"What do you think you're doing?" Ajax snapped.
"Sweeping?" Xiao stared at him as if he'd asked a stupid question.
"Why are you using my tail to sweep?!" Ajax growled.
"Because you haven't been allowed to move yet considering every time Master gives you permission, you try to strangle me," Xiao suppressed something of a chuckle. "How else am I supposed to sweep the space you occupy?"
"I might as well just try and strangle him next," Ajax gritted his teeth and dug his nails into his knees.
"If you so much as attempt to do that," Xiao glared down at him, "I will break all of your fingers."
"I do wish you two would get along better," Zhongli exited the shrine. Ever since he'd gained two familiars, he hadn't left. He'd been too weak from the strain of ordering Ajax off and on to play nice and he was still injured from the time he'd tried to comfort Ajax in mourning. The kitsune and yaksha were so used to having him at the shrine that they'd forgotten he had a human house to return to.
"That's not going to happen," Ajax's fluffy ears flattened against his head as he growled.
"Then I suppose you'll have to remain there while I go back into town," Zhongli shook his head, sighing.
"What?" the two familiars questioned at the same time.
"Have you forgotten I need to eat?"
"No..." the two familiars glanced in opposite directions but muttered the same response.
"I'll be back shortly," Zhongli stated, moving past the barrier. Once he'd reached a certain distance Xiao and Ajax both started shaking in fear, hugging each other out of instinct. Neither of them remembered the clause in the familiar contract that required them to be within a certain distance of their master at all times. The stronger the master, the longer the distance, but since Zhongli was only a human...
"Please come back, Zhongli Sir," Ajax whispered.
"Don't leave us behind, Master," Xiao spoke up a bit louder than Ajax.
"Hm?" Zhongli looked over his shoulder, staring at the two oddly close to each other. He turned around and entered the barrier again, which happened to be enough for the two. Both of them pushed the other away, angry at themselves for latching onto each other in the first place.
"Get away from me!" Ajax huffed, crossing his arms.
"As if I would ever seek your comfort by choice!" Xiao also huffed, turning on his heel to enter the shrine.
"I am not quite sure I understand but...I can't leave you? So you both must come with me?" Zhongli attempted to connect the dots.
"No!" Ajax passionately refused. "I am not leaving this shrine!"
"I think it would do you some good, actually," Xiao poked his head through the doorway.
"I'm not doing it!" Ajax grabbed his head, covering his ears. "No! No! No, no, no, no, no! I have to stay here. I have to stay here forever. I'm not leaving. I can't leave. I would be violating my contract. I can't do it!" he kept repeating the same things over and over until Zhongli placed his hand on his shoulder. Ajax stared at Zhongli, squatting down in front of him.
"I'm not going to take you from the shrine."
"How will you get food though?" Xiao asked, exiting the shrine to sit down on the steps. The three of them looked at the oni that had been stuck in the same spot for so long it looked as if they had an oni-shaped statue.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Itto turned his head to look at the trio and instantly cried out in pain. He held his neck and groaned.
"You could use the exercise. You've been in the same position too long," Ajax pointed out.
"I don't want to hear that from you," Itto snorted, pointing at him. "You're not even allowed to move. At least I'm here by choice."
"That doesn't sound much better..." Xiao sighed.
Zhongli stood up. "I found a rather nice beetle the other day," he began.
"You did!?" Itto's eyes lit up. He contained his excitement and cleared his throat, coughing into his hand. "I mean, you did?" he tried to appear more serious.
"If you agree to fetch me things from town I can teach you the tricks I know about catching them," he smiled slightly.
"I suppose I can do a mortal a favor every now and then. You did beat me in a match before after all," Itto stood up and immediately fell face forward. Every piece of his body had fallen asleep with the time he'd sat there. "I meant to do that!" he insisted.
"Take your time," Zhongli suppressed a laugh.
"Master is always Master," Xiao nodded in approval at Zhongli's ability to form a mutually beneficial contract.
Ajax grabbed the base of Zhongli's pants. His eyes stared at the ground right next to Zhongli's feet. "Zhongli...Sir...please...allow me to move from this spot." His voice was unnervingly serious so Zhongli nodded.
"Alright..."
Ajax stood up, his fringe covering his eyes as his ears and tail drooped. Zhongli, feeling a bit guilty for having him sit there this long, reached out his hand to touch his head. Ajax grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward. He wrapped an arm around Zhongli's waist and stared into his eyes, still serious, but now Zhongli realized his distraught attitude had been an act to free himself. Too stunned to really do anything, Zhongli stared into Ajax's eyes.
"You may have bound me into this familiar position but do not think that is an opportunity for you to take advantage of me," Ajax's condescending gaze stunned Zhongli in an entirely different way. "I may not be able to physically hurt you but there are other ways to break you," Ajax's lips curved upward ever so slightly even though his eyes were anything but smiling.
Ajax pushed Zhongli to the side and stormed off into the shrine, slamming the door closed. "He has a rather prickly personality," Xiao began. "He never says what he wants to and always pushes others away. The only one who got him to open up was Master Morax but even that took some time."
Zhongli sat down next to Xiao on the shrine's steps. "Will you tell me about him?" he asked. "Morax, that is."
YOU ARE READING
A Yokai, Yaksha, Oni, and a Reincarnated Dragon Lord walk into a shrine.
FanfictionAjax, the kitsune in charge of guarding the lone Morax Shrine in Inazuma, is now plagued with appearances of a yaksha, oni, and a human with a very familiar aura. However, he does not yet realize this human is the reincarnation of his beloved Morax.