Utsushiyo Monogatari: Crimson Shadow

Chapter Thirteen: Onigami 鬼神

She glanced nervously around the sparsely filled hall. Onigami did not lavishly decorate his visiting hall. Everything was simple, functional and neatly arranged. Even the scrolls lining the drab wooden wall were maps. Lighting the room were a line of lighted candles around the edges. The flames were greenish in color but provided better brightness than the ordinary ones. He himself did not dress in luxuriant clothing which most Daiyōkai would do. His own style was no different from a common person, except for his over coat which bore his symbol. For an Oni, he at least valued the aesthetics by taking on a good looking form by human standards. His large dark eyes radiate a sense of foreboding. Humans were so superficial that they like to communicate with beautiful people and he was right. No yōkai had an ugly human form by choice, unless it was for a good reason.

"You could have drained me, if you so wished," she finally said after a long period of silences studying the scroll of a map closely. Her fingernail ran slowly on the outline of Kure. Ryoku was in another room within Onigami's stronghold resting from the shock of the news and injury.

"I could have. I choose not to because I don't need to. Some of you think like humans," Onigami smirked as he played with the small spiralling  greenish Oni flame. "Wealth, power and even existence are mere materials of transient impermanence. Even a Kami can fade out of existence once completely forgotten, a death by human definition."

Onigami reminisced of his first existence in the world. How many fell. How many were forgotten, even by him. Many now resorted to scaring mortals into not forgetting. Remembering how Katori tried to destroy Issei's memorial in Makoto's shrine, he glanced at the young woman in front of him. The young teenage girl whom he spoke to in the market place in disguise, now made herself look older. She is Issei, yet not Issei. He was not familiar with Kure culture, nor did he had an interest in it unless it posed a danger. However stories among Ayakashi who have gandered into Kure have returned with the Kure deities' abilities to take human form. The transition from Kami to Yōkai form was different from theirs, yet the same in principle. 

"So do I call you Issei sama or is there another name you prefer...?"

"Gu-in is fine. That is the old style of pronunciation here," she heaved a heavy sigh. "Why do you keep mentioning that name?"

"You were her and yet not her" He calmly sipped his tea as she stopped dead in her tracks. Yet not a word of further protest. 

" Oni-bi. The bracelet contained Oni-bi. It is intended to be an amulet of strong protection. It alerts the protector ...a great Ayakashi only gifts it to one who is importan. Whoever gave you the bracelet may have inadvertently doomed you. I would take it out," he recited the lines by memory in an old lady's voice casually. Her face turned pale as an incredulous look appeared over her. Yes, she remembered something. 

"So you were the old lady in that market place," the words slipped out of her tongue. He had no reason to warn her, yet he did. Ulterior motives often came readily with deceptively altruistic actions in the yōkai world. There was a strategic intention she was not clearly aware of. 

"I always wondered why you masqueraded as a human, looked completely human and acted as a servant to Makoto," he asked out of sheer curiosity. Onigami had long suspected that she was in hiding then. Whoever deployed that scheme would have wanted to clean up after the Echizen massacre. 

"You know as well as I do that someone was after us. Why warn me then?" She countered swiftly. 

Clever girl. Onigami shifted leisurely on the soft cushions as he calmly took another sip of tea. 

"Fun. I wanted answers to the Echizen Ayakashi massacre in old Koshi  and the case of using our unwitting own, Makoto, to get rid of what they don't want," his eyes flashed a menacing red for a second. While he tolerated the presence of the Kure Daiyōkai and their quirks patiently, he drew the line on pulling any of the local Daiyōkai into their mess. Too many local Ayakashi were vanquished in the clash at Echizen. Their lingering essence was only starting to fade now. Ayakashi death aura affected most yōkai ,like the weaker Tengu and the undersea yōkai, to varying degrees. Only those who could venture near the edge of Yomi  ,without being dragged in, were unaffected by it. Oyureihime and him with their kind would be unaffected. Amanozako had little choice but to hurriedly transfer the control of vitally strategic area to Onigami.