In a world where folklore creatures are real and hunted by the samurai, Húli Honghú, a young Kitsune girl, becomes a maid at the castle of the Hyoketsu clan. A relatively small samurai clan, yet they hold important territories by the sea. She encoun...
As the mysterious figure stood in the mist, the three ladies were frozen in place. Shaking like a leaf, Kanata mumbled; "What is that?" Chinatsu stood on guard in a defensive position. Honghú, just stared on, attempting to figure out what was before her eyes. "You thought you could get away with it, huh?" The figure asked. <Get away with what?> Honghú wondered. "What are you talking about?" Kanata asked, nervously, shaking in fear. A throwing knife flew between her and Honghú's heads, landing in the wall behind them. This scared the already fearful maid and she began to run for cover, which made the figure come forth and easily tackle her.
Chapter 3: Nightmares and a Visit Part 2
The masked woman held Kanata down, to the ground. <This is Mizumi-sama's warrior, what is she doing here, and why is she atta-..> Just as she thought, the woman turned her attention to Honghú, and punched her in the stomach. That made her stumble back a bit. Chinatsu tried to land a kick on the masked woman's head, but it was dodged. The woman then threw a punch towards the blonde lady, but she narrowly dodged it. Then, she began to land a punch herself, only to be blocked and countered, receiving a hit in her stomach as well. Honghú, instead of trying to reason with the woman, lost her temper and tried to punch her in the head. Despite getting caught off guard, the woman narrowly dodged it and swept the girl's legs. <Shit, we are done..> Chinatsu yet again tried to land a hit on the woman, only to get blocked and dodged, but surprisingly she managed to block a few hits as well. <Hm, a martial artist, maybe? Not bad, but not enough.> The woman thought, and she swept her legs off the ground as well. "Tsk, what's wrong with your head?" Honghú, not thinking rationally, snapped at the woman. "Watch your tongue little girl!" "Stop!" Asahi came to the scene. "Huh?" <I'm happy to see this guy..> "Asahi-san?" The woman asked, confused by his arrival. "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to ask the same, Maoko-san.." "She attacked us, that is what!" Honghú angrily said. "Um, excuse me, I lost my temper.." "Why did you attack them?" "I caught them lurking here. I bet they were planning something." "They were here, doing a favor for me.." Asahi replied. "But, I guess it could have looked suspicious, to the unknowing.." <Is he taking her side now? Asshole!> The orange-haired girl thought. "I apologize for the misunderstanding.." She said, unhappily. She had to apologize, since she was of a lower class, despite not doing anything wrong. Kanata and Chinatsu did the same. "No, I apologize. I was too quick to act, it was my fault." Maoko said, and bowed, a surprising sight for Honghú. <She apologized? Well, color me, impressed. I won't forget this, though..> "I only asked you though, Hon-san." Asahi said. <'-San', huh? I won't complain..> "Um.. they offered to help me.." "Oh, okay. Have you solved it yet?" "Sadly not, sir." "What was that favor, if I can ask?" The masked woman inquired. "Uhh.." Asahi didn't know if he should say it, but Honghú said it, regardless. "Some guards have trouble sleeping so, my lord asked me to investigate, they just came along to help me.." Asahi was a bit frozen. <Huh? What's wrong with this guy?> She poked him gently, she forgot her place again, but with him, it was most likely okay. He snapped back into the moment. "Don't tell that to anyone, please!" He pleaded. <Oops, I guess I shouldn't have said that, then..> "I have to report to my lady." The masked woman replied. "Please don't tell her! I don't want my sister to worry." He pleaded, in an almost child-like manner. "Pretty please!" Everyone found this a bit weird, including Maoko, who wanted him to shut up. "Fine..." She agreed, also not wanting to worry her lady. "I will leave you to your business." She began to talk away. "Are you three alright?" Asahi asked and checked on each of them. Honghú just waved him away, Chinatsu raised her thumb, saying that she was fine. Kanata needed a bit more effort to get up, mostly because she liked having a man pay attention to her. To this, the other two ladies looked strangely. "Do you have any clues, at least?" "Hmm.. I have an idea, but that requires my lord." "I am all ears then." ○●○●○ Mizumi was walking in the courtyard, appreciating the well-kept nature of the castle. The walkways were clean, the walls unblemished, all the decorations spotless, and so on. Her pace was interrupted by someone's words. "Mizumi-san, are you taking a walk?" She sighed and turned around, it was her sister-in-law, Shinobu. "Yes, I am." She answered the very obvious question. "Would you mind if I joined?" Shinobu asked politely, but received a cold reply. "If you wish." The red-haired lady caught up with her steps. The azure-haired woman's face remained expressionless. "I hope my earlier question wasn't upsetting." The reply was as emotionless as usual. "It was not." "Oh really? Well, I am glad I did not anger you.. I was just curious." No reaction, nor reply from Mizumi's end. "So ..um.. you just replied, that you are a warrior, so that meant that you were more focused on being that, am I right?" "Exactly." "Then, you just want to stay alone? Um, I mean.. without a family of your own? Without children? "That is the difference between women like you, and me." The azure-haired woman said, bluntly. Her expression was unchanging. "Um, what would that difference be?" Shinobu felt embarrassed to ask, but did anyway. "It is simply put, a difference in duty." "In duty?" Mizumi coldly glared at her sister-in-law, to her the answer was obvious and didn't need explanation. "I am a warrior. Thus, my duty is that of one. You are a wife, your duty is to do what your husband says, bear children, and raise them. Nothing more, nothing less." She explained coldly, sending a cold shiver down Shinobu's spine. "I s..see." A light blush dusted her cheeks, and she felt like she should leave. "Um.. I..if you will excuse me, I just remembered I had to ..um.. do something." She received no reaction and just left. Mizumi resumed her walk, alone. ○●○●○ Honghú was waiting in front of the barracks. <Ugh, That masked brute! My stomach still hurts from that punch! And why is she even wearing a neko mask? Weirdo!> Asahi appeared with a guard. "Here he is, Tanko-kun." The first guard to have sleeping problems. <Kun..> The girl noted to herself that honorific was used for young boys. Which he was, that seemed off, the rest of the guards at least had experience. This one likely didn't. He wore the same attire as all the others; a light blue kimono, with some light undecorated armor, so there was no mistaking it. "So you had sleeping problems first?" She asked, not caring too much about politeness since the boy was about her age and didn't seem to be too aggressive. "Y..yes, that was me." He answered nervously. <Nervous around girls, I see, or maybe because he got caught, eh? I can already sense the source of the spell.> "You have a necklace, could I take a look at it?" The boy nodded and reluctantly gave it over, his hands were shaking. Asahi looked on, puzzled, as Honghú took the necklace in her hand and observed it. <There is no mistaking it.. this spell is profound. I have not encountered anything like this before.> She smirked, which was a weird sight. "How did you get it?" Asahi asked since the girl was so absorbed by the necklace. "Um, iI have found it.. why?" The young guard answered. "Do you happen to have any emotional attachment to it, hm?" The girl finally spoke up. "N..not really, why?" "Good." She answered, threw the necklace to the ground, and stepped on it. Upon the gem breaking, it made a 'hissing' sound. "Where did you 'find' it?" "It was left on my bed, with a letter.. saying that it was for me.." "Who wrote it?" Asahi inquired. "I..It wasn't signed, sir." <Seriously? That's clearly suspicious.. this place really is full of idiots..> The girl thought, and even the usually kind Asahi was mildly disappointed. "You can leave now." He told the guard, who nodded, bowed, and left. "Good job!" The azure-haired young man told Honghú, with an enthusiastic smile, and held his hand up for a high-five. A childish gesture, but the girl accepted it after rolling her eyes. "Um, how can you tell these things, if I can ask?" She shrugged. "I can just feel it." "Huh? Just feel it? Like an extra sense?" "Basically yes, sir." "I thought this was some sort of learnable skill." "One is simply able to do it, or not." "Oh, like with dancing." The girl thought he meant the traditional sense of 'dancing'. "Well, I suppose.. but I think people can just learn to dance, with hard work." "No.. you need to have certain qualities, otherwise, it will not work.. That is why not everyone can be a samurai." Honghú was confused, but she did not care enough at that moment. "I see sir. Now if you will excuse me, I will have to resume my duties." <If there are any tasks left to do, that is.> "Oh, wait just a second." He said and reached into his sleeve. <What does he want now?> She thought and turned back around. He handed her something, wrapped in paper. "Your reward." "Um, my lord is generous, but I can not accept. I merely did as I was told. Not to mention we do not know the origins of the necklace.." "This is how our deal went, you fulfilled your end, so I will mine." He surprisingly made sense. He kept trying to push it into her hands, so she just took it to make him stop. "Thank you, sir, I am honored." She bowed. "I hope I can count on you in the future as well." Asahi said, seriously for once. "Of course, my lord." <Not that I could say no..> He nodded in acknowledgement. "I will not take up more of your time for now, you may go, if you wish." "Yes, sir." She bowed once more and began walking away, putting the reward into her sleeve. Once she was back in her room, she got curious and decided to check it. Inside the paper was an apple. <These are rare here.. Nobles...> She rolled her eyes but was thankful for it, a small smile on her lips. ○●○●○ The masked woman walked, a bit ashamed by her prior hot-headedness. On her way to her room she spotted her lady and bowed. "Mizumi-sama, have you been on a walk?" She asked softly. "I have been." A short reply. "Was it pleasant?" "It was alright." "That is good. If you will excuse me, I will head to my room." The masked woman said. "Rest well." The light blue-haired woman lightly patted her shoulder. "Would you fancy some tea later?" "I accept the invitation." Maoko replied. ○●○●○ With no tasks to do, Honghú was in her room, chewing away at the apple she had gotten. As she did so, her mind was swirling with thoughts. <Who could have left that necklace there? That spell was clearly not the work of an amateur..> She sighed and leaned against the wall. "What a mess this place is.." She frowned. "I have to work for these damned humans. Tsk.." Later in the evening, Honghú decided to take a walk, to refresh her mind. Not that it is as good as when she could freely sneak out and run around as a fox, but it will do. Passing by the garden, she heard girls chuckling. One of the voices was familiar. After deciding to check and confirm her thoughts, she spotted Kanata chatting with another maid. She could not recognize the latter. Frankly, she did not bother memorizing people much. The maid was wearing the usual get-up of one. She looked slender and tall, with fair skin and long black hair with yellow streaks and tips. Honghú decided to get closer to them, out of curiosity. "Good Evening." She greeted, politely, though her eyebrows were still slightly scrunched. "Oh, Good Evening. Honhoo-chan!" Kanata failed to pronounce her name, as per usual. "We are chatting about stuff, want to join?" The other maid asked, her yellow eyes almost glew in the evening shadows. Her voice was soft, and appealing. "I do not wish to interrupt you two, I just wanted to wish you a good evening." Kanata's shoulders slumped a bit, for some reason, at her reply. "I don't think we met yet, allow me to introduce myself." The black-haired maid spoke. "My name is Atsumi." She gave a polite bow and the orange-haired girl did the same. "Honghú. It is nice to meet you, Atsumi-san." "Likewise, Honghú-san." Finally, someone managed to say her name properly. That made the girl smile a bit. "Now, I hope you will excuse me." She said, and began to continue to walk away. ○●○●○ A worker in the docks was walking around in the evening. "It's so peaceful right now." He mumbled. Afar, he saw what looked to be a woman, soaked and covered in algae and heard her hum. He approached her slowly, and then he heard her song. ~The Sea is Like a mirror Reflecting light In a moment calm, like sleeping baby~ "Are you okay, miss?" He asked, but then suddenly, vines wrapped around him, and pulled him under the sea, as he screamed for help.
Thank you for reading chapter 3! I hope you have been enjoying zje story so far!
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Mizumi's portrait, she is almost always expessionless!
I would like to introduce a new segment for the chapters, besides just the story, 'fun facts'! Let's start up with something simple! Each characters' favourite food!
Honghú: "I don't care." (She isn't picky) Asahi: "Oh, I like sweets!" Shinobu: "Miso soup." Tatsuo: "Let me sleep!" Mizumi: "Rice." Maoko: "I'm not picky" Chinatsu: "I like curry! But I'm not really picky, either."
Thank you again for reading! ^^ I hope to have you in chapter 4 as well!
