Trial Of Yoshimune

Chapter 2. Ryoma

His name was Ryoma, and he was just a normal house cat. Or used to be.

It had started normally, he was an adorable kitten, got adopted by a small family and lived with them a long life. His tail had been cut for some odd reason, but he didn't really mind it. The family was loving after all and fed him well.

Then one time, his tail started to grow back from the stub. It was a weird tail that had been divided into two, having it felt weird and foreign. Around the same time, he noticed that he'd understand the humans around him.

His owner..... Wasn't that good person actually. He realised this from hearing him shouting at his daughter, threatening to beat her to death. The daughter had been nothing but nice to him, feeding him, sleeping next to him to keep him warm. But the man... He made him see red.

In the night, he snuck inside the man's room, taking in his appearance with care.
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And devoured him whole, without the man even waking up to call for help.

With his newly found powers, he assumed the form of the man, taking his place as the head of the family.

As Ryoma looked into the mirror, he noticed that his eyes were different from the normal human's, but shrugged at it. Nobody was perfect.

The morning came and it revealed a shocked family that saw the head of the family being calm and serene, a doting father. The neighbours also noticed this and asked him what made him change his ways. He answered with a smile that he had a vision of the future, which told him that his offspring were to become great people.

The villagers nodded at this, but Ryoma knew that they were suspicious of him.

At the dinner, he smiled at his family, partially to conceal his eyes, and partially to allow them to calm down, letting out a serene, healing aura. The family went on for months and soon everyone had grown used to the Bakeneko in man's form.

Ryoma listened to the sounds of the night as they talked to him. They whispered the name of Namimori, a village far away and that it was ruled by a daiyokai with love towards children. Who'd protect them. He looked at his family that slept peacefully and made up his mind.

The morning gave the news of the family moving to another village, awakening many questions. Ryoma ignored the gossips and claimed that he'd gotten a word from the village that his relative was there and wished to see him and his family. And once again the villagers accepted this petition to be truth.

They left the village during the twilight time, the presence of the Bakeneko keeping the other yokais at bay. He'd never let his family to be hurt again, especially since he knew how the men of the village had looked at the daughters and it disgusted him. Those men knew no love, they only knew lust.

Days went by and the family moved forward. Ryoma knew that the daiyokai would already know of his arrival as he'd seen the word carriers of the Lord of the region travel fast past him and his group. On the sixth day of their journey, a beautiful looking man wearing an armour appeared to them. Examining them from afar.

The mortals didn't notice, but Ryoma did. Their eyes met, amber to the bright green, and the man was gone.

On the dawn of the seventh day, they arrived to the village, and were welcomed by the priest of the Shrine known as Hibari and his daughters Nuriko and Ai. Ryoma instantly knew that the priest knew of him, but had for some reason remained silent. He perhaps also knew that the bakeneko had felt attracted to his owner's daughter, Ritsuko, who was very energetic and strong woman, for a long time.

Deciding for it to be the time, Ryoma faked his death and conjured a look alike of the original father, leaving him into the kitchen.

Upon the burial being over, he returned to the household as a young man with long curly hair and almond shaped eyes, that still occasionally looked green. Ritsuko fell heels over to him and the couple got married conceiving three children. But as the time went by and the children grew up, Ritsuko passed away leaving Ryoma alone once again. As he stared at his dying wife, the woman spoke with a weak voice, smiling at him.

"Ryoma... I already know who you really are", she said startling the male, his response made her chuckle, "You're that cat who ran away from us into the night one day. And... It was you all this time wasn't it? You took his place to keep us safe. Thank you so much for saving us". Ryoma panicked as he felt how his spell was broken and his feline features came back. He lost his ability to speak and was left to sit next to her, crying as the woman faded away.

The two tailed cat then staggered up to the shrine and left there a pile of gold and meowed at the priest, who understood what happened.

As the funeral took place, the husband was said to have passed away too, nobody noticing the small figure of a cat that sat on top of another gave stone, staring intensively at the funeral. As the crowd disbanded, he jumped down and stepped to the grave, curling into a ball right above his beloved wife, who had looked so content when put to the ground. He stayed there for an unknown time period, until he was picked up by clawed hand. The hands were slim and could've been mistaken for woman's, but the strength in them told him otherwise.

"You loved her a lot, didn't you kitten?" the melodic voice he'd never heard before now said making him look up. There was the warrior from the time he'd arrive, the unknown porcelain white samurai with red hair and amber eyes. He looked back at the grave, saddened by his loss." I didn't want it to end", he answered feeling as if he could cry. The samurai held him closer to his chest, attempting to comfort him.

"Mortals are like this, you blink and they're gone to the winds of the time while we remain. Forever young", the man answered to him. It didn't really help him feel better, but it helped him to understand. Human lives had limited number of time it could go on until it was destroyed. They weren't designed to last forever.

The two walked, well the samurai carried Ryoma, under the gates of the shrine and disappeared. Ryoma looked at the male once again, now noticing his markings. He realised that he was in presence of a daiyokai, and this made him panic slightly.

The bakeneko leapt out of his arms and bowed several times apologising over and over again only to be stopped by the sound of someone laughing. He looked up, still in his cat form, and saw it to be the daiyokai himself. "Obakeneko... You don't need to apologise from me" the daiyokai said as he stepped forward. A finger lifted his chin gently, forcing him to look up into those glowing eyes that were filled with amusement.

"I, Yoshimune, the Lord of Edo-shi, Kanto, recognise obakeneko Ryoma as part of my tribe, and one of its Shoguns for he has protected the children of Namimori and brought them to my lands for safety", Ryoma blinked at this, unsure of what was going on. Until it hit him like an earthquake. Parts of his face felt as if they were on fire, making him want to roll on the ground and press his face against the wet moss.

The burning sensation went on for a while but was soon enough gone as if it had never happened. Ryoma assumed his human form and patted his face carefully thinking that it'd sting. A tiny oni brought him a mirror, which he took gratefully, yet scared of what he'd see.

He then stared at the reflection in awe. Two clean red stripes went over his cheekbones while a sun symbol was on his forehead. His eyelids were also now red and looked as if someone had painted him like a fine porcelain doll. He looked at the daiyokai, noting the similarities, but also differences; instead of a sun, his forehead supported a Star that shone, two clean stripes were on his cheeks, one on his cheek bones, one just below, he, too, had his eyelids painted red, but he also had two thin lines beneath his eyes that were black.

Ryoma silently noted that the daiyokai was very Lady like in appearance, being shorter than him, slender than him and held almost womanly face. His staring eyes moved to his partially gravity defying hair and he felt the sudden need to play with it. He was blaming his cat instincts on that one.

The two sat down and started to talk, trying to learn more of each other and their pasts.

Another short lived generation changed...

In the future, Ryoma would look at two energetic siblings and be reminded of his lost lover, follow their journey and appear every now and then to give them an advice. Glad that they were loved and that he didn't have to take them away. He's never connect the dots nor recognise the two as their scents were very different now that generations had passed. Yet somehow he always found himself from watching over them and smiling at their antics.