Chapter 15: It Takes A Village
Chapter Text
My sister was a menace, an all-around handful, and supremely difficult to deal with. Of course, she was also the most adorable thing in existence and I was incapable of being strict with her. Perhaps, it was because I had never had a younger sibling in my first life or some spiritual bleed from my ancestor but Shuten, my perfect little Imouto, was very spoiled. While I would turn the world to ash, should she, or my mother, ask; she was in dire need of an attitude correction. If left unchecked she would offend someone powerful the moment she met them, and I did not want history to repeat itself with our species. So, just because I couldn't (read: wouldn't) do anything about it doesn't mean nobody would.
My mother gazes at me with an amused smile and I fidget from where I sit in front of her. We are currently seated in our home drinking tea together, something that became a habitual activity after I took control of the village's leadership. Being a leader was stressful and definitely not in my nature. I'm not bad at it or anything, it just sucks the life out of me. I want to travel the world fighting dangerous opponents, pushing the limits of my strength; not trying to build up others into fierce fighters. An unexpected boon was how willing Lackey-O, dammit Akio, was to be my assistant. I have got to stop doing that! I had accidentally called him that around my sister and it had gotten back to him. The worst part was that since it's an entirely English phrase, he thought it was a special title! He was so happy about it too that I didn't have it in my heart to tell him it was technically an insult. I just hope he never calls himself Lackey-O around someone who speaks English.
"Daughter, ask what you wish to ask, you can't nurse your tea forever." I sigh and put down my cup. Why does this have to be so difficult?
"Mother, I would request that you… correct my sister's… deficiencies of character. I realize that some of them may be the result of my behavior around her but I would be… remiss to take away the task from you since I am merely her sister and you are her mother. As she is now she may offend someone too powerful for her, and perhaps, too powerful for me." My mother's smile grows more amused at my careful wording and my fidgeting intensifies. She sips her tea daintily and I hear a noise of contentment from her throat. She closes her eyes and sits there for a minute letting me sweat and making me wait.
"And whom would she offend? There are none in this village who would harm her, you've ensured that." From the glint in her eye I know she understands what I mean but wishes me to say it. I've not yet spoken to her about leaving the village, since the village was not in a state I could leave till now.
Over the past year, I've consolidated my power in the village to the point that none would attempt anything contrary to my wishes. An unexpected result, although somewhat obvious in hindsight, from training my people in the use of Ki is the sheer reverence I receive from them. Honestly, I feel like the Sage of Six Paths or something. At this point they would be more than willing to charge to their deaths at my word, which is a heady sensation to get used to, having that kind of power over people.
Their progress was also unexpected. Oni naturally thrive in tough conditions, certainly brutal training qualified. In the same way, they take to violence, they took to the use of Ki, but each took to it differently. It soon became clear that having Ki could never make someone a Sage, in the same way having a voice didn't make one a singer. Some of the Oni could only produce Touki with their Ki, their affinity being entirely physical. Most could use Ki for varying uses at varying levels of competence. Then there were the rare few who manifested uses for Ki that I hadn't expected, whose talents lied in fields I hadn't yet imagined.
I had expected some differences, given my experiences working with my mother on her Ki use, but the actual results were fascinating. My sister took to all facets of Ki like a fish in water but she was so lazy. I had taught her how to use my Body Refinement method but she wouldn't do it, saying it was too boring! I had to circulate her Ki for her while she sat on my lap and threw rocks at the people training. Did I feel bad for them? Of course. Did I show her how to aim properly and throw harder? Yes, yes I did.
Lackey-O, dammit, Akio was painfully average when it came to Ki use. What he did possess was a fervor for training that even I found admirable. He was willing to work himself to the bone, sometimes literally, in order to squeeze out even a drop of effectiveness. Because of that, he managed to maintain his position as the strongest, outside my family, in the village. The other villagers, seeing how he was my defacto right-hand man, started to work harder as well to get closer to their Ibaraki-sama. One thing he did figure out on his own was the manifestation of Ki claws. I gave him a bottle of sake to congratulate him but ran away when the 'manly tears' started. Since he's been so reliable, I've decided to leave him in charge while I'm out of the village. The others by now know that he acts as my representative should neither I nor my mother be present.
One villager, Kiyoshi, was curiously unable to use his Ki to strengthen himself physically. The man was one of the crafters of the village, a seamster by trade, and quite lacking in ferocity compared to others. I took him out of the regular training since it was mostly focused on combat, and worked with him in private to see what he could do with Ki. The answer was to bring the world around him to life. His Ki and -as I later learned through my soul sense- his soul, were so open to the world around him that he could freely interact with it through Ki. Animals would either avoid him if predators or flock to him if prey. Plants would bend or grow to reach for him. The wind and ground seemed to ease his journey as he traveled. His progress in the Sage Arts was meteoric, so long as he focused on the uses of pure Ki. Working with him gave me ideas I may never have had for my own growth.
Another anomaly was Yaeko, who contrary to her name was a very simple woman. Her Ki would only flow to form Touki, even if I tried to force its flow with my own Ki. By some quirk or perhaps simply because that was all her Ki would do, her Touki was absurdly strong. The other villagers I could thrash with only my base abilities, even after a year of training; Yaeko, while too slow to hit me, was so durable that I needed to tap into my Touki slightly to overpower her. Shuten had taken a liking to her and declared her to be her bodyguard, and she just shrugged and accepted it. Akio could take her in a fight if he went all out but it was a close thing. It didn't help that she swung around a solid metal Kanabo like it was a twig.
Where the villagers took to the use of Ki like they were born to use it, Youjutsu conversely was almost a complete waste of time to teach. Barring strange prodigies like my mother and sister, Oni it seems, lack any real affinity for more subtle magics like Youjutsu. The exception to that was flames. Everyone in the village was capable of producing flames from their Youki within minutes of being taught how to access it. Of course, that didn't mean they were particularly impressive flames.
What really surprised me was that my sister had difficulty producing fire. Her Youki only wanted to turn to poison or pure heat when she attempted to shift it into an element. I have a hunch that the heat was actually just a corrosive aerosol poison as well and she can only create poison with her Youki. She was capable of Youjutsu, sharing our mother's talent, but raw elemental transformation was limited to poison.
I come back to the present, having decided I've waited long enough to answer my mother's question. "Anyone and everyone, you know how difficult she is, mother. When I leave for the outside world, I wish to take her with me, and you, should you desire to travel with me. I do not know who rules outside this village but I have to assume they are at least as strong as me. I want nothing more than to say we are the strongest this world will ever see but I've spoken with our ancestor at length; this world is full of hidden demons and prodigious monsters. Until I'm powerful enough to deter all threats, it is imperative we tread carefully."
And I had spoken with my Ancestor. We had a surplus of time to prepare me for what may be out there, outside the village and into the unknown. The problem is that he only knew what had happened in his time and mostly only about Japan. We couldn't even be sure how long it had been since he had died, nor could we know if the powerhouses of that time still lived. The original Shuten Douji was dead and I knew it was at least a hundred years since Ibaraki Douji had died. Because of that information, I could guess that Otakemaru and Tamamo no Mae were no longer in the picture.
What troubled me most, was when my Ancestor spoke of threats from Biblical tales; Angels, Devils, The Fallen, The Church. Apparently, even in his time, there was an incursion into Japanese territory by all these groups. What's worse is that every instance he brought it up sent warning bells ringing in my head. I may have a perfect memory of this life and the last but that doesn't mean I know what to look for. That isn't to say I didn't have an idea of where I was, too many clues had been dropped, hinting at a few universes in particular. I wanted to wait until I was out into the world beyond before guessing, however, worrying about it now would do nothing.
"Well… I could speak to her." My expression brightens and suddenly she smirks at me and my dreams are crushed. "But I don't think I will. You do realize that your sister adores you, right? That girl looks at you as if you hang the stars in the sky each night and wrestle the sun into submission to give us light in the day. Just ask her, explain to her why it's necessary, she will understand. Trust your mother, hmm?"
I glare viciously at my mother, with such intensity that she will surely die of fright. Sadly my pout seems to undermine the effectiveness of my certain kill technique, or mothers are simply impervious through mysterious ways, I fear I shall never know. Thanking my mother for the tea, and the advice, I take my leave heading to the forest to contemplate my course of action. With the advent of the new bow the Elder 'gave' me as a parting gift for his successor, I could finally progress again in my skills with the bow and arrow. My progress had stagnated before since my weapon couldn't handle the full breadth of my skill and power. The weapon forged from the Elder's body was more than up to the task. I hadn't found a range limit yet with the weapon, being able to strike the wall of our enclosed world from anywhere inside it. I had taken to setting a target up at one end of the pocket dimension since it was the only thing that made sense to call this place, and firing at it from the other end.
Over the course of the past year, I had progressed to the point I could hit the bullseye every time whether standing still or moving. I had learned how to guide my arrow in my mind's eye, curving the projectile to strike true around obstacles. I could even fire up to ten arrows at once, each taking a different path to hit the center of the target. At this point, what I really needed was to use my bow in combat, stable targets no longer helped me progress.
Using my bow still remained my preferred method of meditation, allowing me to bring myself to peace. Even if only for a short time. It is also the ideal task to occupy myself while I contemplate the future. I'm not exactly worried about mundane humans when we do step out into the world. I don't think it will be long before I can tank anything modern weaponry can bring to bear other than maybe a nuke. Not to mention the fact that all of us can shapeshift enough to hide our demonic features, allowing us to not have any difference between us and a normal human to mundane senses. No, what scares me are magic users, those whose power I can only guess at. My Ancestor is remarkably unhelpful with any details on magic, not having focused on it in his life beyond basic proficiency. What he does know is that the higher-end magicians and Onmyouji like Seimei himself are incredibly dangerous foes, ones I still need to be wary of.
I spin around and fire an arrow as my sister pounces at me, piercing her clothes and pinning her to a tree. She struggles for a moment before whining piteously at me, "Onee-sama! Why do you have to be so mean?" I snort and pluck the arrow out of the tree causing her to fall to the ground. The little hellion scrambles, leaping by me and landing silently behind. Turning I see her spinning one of my ribs in her hand with a big smile on her face.
For my part, I just channel purified Ki into the area and ignore the itch as the bone grows back into place. Putting a stern look on I cross my arms and stare at her, "You know what I've told you about that?"
She pouts and rolls her eyes, "You said, 'If you're going to use that in combat make sure to remove something important' and that I should, 'Cripple a limb or tear out their spine', and to not 'engage in pointless sadism unless you know you've won'. That doesn't matter though! We're just having fun."
"Bad habits are bad habits. Where's Yaeko?" Shuten bounces over to me and stabs at me with my rib, the bone skittering off my Touki. Ignoring her efforts I sit down and shift her into my lap.
"She's fighting some of the villagers, like a dozen of them or something. I got bored though so I went to find you!" She hugs me and I laugh when I feel her hand try to phase into my back. Stopping it by shifting my Youki into a barrier, I flick her in the forehead to retaliate. Her hands fly to her forehead and fake tears well up in her eyes. When I don't fuss over her she stops faking and gives me a wide smile. 'What are you doing~?"
I tilt my head down at her, really looking at my little sister. She's far from stupid, I know that, she's just a little troublemaker. I can't see leaving without her, the village would be in ruins if I ever returned, and I wouldn't want to not have her with me anyways. "Shuten," Her face turns serious at the use of her name and I smile, knowing she'll listen. "We're going to be leaving the village for a while soon and I need you to listen to me. I can't watch you all the time out there and I want to be able to trust you to know when to stop with your antics, okay? I'm not saying don't have fun, far from it, but pick your targets wisely. For me, please?"
She closes her eyes and sighs, shoulders drooping. When they open I can see that she won't fight me on this, and can't help but feel proud of my sister. "Of course, you can count on me." I hug her tightly causing her to laugh and plant kisses on the top of her head. After a while, I relax my grip and circulate her Ki for her. We sit like that for a while before she taps me on the arm, smirk in place. "I'll just prank everyone before we go!" As I process that statement she squirms out of my grip and runs off toward the village cackling. Laughter bubbles up into my throat as I watch her go. Falling backward I stare up at the sky. It's almost time to journey to the outside world, to face new challenges and experience new things. I've never been more excited.