The Dark Hand Commander weighed the options in her mind after saying what she did, she did say she'd handle the boy and then whatever intruder still lingered in her building but in the face of someone who actually asked her about herself instead of just treating her as a mere Commander had forced her to reconsider her current stance. It felt like a long time since she's had to think back on those memories, memories of a time before she became a Commander and was just a female.
'' There was a time several hundred years ago before I was a Dark Hand Commander, when I was merely Nyoko. I wandered the lands as a courtesan, hoping to find something that would pique my interest as most things bored me but every time I saw children in their ignorant bliss it reminded me. How exhilarating it must be to be so young and to have the world still be new to you. I started to think to myself what it'd be like to shape a young mind with my own hands and I realized I yearned for companionship. I wanted to become a mother. ''
The female remembered back when she was still a human woman, those days were filled with pleasing those who had money with only one thing in mind. They sought the pleasures of the night and seldom thought about a committed relationship which left Nyoko feeling the concerns that maybe her occupation wouldn't produce the results she sought. How else will she find what she desires in life?
'' I wanted to find a suitable partner while on the job in the past but it wasn't easy. I wasn't able to find someone who would fit the qualifications to give me what I wanted but eventually I met someone kind and loving who did. His name was Guren but he had no last name to give me but while it was suspicious to me at the time, he told me he was the last of his family and that he had put his past behind him. In the wake of all of the things I was focused on at the time, I quickly set aside all else. ''
Nyoko remembered how infatuated she was with him, how much she was focused on merely being with the man whenever he had come to her workplace. His features were that of a dream-like idolization of a man one could ever want. His face was pure, no signs of wear and tear on him at all and his clothing was clean and had signs of nobility. It didn't matter to her that he was the last of his clan, the only thing that she thought about was her possible future with this man.
'' He protected me through my constant exchanges with my other clients when they got abusive and in the end he suggested I leave my occupation as a lady of the night. I was hesitant at first to take that step, I knew that once I did it that I can't come back. Eventually my choice was made and I did indeed leave and I properly got with Guren. A year after we spent time together, I was finally with child and I thought to myself that things couldn't get any better than the present. A life was being formed within my body and after several months had passed I decided to see a Fortune Teller about the state of my child and our future but that was when things started to go downhill. I should've asked where Guren went the day I left for the Fortune Teller. The way his eyes looked when I told him my intentions.. I should've been more cynical back then. ''
The female recalled what she heard from the fortune teller. The lady who divined Nyoko's future spoke of ill omens. Nyoko's stomach bore a child cursed with the destiny of being a bringer of calamity. Nyoko denied the idea that this fortune teller was the real deal but once she had returned home to tell Guren the news, the house they were living in was completely devoid of life and seemingly abandoned for years.
As if the home was an illusion so powerful it appeared as she saw it did and lost its false glamour once it was dispelled. Nyoko never saw Guren again and she set off to find a safe place to have her child although the home that she once lived in was far from any villages and she ended up having to give birth all alone but the process was too straining that Nyoko lost her mortal life in the process and was reborn as a Ubume youkai with what appeared to be a beautiful young boy.
'' The baby I gave birth to was beautiful for a time but once the euphoria of idolizing my baby wore off, I noticed there was something wrong with the child. The sclera of the baby's eyes were completely black and bubbly. I tried to ignore it but I kept hearing voices in my dreams. Voices that told me that the child will only cultivate faster within my presence and will end up destroying the world. I ignored it but many bad things started happening around me, my food got spoiled once it was in my hands and the villagers that passed by me and the child completely eroded into black dust. For a time I tried to ignore all of this but it grew harder to ignore and ultimately I gave the child to a daimyo. I didn't try to remember who as it would only make me try to come back and take the child if my heart wavered. Eventually I just grew more and more disassociated with myself and the life I used to live and I started hunting other children hoping to fill the void left behind by those who tore holes into my life. I can't live a life without replacing what has been lost. ''
After hearing everything that Nyoko had mentioned, Seiya did feel bad about her past but it didn't excuse what she's done to all of these children. Their lives have no reason to intertwine with her own and yet, he could see that she had become a shell of her former self.
'' I joined the Dark Hand hoping that they would help me become someone strong enough to finally locate my child. It has been a few hundred years since I became a youkai but my child should certainly be grown now. My son should be a young man now and I believe that he is searching for me just as I am searching for him. I have to sacrifice these children who wander the streets alone so I can cultivate power potent enough so I can be a mother capable of protecting my son. This is the path I've chosen and I won't let anyone get in my way. ''