrain from talking about Auntie Jun," her mother said. "Your Auntie was not a shinigami, but she was…"
Her mother struggled with her words, a rare occurrence for her, and she looked to her husband for help. He had straightened up by then and thought hard about what to say next.
"Auntie Jun just… upset some people before she moved," he told Asuka slowly. The young girl tilted her head.
"Did she do something bad?"
There was a pause before her father answered her question. "…No… no, she did not."
"Sometimes," her mother interjected, noticing Asuka had opened her mouth to ask another question. "Sometimes… people get upset with you, even if you did nothing wrong. Auntie Jun's situation was… not an easy one."
Asuka stared at her mother with big eyes, and her mother understood that this didn't make much sense to the young girl. "We will tell you more when you are older. For now, please do not mention Auntie Jun to anyone else. Do you promise to do that?"
Asuka hummed in displeasure, resting her chin on the table with a scowl.
Kazama Junho had been blessed with the Sacred Light by Kami-sama Amaterasu to help protect humanity against powers beyond their comprehension. In due time, she had learned how to wield those powers and worked to safeguard her home from all that threatened it. Yōkai had learned that her home was not to be trifled with, and so with time they moved on to other areas.
It was one of the first places of its kind, to be completely free of yōkai and malevolent spirits. And, sure enough, news spread across the lands of her home and her powers. In time, many would arrive at her village's doorstep to ask for aid or refuge.
By the time others had learned of her, the miko had already settled down with a family of her own. Her list of responsibilities had grown, as not only was she a married woman with children to raise, those children had the same Sacred Light weaved into them. She recognised that this could only mean one thing, that the Kami-sama Amaterasu wanted her to pass along these sacred rites and responsibilities to the next generation, rather than have it all die with her.
As it was her duty to help humanity against evil, she worked tirelessly again to help those coming to her aid, whether it was providing sanctuary or performing rituals. When she returned to her home, she would raise her children to follow her in aiding humanity and honouring the Kami-sama that bestowed these powers upon them.
Her legend would only grow tremendously in size because of this… more than she could anticipate. She and her clan became overwhelmed by the pleas for help. Too many people from around the land wanted help against the yōkai. The miko tried her hardest to supply aid for all of her adult life, but it eventually led to her crippling herself beyond any form of healing.
With Kazama Junho permanently bedridden, the clan elders decided that it wasn't feasible to freely offer their services to the public anymore. The Kazama clan would gather their ranks and then leave their original village under the cover of night.
And that is where the mention of any clan with God-given powers faded away from the history books.
"Kazama Junho would eventually pass away of natural causes, but she ensured that her mission was passed down her lineage. Tradition ensured that all her descendants were to learn of the Sacred Light and how to utilise it for the benefit of this day, we offer our services to aid our fellow humans against those we are opposed to, the yōkai and the malevolent…"
The priest rolled up the scroll in his hands, looking at the children gathered before him.
"And thus, we conclude the story of the founding of our home, the Kazama Estate. Do any of you have any questions?"
A few hands were raised.
"Do we all have the Sacred Light in us?" one boy asked.
"If one of your parents is in some way descended from Kazama Junho, then yes," the priest replied with a nod. "You have the Sacred Light within you. However, everyone has different capacities for it."
"Different capacities?" a girl repeated with confusion.
"While all descendants of Kazama Junho have the Sacred Light, how well you can channel and manifest it, known as your capacity, is not the same between you. While it is generally believed that the members of the main family have greater capacities than those of branch families, it is not uncommon for those of distant relation to hold great capacity as well."
A few children nodded their heads, while others stared in confusion.
"You all will learn of your capacities soon enough," the priest announced, placing his scroll on the table before him. "When you turn ten years old, you will be required to go through the Channelling Ceremony, much like your elders did before you. And from there, you may decide what career to take in the estate."
The children began to chatter about this news among themselves. All except for one, who instead silently raised her hand. The priest's expression became suspicious when he followed the hand to a familiar face.
"What is it, Asuka–kun?" he asked, nodding at Asuka to lower her hand. All the other children immediately became quiet, and Asuka hesitated under their scrutiny. The priest impatiently called out to her "Well…?"
She shook her head and looked up with big brown eyes. "Why did we have to hide away from everyone?"
The priest pursed his lips for a second before answering with "I told you, child. Our clan was overwhelmed by people flocking to us for help. It was not feasible for us to overextend ourselves at the time. Our founder Kazama Junho ended up destroying her body by straining herself. I scarcely think it is wise to allow that to happen to anyone else in the clan."
Asuka thought about this in silence for a moment. The priest relaxed visibly and turned his gaze to the other children. "If that is all-"
"But there are more of us now!" Asuka piped up. "Back then it was just her, but now there are so many of us! It shouldn't be a problem now, right? We could all just take turns!"
The priest scowled for a split second, before letting out a sigh and shaking his head.
"You have a kind heart, child. But listen to your elders when they say it is better this way. We have a wisdom that you as children do not possess. We have learned what is best for the clan through our many years of living. Now, if that's all, does anyone else have questions?"
Another child raised his hand. "So, if we can't help everyone, then how do we choose who to help?"
"That is a matter for the clan elders usually, Hikaru–kun," the priest responded. "Though it is usually those who we can trust to keep our existence a secret, and whoever can afford our services."
"Afford?" a girl asked.
"We do not work for free, children. We may rely on nature and the Kami–sama for food and water, but there are some things only money can buy. The services we offer, of warding and exorcism and battle, is not something that just anyone can do. It only makes sense we ask for compensation. Would you not agree?"
A few children nodded at that. The girl from before replied "I guess…"
"Quite…" the priest stated. "Now, if that is all–"
"That's dumb," Asuka remarked, earning a few gasps from her classmates. "I would just help whoever I wanted."
The priest gave Asuka a sharp look, one that made her flinch from the intensity. "That's enough, Asuka–kun. Such insolence will not be tolerated."
A couple of boys behind her began to snicker. A girl said with a sigh "There she goes again…"
Asuka soon found herself walking home with another rolled parchment in her hand to deliver to her parents.
Unbeknownst to history and the public at large, the humans blessed by the Kami-sama still continued to exist.
The Kazama clan had much to adjust to after leaving the village they called home. They began work on creating a new home, clearing away patches of untamed wilderness and replacing them with farmlands and housing. They had nothing to fear from yōkai and spirits, but they now had to regard every human from outside their clan with suspicion.
The miko, Kazama Junho, was still the only one who could teach the young ones how to use the Sacred Light, but could no longer be relied on for anything else. The eldest members of the clan took it upon themselves to devise a new way of living for the clan members, taking the miko's place as the clan heads.
They didn't stay hidden for long, however. Word of their abilities had reached the daimyō of their land, and he had immediately sent his scouts to find the clan and relay a message to them. Through a series of correspondences, the daimyō offered to make a deal with the clan.
If they were to answer his summons and offer their services in combating malevolence and supernatural threats, he would not only help them maintain their secrecy, but also reward them handsomely for their services. After a lengthy deliberation, the clan elders agreed to this, and it became the main source of income for the clan.
Over the next years, in light of all these developments, the clan elders passed a new set of rules for the clan to abide by.
Every Kazama child that wielded the Sacred Light would be trained to use it against malevolent entities, as the Kami-sama Amaterasu decreed.
Anyone who wished to hire a Kazama would have to plead their case to the clan elders, who would have the final say on such matters.
Every person residing in the Kazama Estate would take on a vow of secrecy to never tell outsiders of the Sacred Light.
And finally, no Kazama was to permanently leave the estate, or they would be considered exiles.
Asuka sat by herself in the corridor, her legs crossed instead of folded under her. Her mother would scold her for doing this, but it had always been the more comfortable way of sitting to her. Especially now, when she felt uncertain about what was going to happen to her.
She was supposed to be at the shrine grounds, participating in the Channelling Ceremony with her classmates. But a few minutes into their meditation, something scared the old priest and he immediately halted the proceedings to drag her over to the Main Hall of the Kazama Estate. He didn't answer any of her questions about what was happening on the way over, instead just telling her to be quiet and wait outside of the hall for him.
Am I in trouble?
That question was repeating on loop in her head.
She hadn't even broken any rules. As far as she knew, she'd followed their instructions on how to meditate and didn't ask any questions to the priest.
She hoped she wasn't in trouble. Her mother would definitely not appreciate another bad letter about her.
The giant, wooden doors opened with a loud creak, and the old priest walked out with an impassive face. He looked down at Asuka, who quickly adjusted her sitting position. He raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, before saying "Come, Asuka–kun. The clan elders wish to see you."
Her heart thudded in her chest from a sudden wave of anxiety. The clan elders wanted to see her?
Despite the dread she felt, she nodded and shuffled her way past the open doors. The priest followed after her, closing the doors behind them.
Darkness swelled around her, only mitigated by the sparse candles lining the walls. The light was strongest behind the four people sitting together at the end of the room. They sat in a line on the floor but the dim lighting made it hard for Asuka to decipher their features in depth.
They had to be the current clan elders.
Situated a few metres before the elders was a wooden box, a faint aura of white light shimmering around it that Asuka recognised as a sacred ward.
"Come forward, child," an old, masculine voice said to her, disrupting the silence of the dark room. Asuka knew to listen to them, especially when she wasn't sure if she was in trouble or not.
She walked forward until the box was an arm's length away from her. She then immediately sank into a bow without being prompted.
"Good to see our youth still remember their manners," a distinctly feminine voice remarked. Asuka heard the old priest scoff near the door at that. "Juon–san told us that you may hold a great capacity for the Sacred Light."
Asuka looked up from the floor, genuinely surprised to hear that. "I… do?"
"If his words are to be believed…" said a breathless, hoarse voice, different from the other two. The old priest spoke up from behind her "I speak the truth, elder. She had a great, blinding light surrounding her during the Channelling Ceremony. No other child has manifested a light as bright as hers today."
Asuka had no clue what any of that meant, seeing as they never told her much about the ceremony until today, but she did know one thing.
"Isn't… having a great capacity a good thing?" she tentatively asked the elders.
"In theory, yes," the feminine voice said. The old voice from before followed her statement with "But you have not been brought here for us to theorise about you."
The elder in the middle waved his hand from his lap, as if he was cutting through the air, and the box stopped shining. He then gestured to it and called out to Asuka in a deep, firm voice "Your task is in that box."
Asuka walked forward and peaked into the box, only to see a pair of frayed straw sandals lying within it, dishevelled from lack of care.
Confused, she looked up at the elders. "What should I do? It's just a pair of–"
She was interrupted by a high-pitched giggling coming from within the box. She looked down in the box again, and ended up jumping away from it with a shout.
What did I just see?
Before she could question it, two dark shapes jumped out of the box onto the wooden floor. The sandals she thought were ordinary had now sprouted tiny arms and legs from the frayed straw. The gashes she had thought were just rips in the straw opened up to reveal a single large eye and a mouth from which a bright red tongue wagged around.
"Kararin!" the creatures shrieked, both of them fixating their lone eyes on Asuka. "Kararin! Kororin!"
Bakezōri. She'd learned about them in class, but it was one thing to see them in pictures. It was another when they were screeching and hobbling around right in front of her.
"Exorcise the yōkai. That is your task."
Her head snapped up. "What?! I mean– How do I…?"
Exorcise? She could barely meditate without her mind wandering! They never taught her how to do this!
The Bakezōri skittered towards her, wagging their tongues.
"Keeheehee…"
She took a few steps back.
"Call on the Sacred Light, child," the feminine voice told her from the darkness. "The Light is within you. You just need to bring it forth."
"I can't–" Asuka began to exclaim, but then the Bakezōri jumped straight for her. Instinctively, she raised her hands up in defence and yelled in desperation "STOP!"
Her panic was almost immediately replaced by surprise when a shimmering wall manifested itself before her hands. The Bakezōri crashed into it and were sent reeling back, as if from an invisible force. Their screeches became louder, except now they held a wary look in their eye.
The old priest let out a gasp, and the elders hummed in approval. Asuka was stunned.
"…how?" was all she could mutter as she gazed at the wall of light she'd created. The Bakezōri let out a loud, unified scream at the sight of it and scrambled back into the box they came from.
"Remarkable," said four voices said in unison, the word reverberating through the room. Asuka looked at her ordinary, unremarkable hands and then to the shimmering light in front of her.
Her hands did that?
"You have a gift, child," the feminine voice said.
"Now use it to exorcise the yōkai," the hoarse voice ordered.
"But…" Asuka trailed off. Sure, she pulled out a magic shield, but she didn't know how she even did it. The old priest called out to her "Remove the darkness, Asuka–kun!"
"Darkness is the absence of light, child," the deep voice explained, as if reciting it from a book. She looked up from her hands to the shadowed figures of the clan elders. She remembered learning this in class. Some of the lessons came back to her, now that she had stopped panicking.
Darkness is the absence of light… so to remove the dark, she had to replace it with–
"Light."
She closed her eyes and held out her hands in front of her, relaxing them so that her palms were spread open. The usual darkness behind her eyelids had been replaced with a gentle light. She sensed it creeping into every corner of the room, except for a small mass of swirling darkness in the middle.
This must be the Bakezōri.
She stepped towards the mass of darkness, her eyes closed all the while, and felt a weightless warmth spreading from her chest to fill her body. When it felt like it was about to well up within her and overflow, she let it seep out through her finger tips and willing it to replace the darkness.
When she heard a high–pitched scream and saw the dark mass shrinking, she figured she was doing something right.
"Kami–sama!" the old priest cried out.
The Light suddenly erupted, blinding her through her closed eyelids, and Asuka instinctively flinched away from it. Her eyes opened abruptly, and she realised through the swimming images in her blurry vision that the room wasn't dark anymore.
"Incredible," the clan elders intoned together. She rubbed at her eyes with clenched fists in the hopes of clearing her vision. This was sensory overload.
"Di–did I do it?" she asked the room at large, rapidly blinking to bring the room in focus. Soon enough, she realised that the elders had gotten up from their spots. The four of them, three old men and one old woman, stood over her with smiles on their faces.
"You should see for yourself, perhaps."
They parted, bringing the wooden box into view. Once confident her vision wasn't spinning, she walked over to the box and peeped in it.
Within it were a pair of dishevelled straw sandals.
In a moment of bravery, she leaned down to poke the straw with her finger and immediately jumped back, waiting for a mouth to appear and bite her finger.
But nothing happened.
"Wha–"
"Unbelievable!" the old priest exclaimed. Asuka turned around to get a look at him.
His mouth hung wide open as he looked at her in complete disbelief. "How is this possible?!"
"It seems you were right, Juon," said the elder with the deep voice, his wrinkles further accentuated by his smile. "It seems she holds a great capacity."
"Great capacity, yes. But that doesn't explain how she managed to complete an exorcism like that and still be conscious! And all the Light radiating from her–"
"I have not seen a child like her since Kazama Jun…" the female elder calmly interjected, causing the old priest to pause in his tirade. The other elders all lost their smiles at that. Asuka looked at them with wide eyes.
They were talking about her Auntie? She thought no one ever wanted to talk about her Auntie…
"Her potential may be even greater than we realised," the elder with the hoarse voice said, stroking his long wiry beard. "We should inform her parents at once that she needs special tutoring."
The old priest gaped at the elders in shock, his gaze eventually landing on Asuka. At the sight of his immense disbelief, she couldn't help but grin widely.
Bet he wished he could say something bad about her now.
"There is much to discuss," the last elder said and turned to the old priest, who flinched from his scrutiny. "Juon–san, you will write to her parents immediately."
He looked like he wanted to complain, but instead he pursed his lips and bowed in respect. "At once, elder."
The female elder gave Asuka one last smile as she said "You are dismissed child."
Asuka bowed to them all, mumbling out a "Th–thank you!"
The adults paid it no mind, instead engaging in fervent discussion among each other. Asuka stood back up, staring again at her completely normal looking hands.
I have magic powers.
As the statement settled in her mind, she flexed her fingers and turned her palms this way and that. She smiled widely.
Sweet.
She looked up at the adults and caught the old priest sparing her an unimpressed glance before joining the conversation. Her smile faded, replaced by an angry pout. An idea immediately formed in her head as she caught sight of his bare feet.
She looked back at the wooden box, and her smile returned. With the adults not paying any attention to her, she quickly picked up the straw sandals and trotted her way out.
"Those shoes could use some love, I think," she remarked to herself as she walked away with the priest's shoes. She threw the shoes into a bush metres away from the Main Hall and let out a satisfied "Hmph" as she dusted her hands.
Later that day, Asuka's mother was over the moon.
"I heard that my little girl is gifted!" she said excitedly as she finished preparing the table for dinner.
"Well, my Asuka was a gift the minute she came into this world," her father remarked, beaming with pride. "…Though, I guess it is good that other people realise it now too."
"About time, I should say!" her mother said, leaning over to kiss Asuka on the cheek. "We are so proud, my lovely girl."
Asuka enjoyed the attention. After years of being called a delinquent and a troublemaker, she was now being called gifted.
Like her mother said, it was about damn time!
Her eyes had been drawn to her hands every other minute, as if they were completely new and otherworldly. Hard to believe they had been glowing with magic only a few hours ago.
"Come now, Asuka! Do not keep us in suspense. What else did the elders say?"
The question brought to mind something that had completely slipped her mind. And she couldn't help but voice it. "Ya know, they said I was like Auntie Jun. They said she was the same as me."
The happiness on her parents' faces slowly transitioned to uncertainty and concern at her words. "Did they now?"
Asuka frowned. Her father then hastily added "That is a good thing, Asuka. Your Auntie was gifted too."
"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about her," Asuka said, her frown becoming more pronounced. "How come it's fine when the elders do it, but not when I do?"
Her parents exchanged a look. Her mother let out a sigh.
"Perhaps… it is time to tell her, Junichiro."
Her father leaned forward from his spot on the floor, his posture no longer relaxed. "You might be right, Kaede."
Asuka folded her arms and squared her shoulders.
"You'll tell me about Auntie Jun now?" she asked. Her mother sucked in her breath.
"Not just about Auntie Jun, dear," her father said solemnly. "There is much to discuss, but only if you swear it will never leave this house."
Asuka's anger faded away, and she stared at her parents with wide eyes.
The history of the Kazama clan as far as most know ends with the formation of the new rules. While there were some who took offence to the new rulings, with time every Kazama had learned to abide by them.
Kazama Junho would pass away eventually in her sleep, having never ever been allowed to leave her home after debilitating herself for humanity. She is still held in high regard, to the point that many in the clan will still name their children after her in some way.
Yet, few in the clan know that she never agreed to the new rules.
Our documented history would erase how she had wanted to help all of humanity, to see the world and make it better for her fellow humans one step at a time. It would only say that she is who we are to thank for the power of the Sacred Light.
Our elders will insist that it's better to be selective, but the truth was that they were letting greed rule their decisions when they chose to only aid those with enough funds to offer.
They say it's for our safety, but the reason they want no one to leave is so they don't bring attention back to the clan.
And Kazama Jun was never to be spoken about, because she had defied those rules and they never wanted to acknowledge that it was something a Kazama could choose to do. She left the clan to help the common people and fight yōkai, and for that they called her Shinigami. A god of death.
Maybe if they choose to document her one day, they'll use her as a cautionary tale for the younger ones.
Well, if they do, they'll have to include me in that warning too.
Kazama Asuka, daughter of Junichiro and Kaede, one of the wielders of the Sacred Light and a future Shinigami.
They can try to keep me in the Estate, but I wasn't destined to stay here and do as I'm told. The winds call to me from the forests and mountains, telling me stories I've never heard of places I've never been.
I won't die misunderstood like Kazama Junho. My life won't be kept a secret and hidden away like Auntie Jun.
I'll travel the lands and defeat monsters. I'll go on adventures and help those in need.
And I'll be the one the winds talk about next.
Hello everyone!
I should be working on my other fics, but this idea hit me like a lightning bolt and Mr. Smashvillain just fanned the flames.
To those who don't know, this was inspired by the calendar art of Asuka as a Grim Reaper, and then it spiralled into whatever this is.
This is a new fic idea, taking place in an Edo Japan-esque universe where yokai are real. It's not going to be 100% historically accurate as a result. Just a fun idea to play around with, and a new Jin/Asuka fic for you lovely people to look forward to!
Me and Smashvillain both brainstormed this together, so he's my co-author on this. You might see some of his influences later on :)
This fic is going to use a lot of Japanese words and terms too, and I'll do my best to include definitions in the end notes so you guys don't have to search for things too much. I still encourage you guys to research if this is a topic of interest to you. I've tried to research as much as possible, but I'll gladly fix any errors that are reported to me 3
I haven't abandoned any other work, don't worry. Just allowing myself to do other ideas as well. Chapter 2 is halfway done, so you won't have to wait too long hopefully, fingers crossed.
Meanings of words used:
Yokai - A type of creature from Japanese folklore that was created from trying to make sense of unknown phenomena. They aren't demons, contrary to popular belief, and they all aren't evil or malicious. Yokai can be very different from one another as well.
Kami - A word to describe god, or multiple gods. Kami-sama is the respectful version.
Miko - The word for shrine maidens, priestesses who had many tasks unique to them, usually cleansing rituals.
Shinigami - Kami that are associated with, or invite humans to death. What exactly they can be varies between stories.
Tengu - A type of yokai. There are different types of tengu as well. It's totally not important to the story though, don't worry (wink, wink).
Bakezori - Yokai resembling straw sandals (zori). They usually are old straw sandals possessed by spirits when they're neglected by their owners.
Again, please let me know if you find any errors, and I'll correct them ASAP!
Enjoy the story!
May Peace Be Upon You