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The fool Oda Nobunaga had been dead these many years, forced to fall upon by his sword by his retainer. Since then, though, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu had taken up his accursed cause, and although their own army had pushed back, it was clear they were losing ground. Nurarihyon, tenacious as he was, what not the leader that their lord, the Daimaou had been.
Young Noble Junior turned to face the shadow, pivoting away from the guttering candle so that the light might not fall upon the bleached bone of his features; so that his unannounced guest might not too easily read the conflict on his rictus face.
"You presume too much," he said at last, his voice deep and full of unspoken threat.
From the basket at the side of the bowed woman, he could hear the shuffling of those animals, the squeak of their soft voices.
"What use have I for servants?"
He heard the chime of her ornate headpiece as she lifted her head, and even though he had turned away from her, he could feel her gaze upon the bone of his back.
"Surely having those loyal in service to you is how the powerful know that they are powerful. Don't be too quick to look a gift horse in the mouth, as the ancients say."
He rankled at her lack of deference. True, she had bowed before him, she had acknowledged him as the son of the great Daimaou, but she was too presumptuous, too arrogant. His great enemy, Oda Nobunaga would not have stood for this, he thought unhappily. Yet his great enemy had failed to notice when his own servant had been momentarily replaced with a robotic doppelganger, the great Batten Bike left behind in his care aiding the warlord's triumph at Ishiyama Hongan-ji.
Slowly, he turned.
"The ancients say nothing about a gift cat," he growled.
She smiled back at him, the sharpness of her human guise betraying her true identity as a yokai, a nekomata. Not just any nekomata either, he reminded himself, but the oldest nekomata, the spirit of the cat tricked by the rat during the Great Race.
"If you are concerned as to my loyalty, remember that your cause is my cause," she purred in reply, her taloned hands before her.
Except it wasn't, Young Noble Junior thought sourly. Everyone knew of Neko-hime's ambition, of her desire to win the place in the zodiac that she felt she rightfully deserved. By way of contrast, he simply wanted to sow discord and pave the way for his father's return.
Still, with the Negoro-ji and the Manji Clan defeated, taking with them valuable yokai who had gone their own way before Nurarihyon's reformation, the Yokai Gundan was lacking manpower.
As if sensing his thoughts, she reached out for the basket, manoeuvring it so it was before her and in his direct line of vision.
"These five kittens will serve you well, young master. You can trust me on this."
Her informality offended him, and yet he kept his wrath at bay, curious to know now what it was that such as she might wish in return for the servitude of her kittens.
Opting to challenge he directly, he said simply, "What do you get out of this?"
She smiled still, her expression infuriating.
"I would ask a favour, young master."
Here it was, he thought. Here was the deal.
"Continue," he grunted.
She nodded, feigning subservience.
"I have been the cat for a very long and I hope to continue in this role for a good deal longer."
Oh, he thought, this was interesting. So, the great Neko-hime wasn't the first cat then?
"If I should perish," she continued, oblivious to his thoughts, "I want you to resurrect me before the next cat can be born."
There were differences then, he surmised. Although the spirits of the zodiac were the same entities, their avatars were unique in their own right. Interesting.
"This is a big favour in exchange for the service of five cats, Neko-hime," he growled.
Gently, she reached for the woven basket, lifting the blanket to reveal the young shapes within.
"Five cats of the finest pedigree," she said, and then slyly added, "for I know the young master prizes beauty above all else."
He felt it in his bones, the desire to lash out, to test this theory about how quickly a cat's avatar might die, to ascertain whether such a creature truly had nine lives.
She smiled, reading his intention.
"Are you surprised? Your reputation precedes you, young master. I suspect there's lots about you that might interest curious parties." The smile receded, her expression darkening. "Perhaps old Hideyoshi might be tempted to look back from Joseon and finish wiping your army out if he knew."
His skeletal hand reached for the sword at his side.
"Or perhaps Tsuruhime's heir might be curious."
His hand hovered over the hilt and they both knew that what he did next would decide their future, either as allies or as enemies.
Again, she smiled.
Young Noble Junior lowered his hand.
"These kittens," he said at last, his voice gruff, "are they agile as well as beautiful?"