Fox Trap

Part III

The following days were strange, at the very least. Tojiro asked me to accompany him everywhere, which I found unusual, but I wanted to know more about his life. I had never piqued myself so close to a human's life, especially not to one I cared about.

I mainly felt out of place during the prolonged meetings with his retainers and other diginatires. I was trying to learn about human customs and how they spent their days, but it all seemed so strange and foreign. Tojiro spent a lot of time in the largest room of his castle, meeting his lords and hearing trouble from merchants and peasants alike. I found this fascinating. If a yokai had a problem, we would not seek some god's assistance. We would figure it out on our own. But these people needed help from him to chase bandits, help them with their failing crops or even protect them from greedy neighbors.

Five days passed, and we were all at the big hall again. Tojiro was sitting at the far end in the middle, his sword spread across his legs. A line of retainers was positioned at each side of him. All of them were formally dressed. I was sitting at the far end, studying everyone carefully and trying to understand humans better. I wanted to believe that if I figured out their kind, I would point my finger at what made Tojiro so special to me, what was that force that made me weak in the knees and willing to spend every day and night alongside this man who had used a simple, clever trick to trap me.

My thoughts were interrupted as the door next to me opened an older man walked in. He was well-dressed, better than many who came to see Tojiro. I had learned to recognize these clothes as retainer clothes, but this was the first time I had seen him here.

"My lord." The man's greeting was cold, but he fell to his knees and bowed so low his forehead touched the ground. "I came to ask for help."

"How unusual." There was a laugh from the rest of the men as Tojiro responded, and I saw the newcomer shift uncomfortably as he raised his head a bit.

"The Kage are still attacking my lands. Their armies had taken two towns already." The man made a passionate plea.

"One has to wonder why," Tojiro responded, his expression cold and unmoved.

This was a side I had seen from him that first night when I met him and every day when he was in his lord mood. Cold and calculating, sometimes his words and actions hurt those across him. I had experienced that, but I had also seen another part of him, the warmth he used when he touched or talked to me in private. He wasn't a different man. He was the same, but he never showed his other side in public, it seemed.

"My lord, my people are suffering, your people!" The man suddenly raised to his feet, and few of Tojiro's retainers moved with unease as if he had done something he was not supposed to.

"You come to me...once every year, and every time it is because someone you provoked is now attacking your lands. I know the Kaga are attacking you. My scouts told me. I also know you diverted the river to feed their fields months ago without asking them." Tojiro smiled with a demonish grin. "This is a mess of your own making. I should punish you for starving them. Instead, I will let that resolve itself and decide how to burden the winner for their transgression, as you are both guilty."

Silence followed. For a second, I thought that would be it, but then the man looked back, his small dark eyes falling on me, and then he turned his toward Tojiro again.

"People said you are housing demons, and they had taken over your soul, but I didn't believe." He made a step forward. "You house a witch who tells you what to do. You are lost, my lord. You are doomed. This demon whore is the end of you. You should feed her to your dogs before she feeds on you."

I wasn't surprised by the words. Servants and retainers alike had given me strange looks, and I knew humans well enough to understand what was hidden behind their eyes. But no one had dared vocalize their fears, never in front of Tojiro, to my knowledge.