In the corridor of the Shrine, the afternoon sunlight slanted in.
Kikyō sat there quietly.
Her white top was plain and close-fitting, the collar parting slightly to reveal a sliver of pale, slender collarbone and the curve of her neck. Red hakama trousers wrapped around her long legs, the fabric settling against her cross-legged pose, tracing the contours of her knees and calves, the line of her thighs winding and full, the shadows between them deep.
Her jet-black hair was bound at the back of her head with a white ribbon, though the ends spilled loose over her shoulders, a few stray strands falling by her ears, framing that exquisite, clear-featured face.
She said nothing.
Kōbe Hikaru did not press her either.
He had just finished recounting, from beginning to end, everything that had happened over these past few days.
The army of Echigo had marched south under the Kun banner, sweeping through the land in the name of exterminating yōkai.
He had risen to meet them and cut down their commanding general, Kakizaki Kageie.
The remaining army of a thousand men had withdrawn.
And there was that already-dead ashigaru of the Hōjō clan, who had walked all the way to the village entrance on the strength of his obsession to deliver a message.
More than twenty small yōkai, their homes burned down by the Echigo army, knelt before him, begging him to take them in.
And—
That power contained within the slain general's body, seemingly connected to the divine.
Kikyō's gaze drifted to a corner of the courtyard.
A cluster of grotesque beings crouched there.
There was a one-eyed little monk holding up a tattered umbrella, a little girl with long fox ears, a huge rat with a broken leg, and a kappa that looked like a lump of rotting mud.
They huddled together, shrinking into the farthest corner just inside the barrier, not daring so much as to move.
Seeing Kikyō's gaze sweep toward them, the tanuki spirit—the boldest of the lot—immediately pulled its head back behind a one-eyed little monk's umbrella.
The eye painted on the umbrella snapped shut just as quickly.
Kikyō withdrew her gaze.
In those pitch-black eyes there was no disgust, no killing intent—only thought.
She saw how weak these little yōkai were, and she could feel, too, that they carried no grudge-rancor of having slaughtered the innocent.
"You want to take them in."
She spoke at last.
Kōbe Hikaru nodded.
He said it plainly: "I need to build my own faction."
Kikyō's lashes trembled faintly.
"Kikyō, you should remember—I told you before, we've already been marked by the Hundred Demons faction over in Kyoto."
Kōbe Hikaru's voice was flat, yet in truth quite certain: "With just you and me, the two of us, we can hold off one Kibōmaru, but we can't hold off the whole of Kyoto."
"And that great yōkai, the being known as Hagoromo-Gitsune, has more underlings than just him."
"On top of that, the humans won't sit still either. Imagawa, Hōjō, Echigo—three powers circling Musashi Province. Today a squad of soldiers comes, tomorrow it's some underling of a Bishamonten or other."
"I can't stay guarding the village forever, and neither can you."
"But we can't let what happened to those slaughtered villages out there happen to Kaede Village—"
Kikyō looked at him.
And of course she understood Kōbe Hikaru's mind and his thinking—he was forever preparing for danger in times of peace.
"So you mean to use these little yōkai?"
There was no mockery in Kikyō's tone.
She merely glanced at the cluster of trembling beings in the corner of the courtyard.
"They're very weak."
"I know."
"So weak they couldn't even beat an ordinary samurai."
"I know that too."
Kikyō frowned slightly.
"Then you—"
"The weak can grow strong."
Kōbe Hikaru cut her off. "Just like me."
"Three months ago, when I crawled out of the heap of corpses on that battlefield, I wasn't much stronger than that broken-legged rat."
Kikyō fell silent for a moment.
That, she could not refute.
And so, with that.
Kikyō rose to her feet, walked to the edge of the corridor, and leaned against a wooden pillar, watching the cluster of little yōkai in the courtyard.
The afternoon light fell upon her, dyeing the white top a faint, warm hue.
The wind blew past, stirring her jet-black hair against the side of her neck, baring a stretch of pale nape.
The line of that collarbone flickered in and out of sight beneath the shadow of her collar.
Kōbe Hikaru's gaze lingered on her for two seconds.
Then it moved away.
It wasn't that he didn't want to look.
It was that to keep looking would be rude—though they were already lovers, he didn't want to disturb Kikyō while she was seriously turning something over in her mind.
"I am a shrine maiden."
Kikyō spoke.
Her voice was calm, yet carried a certain gravity.
"Everything I was taught, from childhood on, was to exorcise evil and slay demons, to protect the human world."
"Yōkai are the enemy. That is common sense."
Kōbe Hikaru said nothing.
He waited for what she would say next.
Kikyō turned around and looked at him.
Her pitch-black eyes were clear to the bottom in the sunlight.
"But the truth is, I know very well—common sense is sometimes wrong."
She said, "The line between good and evil lies not in one's race, but in one's deeds."
"Those little yōkai have harmed no one, yet they're hunted down simply for being nonhuman."
"Those armies marching under the banner of exterminating yōkai burn and slaughter all along their path, yet it's all taken for granted simply because they're human."
Her lips pressed together, that faint cherry hue all the more distinct in the light.
"If even I can't tell this much apart, then I'm not worthy of being your shrine maiden."
This had, in fact, always been Kikyō's attitude toward yōkai.
For those yōkai who at a single glance carried little grudge-rancor about them, who had not wrought too much innocent slaughter, Kikyō had always only driven them off, never intending to destroy them outright.
Just as she had with Kōbe Hikaru at the very beginning.
To subdue and to drive away—between these two, there was a difference.
Her words done.
She walked over before Kōbe Hikaru and sat down across from him.
Their knees nearly touched.
She reached out and took his hand of her own accord.
Fingers interlaced.
Palms warm.
"Whatever you want to do, go do it."
Kikyō's voice was very soft, yet clear: "Take them in, if you like. Build a faction, if you like."
"I support you."
Kōbe Hikaru held her hand, feeling that warmth passing from her fingertips.
"Not afraid others will say you've thrown in your lot with yōkai?"
"I already have thrown in my lot with one."
And then Kikyō suddenly smiled.
And then Kōbe Hikaru smiled too.
He drew her hand over, lowered his head, and lightly brushed his lips against her fingertips.
Kikyō's fingers curled a little, but she did not pull them back.
"Kikyō."
"Mm?"
"Thank you."
"No need to thank me."
Her voice grew softer still: "I'm only doing what ought to be done."
Silence spread.
The afternoon sun slowly shifted westward, drawing the shadows of the two of them long.
At some point the cluster of little yōkai in the corner of the courtyard had poked out their heads, secretly watching this way.
The one-eyed little monk's single eye was stretched perfectly round.
The fox-eared girl's ears stood upright.
The tanuki spirit's mouth hung open.
What did they see?
A terrifying oni warrior, and a shrine maiden so powerful they didn't even dare come near.
Holding hands.
Gazing at each other.
And then—
A humming sound.
Every last little yōkai was driven outside.
Inside the Shrine, Kōbe Hikaru paused.
Kikyō pressed her lips together, tilted her head slightly upward, and leaned forward of her own accord.
Lips gently met lips.
Very naturally.
No hesitation, no shyness.
As though it had been done many times before.
Kikyō's lashes lowered, veiling the ripples in her eyes. Her free hand rested on Kōbe Hikaru's shoulder, her fingers unconsciously gripping the front of his robe.
The wind blew past, curling up her loose strands of hair to sweep across their overlapping profiles.
When they parted, the base of Kikyō's ears was flushed red.
But her expression remained calm.
Only her breathing was a little quicker than before.
[Shikon Jewel favourability +1]
[Current favourability: 71]
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉