Miko was surprised about his sudden question. She had avoided telling him about her as much as possible because, as she had heard her brother say before, telling more lies would require more lies to cover, and doing so would cause the whole lie to fall apart eventually, revealing the truth. However, for as long as possible, Miko did not want Tashi to know the truth, so she only explained things to him with little information about her background. She did not know if he would accept her as readily again in this life, since a game of hunter or hunted has begun. As a non-cultivator, Miko did not want to drag Tashi into this, moreso because he had no relation with it in the first place. And with the current situation, he didn't seem to stand with the beasts, viewing them instead as cruel and vile monsters. This could be because of changes in the current time influencing him, and Miko knew it was not his fault.
"Well... I have kissed someone else before... just on the cheek though, so I was not sure if it was really counted?" Miko explained, "As for my background, I'm just from a farmer's family, nothing really special."
"Then how are you this gorgeous?" Tashi asked, which made Miko blush a little.
"Well, its probably just good genetics and because I don't really go out in the sun much since I mostly do more menial and simple jobs, such as feeding the cattle and chickens, collecting their eggs, and things like that..."
"Then what about your family?" Tashi asked, which caused a chill to run down Miko's spine. It was the topic that she didn't want to touch on, since it could blow not only hers but her brother's cover when she revealed everything to him. Of course, even in Takei's life, she never mentioned her brother since it was clear he would not accept him anyway.
"Well... my parents passed when I was pretty young, so I'm only left with my sibling. We took on a job at a farm, and they treated us like family. My brother takes on the harder tasks, while I do the menial ones. But..." Miko paused, feeling a little nervous, since she was spinning this completely baseless story.
"I'm... sorry" Tashi replied. This was a sensitive topic, so no wonder she never talked about it. He felt bad, asking her about something that was so unfortunate. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel they were quite similar in some way.
"Its fine..." Miko answered. However, she couldn't help but think, "Thank god he stopped probing!"
After admiring the scenery for awhile, Miko suggested to visit Inari's shrine. After all, as a messenger and incarnation of her goddess, it was natural for her to pay a visit and show her loyalty and devotion.
Both of them hiked up the mountains, before entering the carved entrance. They repeated the steps to cleanse themselves, rinsing their hands and mouth at the chouzuya before entering. There was a bright red torii at the entrance, the customary colour for most gods. A small red roof was also carved at the entrance, with the symbol hanging high on it. Shrine maidens clothed in red instead of blue were also walking about, handling stations for wish making or omikuji, where a slip of bamboo could be intepreted to have a glimpse on what the future holds.
After finishing the customary traditions, both of them knelt down on some beige cushions provided, whispering their prayers. However, once Miko closed her eyes, she soon lost consciousness...
"Where am I?" Miko thought as she reopened her eyes, only to see a nine tailed fox standing under a sakura tree. That figure reached out, brushing her finger across a single sakura petal on a low lying branch. The woman had white hair and white tails, and she donned on a red kimono robe. However, the style of clothing was a little more unique, the base flaring out a little more, the sleeves a little more translucent. The bottom had multiple layers of translucent material with gold lining, with the innermost layer being bright red. Gold floral embellishments decorated the entirety of the kimono, making it seem like a wedding gown, although it was too simple to be.
"I see you're here," the figure replied, turning her head to look at Miko. Her beauty was breathtaking. She had fox eyes, and pinkish hued lips. A sparkling, red ruby sat in the middle of her forehead, her hair parting covering some of it up. Her tails swayed back and forth hypnotisingly, as a smile crept onto her lips.
Miko looked at her in confusion for a second, before she immediately knelt down, her head pressing on the floor.
"This messenger humbly greets the queen of foxes, goddess Inari Okami," Miko greeted.
"I see you haven't forgotten me," the goddess replied, chuckling a little.
"How could I dare?" Miko replied, keeping her head low still.
"Aww, how adorable, why of course, I am the one that created foxes after all," The goddess cooed, before returning her attention to the sakura petal. "Anyway, do you know about the story of creation?" The goddess asked once more, not turning back.
"I've heard of it," Miko answered, not raising her head.
"After the creation of the world, when land had been formed, and seperated from water, the gods created living creatures in their image to inhabit it, imbuing them with souls while they themselves inhabited in the heavens. Some creatures looked more like a single god, others appeared to be a combination of different gods, and some did not resemble a god at all. However, this drained much of their power, so they resided in the heavens while their mortal creations roamed the land of the plains. At first, no spiritual beasts or spirits inhabited the land, only physical creatures, and they soon had many decendants, populating the world. However, when some of them came to certain areas where their gods' power were stronger and more concentrated, some of them began to resonate with the power, gaining sentience and becoming more like their god. This was what gave rise to spiritual beasts. If a beast had incredibly high resonance with the power, they could physically mutate and develop new constituitions, evolving into more powerful spiritual beasts.
Trying to understand what happened, they questioned the gods. The gods understood what had happened, and asked to retrieve the shards of their power in order to restore their strength. However, the now spirits refused to without anything in return, as doing so would be akin to giving up their new power. Taking interest in those that could resonate with their power, the gods blessed them by teaching them what was the start of cultivation, drawing in spiritual energy in the air, with the promise that they could be allowed to ascend to godhood and live immortally in the land of the heavens. However, they had to become stronger, which was what the cultivation and trials were for. If they could pass through the ten stages in cultivation, as well as the trials set for them, they could gain enlightenment and ascend to immortality.
The spirits agreed, seeing that it was a fair trade for them to become stronger and escape the cycle of life and death that all living things had to face. In the end, everyone benefitted. The gods eventually regained all of their power lost during the creation, and granted sentient spirits the ability to ascend. Eventually, flora and other types of matter capable of absorbing the concentrated energy from the gods also gained sentience, gaining the ability to attain imortality as well.
However, compared to all the creatures, humans showed the least affinity to the gods' power. They were the most sentient of all of the beasts, the most intelligent, and yet by simply gaining shards of power, those beasts they so looked down upon became much better than them. At first they were shocked, seeing three-legged crows, nine-tailed foxes and golden serpents growing claws and slithering through the sky. However, after awhile, it turned to jealousy and fear.
That was when the gods confessed to them, after much questioning and praying. While each individual species of beast could be a variant of the gods they embody, or created simply from their imagination, humans were created by the highest and most supreme god, Amaterasu, in her image. However, being the most powerful, Amaterasu did not use as much of her power creating them, so they were no shards of her power to absorb or resonate with available to humans. To make up for it, she blessed her human creations with the ability to cultivate as well, crowning one of her creations, the yatagarasu, the role as her messenger.
Other gods saw this, and set to inform their creations not to meddle with the humans, some even setting trials that required them helping the humans even. Half of the land in every continent was then set aside for the beasts only to populate while humans built settlements.
However, such an arrangement couldn't last. Humans soon grew greedy and more prideful, killing certain beasts and even each other for power. Seeing this, Amaterasu punished the humans by revoking her blessings on those that have sinned severely against the heavenly principals set - lust, greed, envy, pride, wrath, sloth and gluttony. Majority of the humans thus lost their ability to cultivate. Amaterasu knew that she had to control the humans in some way. Hence, she ensured that from now on, no human could ever achieve immortality, and had to enter the reincarnation cycle like any other beast upon death. To keep an eye on them, she sent her grandson, Ninigi Mikoto, to rule over them, establishing an imperial system and ensuring stability over the realm of the plains."
The goddess finally finished her explanation, turning back to Miko. With a smile, she continued, "Of course, the story dosen't end there."