(Misaki)
The light that broke through the early morning cloud vapor was always at its brightest at the beginning of the day. Even after living within the high celestial plane for little more than a year my eyes still weren't used to the beaming rays of Ama's light that skittered across the acute puddles of water and cotton fluff.
I sat beneath this gazebo in the middle of the flower gardens among the richest of grass gave me cheer. The temple was quiet as Amaterasu lifted the light of day into the heavens and the mortal realm. She rose with such beauty just before daybreak. The glow she emitted even before the sun rose was one many gods envied. I was now used to seeing her as this tall beautifully pearlescent woman with black as raven hair that slid down her back in loose water waves, a stark contrast to her white and gold flecked outer Kimono. It swept the ground as she walked, and the golden glitter powder that was faithfully dusted across her eyelids.
But what many others missed was what I woke early each day to see. She would walk from her rooms to a cliff bank at the very edge of the sea of clouds and I would stand in quiet amazement as she became the sun, rising ever slowly to encase the remaining darkness of the night before. She was the fairest among the many and she carried herself with such grace and pride. I still could not believe that I had somehow earned the right to study beneath her tutelage. Or the even largest fact of her being my…my mother. The word still felt extremely foreign on my tongue and the guilt of my long past moral mother still hung heavy within my chest.
I rested my chin in my hand as I looked out along the horizon and let my mind wander lower, down to the realm of the mortals. My previous home before this one. I still remembered the day that Amaterasu came to claim me. The halls of Hiroshima Castle exploded into light, her divinity wiping out any hint of darkness as she looked down upon me in my mother's solitude. If I closed my eyes, I could recollect her words exactly as she told me that it was finally time for me to know just exactly where I came from and who I was truly meant to be, if I so wished it. I had an enormous amount of power within myself and if I did not go with Ama when she asked, I had the potential to seriously harm those dear to me. But If I had chosen to stay then Ama would seal that magic in my body forever, to never be used once she had. I suppose I had been selfish, always yearning for a life more than the one I had been given. In the end, leaving the emperor, my father, and my birthright as his only heir was the hardest decision I'd ever had to make in my life. I wondered how he was doing now. How the kingdom was fairing in my absence, and if my father was living a fulfilled life without I or my mother at his side any longer. I sighed deep and pushed back the tears fighting to well their way up to the surface like a distempered child.
"Kajuaruharo Misaki-San!"
Inari Okami; the kami of foxes, came bounding into the round yard. Making a beeline straight for the gazebo. She was the goddess of general prosperity and worldly success. She usually resided within Inari Mountain not a far way away from here, but since I came and we became fast friends, she began spending more of her time here with me. Her sky-blue Kimono stood out against her alabaster skin and her hair was eternally in a high and long mischievous ponytail. The two kitsune who frequented her service bounded around her ankles, rolling, and nipping at one another as she made her way over. Once they caught sight of me, they turned their attention to rubbing against the edges of my Kimono, smiling as if they knew something I did not. Although, it was entirely possible for them to. Inari kept many of them in her employ and they became her eyes and ears within and outside of Takamagahara. There was not much Inari did not know. She plopped down on heavily onto the bench beside me and mimicked my sitting position, eyes wide as she studied my face.
"It's happened again, hasn't it?"
My eyes found hers as a cold shiver ran down my back. She was referring to the dream that constantly hung over me as of late.
Not long after arriving I would wake in the middle of the night to the sounds of heavy rain beating down violently against the rooftops of the temple, but there would never be any rainfall. Each night after being jolted from my sleep I would check the skies. There was never any rain or evidence of rain past fallen. The sound would have had to carry over from a dream that haunted me each night in my sleep. It seemed so familiar as I watched myself spin my fans to the faint sound of a zither being plucked and the backdrop of heavy rain. Everything around me would be nothing but a blur so I never would see who was playing the beautiful tune that I swayed to, but the sound, the sight, and the smell of the rain was so intimate to me. I usually would spend the better half of my day and night trying to recollect memory of any event I may have attended in the past that slipped my mind, but it always ended in nothing but frustration and dead ends.
"There has to be something I'm missing. The dream cannot be simply that. I was there Inari, I could feel that whatever moment it was, I had been contended in that moment. I feel like... something is missing."
"Hmm," she pondered. "Have you asked Amaterasu about it yet?"
I nodded, knotting my fingers together. "She has suggested meditation to jog the memory. But when I do, the memory only seems to slip further and further away from me."
"Kitsune, kuru." She called after pondering a moment more.
The fox leapt into her lap as she commanded and curled its tail around its body, waiting patiently for orders. "I can always send my little ones to keep an ear to the ground for any mention of lost memory and a spell or a cultivation method to help restore it."
Her suggestion was tempting, but the last thing I wanted was to be suspected of spying on other gods within the high celestial plane. Most gods did not take kindly to Inari's foxes prowling their properties and temples. And I was still fairly new. Instead, I would take her up on her offer but for a different purpose. I pushed the thoughts of the dream from my mind for now and got to my feet.
"I would utilize your services elsewhere. Can you send them down to the mortal realm to check in on the emperor? I would really like to know how he is fairing."
She nodded once and climbed to her feet, taking my hand in hers and squeezing lightly. "Of Course, Misa. Anything for you. Where should I find you when I do receive word back?"
I grinned. "I'll be in the cultivation temple. Training today will be vigorous and if I am not there before Ama finishes her divine duty for the morning, she will be unrelenting in my studies."
I waved my goodbye to Inari before I turned and took my leave of the garden.
(Chi)
Living with the screams was becoming easy. They turned into a morbid song I knew all of the words to. The pure joy of the peril I put these mortals in fed the voices. It fed my unsatiable hunger for the blood that now coated my entire Yukata and the glowing Muramasa. The faint memory of the sting the hilt used to inflict when I began this journey to insanity and ever long calamity only lasted a moment as I laughed at the horror on the farmers face below me.
"Please, please sir I have a family that will fall to ruin if you kill me!?"
"Excellent," I hissed as I tightened my hold on the blade and brought it down, severing his arm from his shoulder. Blood from his exposed veins spurted out past my shoulder but not without splattering my cheek first. It was hot on contact and dried quickly.
'More! We want more Samurai!'
I adhered quickly and split the man's skull from his scalp to the tip of his chin. He screamed no more.
I turned on my heel to leave, stepping over the bodies of the dozens of town people slayed at my hand with a menacing grin. But as I took my leave my friends that occupied my mind screamed horridly as a burn so intense sent me staggering back and took hold of my body making the Muramasa clamor to the ground.
Lanterns; dimly lit lanterns beneath cherry blossoms. A sweet aroma, and a woman…a woman with beauty I had never seen before, turning slowly to smile at me with a red Wagasa resting against her shoulder.
Who…
As quickly as the woman appeared, she was gone, and my friends returned; Angry and ravenous once again. I glanced down at the Muramasa, my beloved companion, picked it up, and continued down my bloodied path, in search of more to destroy.