Trial Of Yoshimune

Chapter 12. Ookami Daio

The Wolf King looked down at Namimori, times had changed the tiny village into a lively town as more and more people moved in. The sons of Makoto were long gone, but their sons had taken their names as their clan name. A pact was made, Hibari would become the ruler of the town, the priests and priestesses, protectors from the high, while the less capable Todoroki would make sure that the people of Namimori had everything well in their lives.

Daio smiled at the antics of the mortals, seeing the rebirth of the original Todoroki and Hibari over and over again. Oh how similar the two truly were to their ancestors.

Todoroki was more like Makoto, who was strict yet kind woman, who instinctively knew what to do and what healed. Hibari on the other hand was like Yoshimune, observant, strong, strong willed and little blood thirsty.

And yet... The two also were a lot different from the two.

Makoto and Yoshimune both put family first, always. Hibari was family oriented but wild and clumsy with bringing up the children, Todoroki seemed to have close to zero parental instincts. And that was alarming.

Deciding that he'd been observing the mortals enough, the Wolf King made his way to the shrine, where his student was currently answering to prayers while the Inugami Chieftain, Kitsune and a Bakeneko were accompanying him. He'd soon realised that the four were compatible in their personalities and had the ability to make long lasting decisions that kept the humans somewhat happy and under control.

He peeked from behind the covers at the person who was currently inside, a woman who was asking for the "kami" to protect her son as the war was going on outside the region. Yoshimune's face was unreadable, but then again... His whole body and appearance was concealed by veils accordingly, so nobody could've redd his face even if he didn't have a pokerface on.

"Woman, whether or not your son will return to you dead or alive, he has the protection of the Lord Yoshimune. Would he fall at the battlefield, his spirit would return to the lands of his birth and join his ancestors", Jun said to the woman firmly. She looked at the woman in her dog form and kept her stance. Human stared at her silently before she bowed and left the shrine. The exchange made Daio smile as it reminded him of his younger days, before he passed his own title forward.

The Ookami left silently and walked through the gate to the isekai, where he took in its state with a peaceful look. The spirit realm looked like the perfect balance of nature and living quarters of different people. The roads were straight and well kept, flowers accompanied each and every one of the houses with few trees here and there. Luxurious looking house after another were in a row, over looked by the two large buildings from opposite directions. The Fort of the Inu and the Castle of Yoshimune.

Daio came across a group of children playing on one of the yards. He stopped to look at them, something stirring inside of his being. Something important... But he couldn't quite out his finger to it.
The children were different types of Yokais, with few humans here and there, courtesy of Yoshimune and his "shoguns" as the others playfully called them, each and every one of them playing in harmony.

His golden eyes swept over them towards a very familiar duo slightly apart from the rest of the children, making him smile. There were Raizel and Muzaka, sons of Yoshimune and Jun, talking very seriously to each other.

Daio had heard from his pupil, though he thought of the younger man as his pup for the most part, that the mortal's eyesight had been slowly turning better and better as the times went by. Observing the two boys, both deceivingly beautiful like the children of the spirits always were, confirmed his suspicions.

Raizel was slowly starting to resemble a Yokai himself.

Honestly, it wasn't that much of a shock taken in the fact that he had been in the isekai for the past century already. If Daio's memory served him well, the visiting foreigners had been referring to the year as... Thousandsevenhundredfiftyeight? Foreigners truly had odd way of speaking. However what had been a confusing finding was the fact that Raizel's scent resembled inugami's instead of an Ookami. But then again, the boy was often with the inu so maybe it was inevitable.

Thinking of the situation of the boy suddenly brought the image of the current leader of the inus into his mind, sharply yet pleasingly surprising him.

Inu Jun was a beautiful and kind Lady, but she also held the true heart of a warrior true to her father's blood. She was a good and fair leader, albeit she did make mistakes every now and then due to her suddenly receiving her title, sooner than what her father had anticipated. Daio's eyes gained a misty look as he kept thinking more and more about the woman, yet his nature as a Lord of an older era told him to drop it.

Jun was Daio's soul mate, both of them knew this, both of them were painfully aware of the bond, but they had chosen to not take it to romantic level as despite of the pull in their souls, they couldn't bring themselves to think of each other as lovers. It wasn't what being soul mates was about. They had been born to be compatible with each other, to be capable of understanding each other better than the rest, but they weren't meant to be. As he had grown to look at Jun and Yoshimune interact and joined them, he'd soon found out something that tasted bitter yet sweet at the same time, the greatest joke of the life itself.

Each person had more than one soul mate.

When he had originally realised it, Daio had been very bitter and taken it out on Yoshimune, doubling his practices, but that was until he noticed that he also shared similar bond with his student. That his own student was also his soul mate in one sense. And once he'd noticed how Yoshimune was looking at the cat spirit, Ryoma, he'd calmed down even more.

Until he'd seen how clumsy the former human was with courting. It was just hilarious to see.

Daio noticed how he had walked to the white stone benches near the centre of the spirit realm's little "town". Taking a seat, he sighed to himself, finally allowing the tiredness to take his hand and make him rest.

He spent hours sitting there, just watching how the yoki shaped the realm, changing the colours and the temperature, creating tiny winds and building new houses and streets.

A fluff of white appeared next to him and without looking he addressed it.
"You're early here, Jun"
"So are you Daio"

The two sat on their seats, staring at the blooming cherry tree, how its blossoms rained down gently like a tiny drizzle on a warm summer day.

It was peaceful.