Young girl stood in front of the tall stairs to the shrine, her mind being plagued by the oddities she saw each day in her life.
Despite of her young age of seventeen, Kurokawa Kaede had seen it all that there was to be seen of issekai, the World of the spirits. How? Simple, they were among the humans all the time. She'd already seen the kitsunes, the inugamis, bakus, yureis, bakenekos and tanukis. They were always around. Even now that she was on her way to school, the girl could see a tsuraraonna walking beside her.
There wasn't much to be surprised about if this world, she was afraid, how could she when she'd been in middle of everything since birth. She knew that she was being watched by Chihirokami even now as she- Uhh.... Was currently bearing up some other yokai that appeared to be tengu.... Chihirokami really took her job as the protector of children seriously. Not that Kaede was a child anymore. Nu-uh, nope. She was very much an adult.
She arrived in the classroom and took her seat, ah... The usual suspects were present. And by that she meant the ghosts of the dead students who'd met their unfortunate ends. As she looked around, she spotted one unfamiliar face though that appeared to be hidden from the others like the ghosts were. She was a beautiful woman wearing a traditional kimono, her black hair being held up on a bun that you'd see on young women during festivals. As she kept sitting on one of the spare seats, she was holding a piece of paper and an old looking pen. She seemed very focused too.
The teacher came in, without noticing the woman at all making Kaede scream in her head about how he should've noticed her and mentally asking if he was blind. After the normal name roll, the class started and the woman next to her started to write precisely what he was saying and writing on the board. She appeared to run out of paper which made the teen feel a bit sad. So she took one of her empty notebooks, a pen and silently gave them to her. The woman looked startled for a bit before she asked from her via pantomime if she saw her. Her simple answer of a nod made the woman panic slightly and ask if the others did too, to which she just rolled her head.
The woman resumed to her notetaking and attended to every class Kaede had much to her surprise. Upon the end of the school, she stopped at the shrine's stairs once again, this time looking at the woman. "You're not a human are you", she said to the woman, who smirked at her in response. "And you aren't a regular high school girl", the woman retorted back making Kaede mumble "Touché" under her breath. The woman looked up at the shrine and gestured her to follow, making the girl furrow her brows in confusion.
Out of sheer curiosity, she follows after the woman up the stairs, through the yard and through the old gate..... And got transported to the other world. The lights were a lot softer yet brighter, it was a pleasant scerey. The trees could be heard humming in the wind, the yokais were having a talk with each other, the lost children were running around happily.
Wait.... Did she just think about lost children running around this scene? What the-
"Kazuko, who is this mortal you've brought to our realm?" a song like voice asked from behind her making her turn fast as a lightning.
Her eyes widened from recognition. It was the man she had often seen near play grounds, talking softly to the children. Children who....
Realisation hit her in the face like a salmon jumps up the river, messily, and she stumbled few steps behind pointing at the male comically.
"YOU ARE THE CHILD KIDNAPPING BEAST EVERYONE IS TRYING TO FIND!" she shouted out, her finger still blaming the man for something he definitely did.
The man blinked in confusion and glanced at the woman he'd addressed earlier, the note taking woman, who sighed. "Kidnapping refers the action of abducting someone and holding them captive, typically to obtain a ransom", she explained to the man who nodded in understanding before turning back at the teenager, who was currently being poked by a silver haired oni with striking blue eyes.
"Muzaka...please stop doing that. She's mortal, not a play thing", the oni stopped immediately and bowed in apologetic way before backing off. Yoshimune bowed slightly to the girl, feeling a little awkward while doing so for he hadn't done that for a long time. "I am the one referred to as Yoshimune, the Lord of Edo-shin of Kanto, I am an oma i with the mission of saving adused children from their homes and provide them with a loving home and a normal childhood", he said as a boy who appeared to be only slightly older than she walked closer, laughing at the elder's formality. "Loosen up father, this is the sixties already, there's no need for you to be this formal", the male whose hairstyle was nearly identical to the yokais said and patted the shoulder of the shoulder of the said man. He then proceeded to walk over to the girl and offered his hand for a shake which Kaede clumsily took.
"Sawada Ieyasu, hanyuu, this is my old man Yoshimune", he said to the girl, who gulped and made a tiny bow with her head making the male chuckle. "Kurokawa Kaede", she mumbled to the male, who smiled brightly to her answer. Kazuko in the meantime allowed her camouflage to fade and released her fox ears from their hiding spot along with her long red tail. "Don't let him fool you girl, Ieyasu is well past one century and has a great grandchild called Ietsuna", she retorted making Kaede freeze on her spot. Ieyasu pouted at her comment making him appear even younger than he actually was.
"When were you born again? Mid 1800s?" Muzaka asked earning himself a glare from the blonde who still muttered the precise year having been 1846. Quick math Kaede did in her head made her pale as she realised that she was talking to a 114 year old man, who was very well preserved for his age. Wait... Sawada.... That name sounded a bit too familiar. Hoping herself to be wrong, she asked a question.
"Umm... Your grand child wouldn't happen to be called Yoshimune..? As in Sawada Yoshimune...? The father of Sawada Ietsuna..?" the second Ieyoshi started to smile, she knew that she was doomed. It was even more apparent when the man told him that she was correct. So... The crush of her older sister, who was one of those people who crushed on older people and appeared to have a senpai complex, was the great grandchild of this weird foreigner looking half yokai.... Cool beans.
As she kept staring at the clueless man wanting to groan, a tanuki climbed on top of the stone wall and assumed a human form. After this, he took out a bottle of sake and proceeded to drink straight from the container.
........ And lost the container due to a Japanese school girl realising that an animal was attempting to get drunk. And she was having none of that.
"Do you have ANY IDEA of how bad it is for you to drink?!" she scolded the tanuki that tried to shrink into a tiny animal without succeeding. The Yokais and their respective offspring stared at her finding this feat rather impressive. The Kitsune Kazuko turned to look at Yoshimune with her eyes sparkling. "Can we keep her?"
Kaede put down the notebook, finally understanding why the Kitsune was sent out to gather intel of the world. Everything was changing so quickly and the yokais needed to be able to adapt to the times.
She'd been dead for quite some time now and seen the newest offspring of Sawada family be brought into the world. Though as she kept watching over this child, Tsunayoshi, she couldn't help but feel like something wasn't quite right in the little boy.
For example, his spiritual pressure was a lot higher than normal child's would've been at that age, and she'd swore that the kid at one point stopped in his tracks to follow HER movements. Then there was how animals and people were attracted to him, although not always in good way, for example he was bullied frequently. The ghost sighed as she made another mark on the notebook she'd later on deliver to the daiyokai in charge.
As she left the scene, unnoticed by others, a tiny Hitman passed her, noticed her, tilted his fedora in a way to take part into grieving her and left her in peace once she'd disappeared.
All this while she was musing if she'd forget something important about that family.
YOU ARE READING
Trial Of Yoshimune
General FictionThere is an old saying, a legend, that states that if a child is treated badly by their parent, a demon will steal that child. Not many people have dared to check on that fact, but it still happens from time to time. But then again... It's just an o...
