章 17: Youkai Traitors II
Sanae was holding her daughter on the sofa, kissing her and thanking whatever God Youkai had that she was alive, the relief of Anna seeing her mom and dad once again reached the point where she fell asleep amidst sobs
The father, Yuki, even went as far as to kneel in front of my mom and me after hearing the whole story unfold from our lips, without taking away even a bit of detail. We even told them our true nature.
"Words can't convey, Ray-sama...! Thanks for saving our daughter in the middle of that catastrophe! Words can't convey!".
I helped him up first.
"I would do anything for Anna, Yuki-san. But you need to explain to us what is going on. It seems we weren't the only ones keeping secrets. You have a dinner's worth of time to explain".
...
"I'm a Shinchu, a Yokai that feeds from other Youkai, my wife is a Yuki-onna. I don't think we need to explain why we didn't reveal this to you... we could have never thought that you were also involved in the supernatural. We wanted to live a peaceful life and have our daughter live like a normal human"
Both of them adopted their Youkai forms in front of us. Sanae didn't change much except for her pupils growing blue in colour and her hair gaining an icy hue. In Yuki's case, he did become a completely different being... hideous and terrifying with a tail and horns.
He also emitted an aura that indicated power, he was no slouch.
"Continue..."
"Regarding the attack... the two of us belonged to two different factions of Youkai. I was Nurarihyon-sama's right hand and she was Yasaka-sama's right hand. East and West. We weren't supposed to be together... but Sanae saved my life once from the Onmyouji and I fell in love with her... the two of us had a secret relationship and even had a daughter that we tried to keep out of everything, the life of a Youkai is dangerous so we eloped for the sake of our daughter, Yasaka-sama and Nurarihyon-sama for the first time agreed on something, to let us go".
"What a romantic tale," My mom remarked, she seemed a bit irritated for some reason, her comment sounded a bit sarcastic.
"Thank you, but it didn't go as well as we wanted. One year ago they came for us. Yasaka-sama was going to marry, she and her human mate had a daughter three years ago and they were reluctantly accepted by the Goddess Amaterasu, who gave her blessing. The location of this wedding was a secret spot on the island of Hokkaido where her mate's family lived".
"..."
"That's when they came for us" Sanae took over with a grief-stricken voice.
"They did the worst they could do to us, they went for Anna first".
"When did this happen!?"
According to their tale, all this happened a year ago, Anna and I have known each other for three years, and we have been close. How come I never knew of this?
"They came to our house together with Anna-chan one day after school... they... they offered her snacks".
I gasped and looked at the snoring girl in Sanae's embrace, it was good that she was sleeping because bloody hell the scold I was going to give her! I'm always telling her to not take snacks from strangers!
"That night we sent her to sleep and talked to them. They were two men; one of them had a long ominous spear and the other was dressed like a wizard, they were both extremely dangerous".
"..."
'So, it wasn't Heracles and Jeanne? How many people exactly are there in that organisation?' I wondered silently.
"Do you know their identities?" My mom asked.
"Sorry, but they never stated their names, they just asked questions and gave orders".
"I see, continue".
"They said they'd let us go so long as we disclosed the location of the wedding, they knew very well what our positions were in the factions before we were 'exiled'. Additionally to that, they wanted me to take control of the Leylines after Yasaka-sama died. We couldn't refuse..." Yuki grits his teeth and the one who looks the most afraid and grieved over the incident is Sanae.
I don't know what to think, 'So to save Anna and her family at that time, Sanae betrayed this lady, Yasaka...'
"I haven't seen her face anymore after the incident... I don't dare to. She blessed us, she was even present at the time when Anna was born, I was also there when her daughter Kunou was born... I haven't forgiven myself for that, but I had to do it, there was no other choice".
Her words sounded like she was trying to convince us of her innocence, this woman is looking for forgiveness when she hasn't even forgiven herself.
Would I have done the same? I probably would...
It was a bit dramatic but we didn't have time for that, my mom had more questions. She crossed her arms with a change of attitude. Either their betrayal or their nature as Youkai has made her look at the couple with a new more apathetic eye.
"Why doesn't the shinto faction involve itself? Aren't they capable of stopping those Youkai invasions?".
"The shinto gods don't meddle in secular matters. So long as you don't attack Takamagahara directly or touch the Leylines, they're not going to involve themselves. There always has to be a priestess holding the Leylines, it is a natural law of our land. The Youkai that has the Leylines is naturally more powerful so the stronger Youkais are always looking to control it. They don't care who does... so long as the one that does keeps the order and faith of Japan flowing towards Takamagahara".
'So they're a load of selfish bastards...' I summarised.
"Those are some selfish gods there" I didn't hold back but Yuki answered with a non-deliverate jab.
"Hmph, what gods aren't selfish?"
"..."
"I apologise!", He then realised what he had just said and hurriedly apologised to us, but I understood. With gods like that overseeing your land, I wouldn't trust any gods either.
"So you never told Anna because...?"
"As I said I'm the Shinchu, I must periodically feed myself with Youkai to survive. I usually either go hunting on my own or drink some of Sanae's blood. It is a necessity that can become taxing and annoying... I didn't want my daughter to have to go through it. One of the blessings we received from Lady Yasaka was precisely an elixir that would allow Anna's blood to remain human so long as her Youkai instincts didn't awaken, it was our petition".
'No wonder this woman can't forgive herself... Yasaka has done a lot for them and yet...'
Shit, this is not going to end well and I don't even know who to side with.
"An-chan is a very powerful Youkai, she devoured a lot of Kappas just in her first transformation" I affirmed.
"That is a problem... the more we eat, the stronger we become and the more we want to eat... it can't be helped. I never hoped for this to happen, but if it did, I hoped she'd at least be an adult" Yuki caressed his daughter's cute countenance.
With this, we had gotten a lot of information which has only reaffirmed me into believing that Khaos Brigade are not trustworthy people, but at the same time... those gods of the Shinto Faction also don't give me much of a good rapport.
The night went on just like that we us watching the news to know any progress of the whole ordeal, while we were quietly staring at everything from the TV, the world outside was chaotic. We could hear the sirens of ambulances and police cars continually go by.
I wondered how things would end for us, Kyoto has a lot of cameras everywhere, I wouldn't be surprised if someone put two and two together, if anyone did so... it would most likely be the Onmyouji.
"Who is the leader of the Onmyouji?" I took the chance to inquire, "I met two by chance during the incident and they saw my face, they may recognise me".
"They're an organisation scarce in numbers and their powers have withered in the past few years, they exist to keep rogue Youkai in check, to exorcise them. Their primary location is in the prefecture of Kanto, their leader is precisely Yasaka-sama. If what you say is the truth then she may want to speak to you personally at some point, be ready"
Sanae and Yuki stood up with the latter carrying his still-slumbering daughter. It was time for them to leave and have a peaceful night of consideration about their future. Khaos Brigade is still out there and anything could happen.
They opened the door, we were going to give them our farewells and see you later. But such an opportunity just slipped by us faster than a reckless train following no signs.
This night was about to get a lot worse.
A lady was standing there... just about to knock on the door. When I first saw her, I was beyond shocked at her appearance. Her complexion looked so astonishingly beautiful and yet the bags under her eyes indicated she wasn't having a good time.
Two men stood next to her and those were the other two that caught my attention, other than me and them... everybody seemed to have frozen in place.
"Kashiwagi-san, Orochibara-san, you're alive!".
"Thanks for your concern, kiddo".
Them being alive was a surprise, but it wasn't the main event.
"Sanae? Why are you here?"
"Y-Yasaka-sama...?"
Well, shit.
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