章 5: You are not aunt Kayo.
Kenshin didn't know what happened.
He just felt very bad because he could not help the man with the curse, and he tried to grab the mask where he felt the curse was stronger. Maybe taking off the mask could help the man right?
The next thing he felt was immense pain in his eyes, making him cover them with his hands in an attempt to ease the pain, but it was useless. After an agonizing long while he stopped feeling anything, falling unconscious.
And now, he is awake looking at the charming face of the pink woman, the Head Priestess of the shrine, looking at him with worry in her eyes. But Kenshin could be paying less attention to her eyes.
'What is that?' is all he could think of, looking at the swaying pinkish transparent tails coming from somewhere in the pink woman' back.
"How are you?" asked the Yae calmly.
'You are not fooling me, I can see the tails twitching. Just like when Ayato's dog wants food' was all that Kenshin could think of.
"Good" Kenshin simply nodded, wanting to see more of this before telling it to the worried woman. It was not a good idea to keep this a secret.
Besides maybe now he could do something about the cursed man, but he needed this woman to teach him everything.
"What are you looking at?" Yae asked while turning around to see what was catching Kenshin's attention.
Now that she showed her back, Kenshin could see that the tails were growing on her lower back.
"Ara, aren't you a little young to be focusing on a girl's rear?" Yae asked with a mischievous face.
"I couldn't care less about your uselessly big butt" Kenshin was a boy with his priorities clear. The only thing he wanted in a girl was how could she run or how well could she hide.
"I'm remembering this. I remind you of that sentence 10 years from now on" Yae said teasingly before paling.
'This kid is a pain now, I don't want to think what will he do when he is controlled by hormones' was all Yae could think.
"Whatever you say. I am not interested in your butt, but the tails coming from it" Kenshin has always been a very direct child. Why dance around what you want to say making everyone lose their time? Say what you want, get a response, and get the fuck out when you don't care anymore.
Yae made a surprised face that quickly changed into a serious one.
"How are these tails?" Yae wanted to know how her nature was reflected in his now mesmerizing eyes.
"There are 5 of them and they are a translucent pink. Now they are swaying like the tail of a hungry dog". While hungry was the last thing Yae was now, Kenshin was no expert in deciphering the tail language.
Yae fell silent thinking that this kid got even more dangerous. He was able to see her, even when she was the best at her craft, and hiding her identity was the easiest thing to do. She even taught her friend about how to imbue your should in an object, something several magnitudes more difficult.
So now probably every secret in Inazuma was an open book to Kenshin.
"Listen Kenshin" Yae started before looking at Kenshin's expression tinged with surprise. "What's wrong?".
"It's the first time you called me by my name. Normally you say kid, brat, child, and boy" Kenshin replied while counting with his fingers, and he watched Yae's tails stiffen.
"Well, aren't you all of these? Maybe after you grow up and do something impressive I could start calling you something different" Yae joked, trying to hide the guilt she felt at not having paid enough attention to the child she had kept in the shrine.
She knew that Kenshin loved his parents, and maybe he would have preferred to live with them but instead, he had to live here in the shrine because of her paranoia. The only friend he had was Ayato, and maybe that was only because he lived near the shrine, making him a perfect target for Kenshin to annoy. And even despite all of that, she hadn't called him by his name in almost 5 years.
Something she would need to change soon.
"Hah!. You can't fool me, your tails stopped swaying, so that means you are surprised" mocked Kenshin, thinking back on how dogs and cats did the same when someone scared them. Not him of course, he likes animals too much to scare them on purpose.
"...." Yae quickly lamented her bad luck. Controlling her tails was something she had never been able to do, but with her human form that was not important anymore. And now this kid is going to realize everything she felt, and there was nothing she could do to avoid it.
And Kenshin seemed to have thought the same.
"Hmmm, hey pink woman. Something tells me that this is going to be the start of a very curious and amusing relationship. For me at least" Yae could see the malice radiating from Kenshin's eyes.
"Don't you want to see your parents? They have been with you for a week while you were lazing on the bed" Yae wanted to get out of here to think of some possible countermeasures.
"Sure. But you wrapped your tails around you, maybe you are feeling a bit defensive?" again Kenshin was teasing Yae back, something she was not used to.
Yae was proud of her poker face and her teasing nature, mainly due to her origin as a fox, but she was not used to being on the receiving end.
'These are going to be some long years' Yae thought tiredly.
And even despite being a 'person' who complained about how boring life was, this change didn't make her as excited as she would have expected.
'Still, this is dangerous. Knowing how strict Ei is about irregularities she may do something crazy if she knows about Kenshin. He is the very definition of uniqueness and madness, all mixed into an explosive cocktail. I can't let them see each other'. Yae loved her friend, but after centuries of not talking with each other, they had gotten a bit estranged. And Ei's dangerous thinking of 'everything for Inazuma' made her quite the extremist.
"Guuji-sama, there is a person asking for you. She wants to talk to you about the festival in the next month".
Tell her to come to the main hall" Yae sighed and resolved herself to talk with the head of the ruling house in charge of all this. 'Wasn't the Kamisato clan the one in charge of festivals and marriages? The last thing I remember, the head of the house was a man. Or was that the previous generation?'.
Yae was left to ponder about the brevity of human life while going to do her job for once.
-------------
After a very long talk with his parents, Kenshin was finally allowed to leave the bed.
'Hmm, I feel good. I don't know what happened to me, but I have never felt better. Just like after shitting, you are left with relief and energy' he nodded sagely, with the typical thoughts of a 5-year-old child. 'I need to ask the pink woman to teach me. I still don't know what was that curse, but I feel awful just remembering it'.
So Kenshin left the room, and decided to blackmail the pink woman. If she didn't agree, he would start putting in her meals fox food. Whatever it was foxes ate.
He quickly asked the first priestess he saw about the pink woman's location.
"I think she is in a reunion about the festival next month".
"Oh, that's lucky then. I wonder if Aunt Kayo is here" Kenshin remembered the warm welcome Ayato's mother always had for him.
"You shouldn't talk about the wife of the Kamisato Clan with such familiarity. And I think so, I heard that Guuji-sama was receiving a woman to the reunion".
"That's nice then. Anyway, I got to go" I have no time to waste. Remember, be direct with what you want to say, and get the f*ck out when you lose interest. I sensed that the Miko wanted to ask me something, but I didn't care, so goodbye.
And the Miko was left wondering what happened to Kenshin's eyes, now purple.
"Hmm, it's here, I hear the pink woman yapping. No matter." Knowing that Aunt Kayo was with her, and believing in her calm personality she wouldn't be angry about a little joke. So I opened the door abruptly and entered without knocking.
"Aunt Kayo, did you bring cookies? This pink woman didn't let me eat for a week" I shouted while welcoming myself in.
And I saw the pink woman wearing a panicked expression. Hmm, it's actually reflected on her face and not only her tails, what is she afraid of anyway? Aunt Kayo would not hurt a cockroach that was infecting her whole deposit of food, why would she hurt the awesome and amazing me?
Also, it's because I know I'm Ayato's only friend, so she does care extra about me. Maybe I should intimidate the other children to keep them away from Ayato, that way I can monopolize Aunt Kayo's homemade food.
"Wait a minute" then I realized something. "You are not Aunt Kayo".
In front of me was a regal-looking woman with purple hair in a long braid and purple eyes, with a mole underneath her right one. Hmmm, I think I saw her before, but I don't remember when.
Said woman was looking at me a bit shocked about my intrusion, but quickly recomposed herself.
"No, I'm not this Aunt Kayo you are referring to" she said while looking at me with her purple eyes.
'This woman has gone too far with the purple theme. The only thing not purple on her is her skin' I thought while 'looking' at her in the same way I 'looked' at Yae's tails.
It was weird, she looked like a human, but she wasn't one for sure. Is that in her chest... a sword? Why the hell is a sword inside her?
Well, now that I'm here, let's try to look a bit more...
"Kenshin, go out. I'm having an important talk here" the pink woman had to annoy me just now.
"Pink woman, if you don't leave me alone for 15 seconds I will pull on your tails" I blurted something I shouldn't have. Dammit.
Still, now that my exit with a footmark in my ass is inevitable, I will try to see the 'sword'. Hmm, it's like the sword is bigger inside than outside...How is this even possible? Ah, I found a way to enter and peek inside. What is this feeling?. It feels similar to what I feel sometimes when I can't see my parents, and Miyuki told me it's loneliness...
So the sword is feeling lonely? What a weird sword.
"Kenshin!. Get out now" the pink woman looked worried and angry. Well, I probably messed up something big.
But the marvelous Kenshin can't leave without fulfilling his mission.
"Okay I will leave. I came here to ask you to teach me everything about curses so that maybe in the future I can dispel that horrendous thing. Even if you can't do it, I have to try" I commented of handedly.
The purple woman looked curiously at us.
"Curses?. Is there a curse you can't dispel?" she asked the pink woman.
"No, it was not like that" the pink woman started saying, but I won't let lies enter my hears.
"Don't lie, pink woman, you told me clearly that you couldn't. That's the whole reason I tried to touch him and what got me in a coma for a week. Do you know how many times I could have annoyed Ayato in that time?" as mom said, be honest. I know I'm annoying Ayato, but that's all the contact he has with other kids in our age range.
The purple woman looked confused about a lot of things.
"Pink woman?" she asked what I thought was the most worthless one. Looks like the purple woman is not that bright.
"Yes, she has pink hair so pink woman. It's that or Guuji-sama or Head Miko, I don't know her name after all. And before you ask, you are 'purple woman'" I nodded sagely.
Pink woman's tails seemed to go down for a moment, maybe feeling sad about something, but quickly looked at the purple woman in worry.
Said woman looked a bit stunned, but I lost interest in whatever she was going to say. And respecting my personal mantra, I turned around to leave, much to the relief of the pink woman.
"Ah, before that" I remembered something.
'No, please leave' is what pink woman's face told me but I didn't care. I had to respect Mom's words after all.
So I walked towards the purple woman and patted her on the head, much to her astonishment and pink woman's dismay.
"What are you doing?" is all she asked.
"I think it's obvious, you are not very smart, right? Don't worry, pink woman is smart enough for the two of you. Mom told me that lonely people feel better if someone hugs them, but I don't feel like hugging you so be content with the mighty head-patting of the mighty Kenshin. Now I need to eat, I have not eaten for a week". And I left the room, not caring about some stupid festival.
----------------------
""..."" Yae and the Raiden Shogun looked at the back of the almost 5-year-old child that came like a storm, leaving only a sinking boat. And a lot for Yae to explain.
"Who was that?" asked the Raiden Shogun in her usual calm tone. She didn't stop Kenshin mainly because she was too stunned to do it.
'Dammit Kenshin, now I have to explain some things I didn't intend to' Yae fumed, thinking about telling the cook to put something extra spicy in every meal for Kenshin.
"His name is Kenshin. He is living in the temple because I saw in him some potential to be an exorcist and help me in the most demanding rituals" Yae explained with a calm face.
"And why did he say I was lonely?" inquired the Shogun.
"I don't know. As I'm sure you realized, he is somewhat 'unique'. I don't know what is going on inside his head" Yae only felt sadness about the fact that Ei didn't realize she was lonely. Even if the one she was talking to was only the puppet Ei made to house her soul, Ei was too dense to identify that feeling as loneliness.
Raiden Shogun's gaze turned sharp at hearing the word 'unique'.
"Is he a threat to Inazuma's Eternity?" she asked in a deceptively calm voice.
"He is not. And even if he were, I wouldn't let you harm him" Yae replied in the same tone.
"I will eliminate him if he proves to be a threat to Inazuma" and after saying that she left, leaving a devastated Yae behind.
'In the end, Ei didn't want to talk with me. Again'. Sighing, Yae stood up to give Kenshin the scolding of his life.
Maybe it was time she got involved more in Kenshin's life. And maybe revealing her name was a start.
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