[UPDATE IN PROGRESS] Onmyou-Pocketville: Fallen Dusk

Chapter 29: Betrayal

Noroi stood next to a mirror in her kimono-clad gijinka shape, brushing the long raven streaks that made up her mane. "Can't believe they took the first one," she muttered to herself.

Though she was mostly rough in personality, Noroi did indeed have her neater sides. She always made sure her mane and fur were combed and tidied and on occasion wore a hair ornament like a false hellebore. Perhaps she wanted to take after the royals when it came to taking care of oneself and making herself prettier, despite sniping at them because they were wealthier and flaunted it through what they wear and through the palace.

After some time, Yami flew through the doorway, wind weaving through the feathers of his wings and flowing into the room. He landed on his perch. "Noroi-sama! I have news!"

Noroi continued brushing her mane, her eyes away from the bird. "Spit it out already." she huffed. "I'm busy over here so make it quick."

"The royals and those outsiders are planning to summon somebody called Kyuubi Emiko. The Folklorist, as she's also known as."

Noroi suddenly dropped her brush, hissing and curling her lip to show her pointed teeth. "The Folklorist?! Yet another old geezer, but she's even more of an old geezer than the other two queens."

"How did you know she's an old geezer?"

"She visited this queendom two moons ago, and I saw her whilst I snook through the capital. She's old. Very old. She seems like she takes notes about our customs and she might even spread drivel about our queendom to other outsiders. Don't you remember or do you still have more iridescent feathers in place of your mind?"

"Uh, y-yes I do..."

"Well we can't prevent them from making her return. I'm not going all the way to the palace, that maze of a palace. What we can do is find out where they're going to go next and follow them there or get there before they do." Noroi sniffed the air. "And where's Saku- Shiranui?"

"Beats me. She never seems to stay in place. I just wish Hairo was still around. He was a lot of fun."

"He won't come back," retorted Noroi. "Queen Liliana killed him." She walked back to the shelf and pulled out a spirit bowl of her own, which was painted with black and gold. "Do you know what this is?"

"Hmm...is it used for some odious ritual?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't say 'odious'. This is a spirit bowl. Place a whole bunch of spirit sand and something else like herbs, a drop of a potion, or a crystal and something happens. Something like summoning a being or listening to whatever memory or thought a crystal has to offer."

"So what will you do with that?"

"I overheard nearby mountain dwellers talking about a miasma leak in the swamp southwest. Do you know what happens when miasma touches anything or anyone?"

Yami shivered. "It corrupts, doesn't it?"

"That's right. It kills off or even corrupts plants into becoming hostile, and turns civilians into a tenebrous shell of their former selves if it gets bad enough. It can even affect spirits of the deceased too. It's much, much worse than any disease.This spell is to help keep it at bay. Believe me, I'm not 'evil', but I know how to handle magic of the dark well. We shan't let miasma spread. We just need those Star Blossoms for a shadow rite. But thanks to that ninja crone Lilie, we weren't able to get the Star Primrose. But we can, however, get the other two, if we know where they're at."

"Wow, I didn't know you actually cared." Yami squawked with sass.

Noroi narrowed her amber eyes in a glare. "Just because I don't really like the royals, those Otherworlders, and all those rich, flamboyant capital dwellers doesn't mean I wish them harm. Sure, I can't stand that royals and nobles like to flaunt their wealth but I just move on. Hairo and...Shiranui on the other hand...well, even though I let her take Megumi for a while I still don't like what she went for. Forget about winning, at this point I just want to focus on using those jewels...and forget about what I've said earlier while we were discussing our plans."

Noroi was suddenly thrown to one wall, along with Yami, by something that appeared with a huge blast of dark smoke. She could just barely make up the shape of a cat-shaped figure in the smoke, who stared right at her with vicious eyes of green and orange and snarled menacingly.

"Then why did you decide to summon us?" it boomed.

"No, please, I can explain!"

"Didn't you want us to help you with the rift?"

"I did not want the rift of miasma to spread! I just wanted those Star Blossoms!"

"Oh, excuses for a broken promise, Noroi. You've made a deal with us, and consequences will now be faced."

"Please! I just wanted somebody to help me and Yami!"

"It's too late now. You can help us with the miasma or become bound to Yomi along with your pathetic tengu sidekick. Which will you pick?"

"Either way, I will get corrupted! It's a lose-lose situation! I'd rather just...side with Her Majesty and let her have those gems."

"What a fool you are, siding with the ones you have once loathed. Never mind that, you've always been one since you were born in the Shirohi clan."

The mysterious figure disappeared, leaving an ashy stain on the tatami mats and the air warning back up.

"Who was that?" quivered Yami, his feathers spreading out to make himself appear larger.

"Shiranui. She's now a traitor. I wanted her to help me find those Star Blossoms so we could use them in a ritual but instead she wanted them to become tainted with miasma and use them as another tool to help corrupt the queendom to where it becomes lost to history. We're no longer working with her, and if we ever encounter her again, we'll be sure she gets kicked back to Yomi." She sighed. "Maybe we are better off helping Malorie and her friends and...that Emiko lady."

Noroi looked back at the black spirals that covered her cream paw and turned the manamarking on it into pitch black.

If only I could get this miasmic mark removed.

But as she was about to grab a glass from the shelf, she transformed back into her four-legged form and collapsed on the mat, her legs bunching up against her body and her eyes shut. She heard another raspy voice whisper to her.

"You're a traitor too," the voice had said. "You tried to plot against the Queen too, didn't you? Surely she would want your head for that."

Then she saw an image, possibly a vision. Shiranui, inside the throne room of Omori Palace, who suddenly transformed into a completely different feline, a tenneko, with a tainted heartstone. She started moving at a slow but unnatural pace.

"Leave me alone!" Noroi groaned. She snapped out of it, leaping upwards. She rushed to the other side of the fusuma as quickly as she could, then returned with a black cloak over herself. She was suddenly stopped by Yami asking her a question before she went outside.

"Noroi, where are you going?"

"I'm going to get ofuda. To keep Shiranui away. I don't care where I'm going to go; I just need those talismans."