17

Chapter 17: Torisashi

Chapter Text

"I'm bored!" Things were not going well if my sister's complaints were any indication. As she so eloquently stated, there aren't many interesting things to do while hiking the better part of three hundred kilometers. We had been at it for a few hours and we had made decent progress. The issue was that, due to my concerns about drawing too much attention, we were traveling at a human running speed. The most expedient route, which was to head straight through the mountain range, meant that the only things to see were the landscape and the occasional animals.

Making an executive decision I stop running, and the others follow suit. If I kept pushing on it was entirely too likely that Shuten would do something unwanted to sate her boredom. Because I'd rather not find out she's been, say, dropping poison behind us that's killed off a swathe of land kilometers wide, it's better to entertain her now. "What would you like to do then? This is a nice place, how would you like to meditate for a bit? It would do wonders for your control over your Ki."

My sister's eyes widen as she realizes she screwed up. Luckily for her, I'm a softy, so as she splutters and attempts to change my mind I follow along with her ploy. "Or we could spar for a bit, Onee-sama. I'm sure you wouldn't like to watch me meditate, you have much more important things to worry about!"

I catch our mother hiding a smile behind her hand as she watches our interaction. For my part, I roll my eyes and smirk before turning my attention back to Shuten. "We could do that, sure, but how would that help you? Unless I'm mistaken, you still have a long way to go before you put up a good fight against me." She growls and I lean back, dodging the humanoid projectile. Catching her foot before she sails past, I follow her momentum and redirect it with a spin. I smile as I let go of her foot watching her eyes go wide and listening to the little yelp that she lets out as she flies off into the forest.

Hearing a sigh I turn towards my mother who is pinching the bridge of her nose. "What?"

"Can't you be a little more gentle with your sister?" I'm not the only one who looks at her askance as Yaeko turns to her confused as well. That being said, I'm the only one here who can question my mother. Yaeko, upon being hit with my killing intent is left gasping for air on the ground, a quivering mess of a person.

"Gentle training? How does that make any sense? Mother, you were all for it when I was working myself into the ground to get stronger. Why is this any different?" She bites her lip and visibly struggles with herself to verbalize her feelings.

The answer comes out in the barest whisper, "She doesn't have to. You ensured she wouldn't have to. Shouldn't we take the opportunity to experience a different kind of life now that we can?"

I wasn't any good with communication in my first life, and this life of violence probably hasn't helped with that issue. Her question and the sentiment behind it are admirable, certainly, but there is one gaping hole in that logic. "No, you're right, she doesn't have to. She could be raised to never know more violence than she has so far in her life. Think about her for a moment though, would that be the life she would want? There could be enjoyment in such a life; she may even be truly happy at points in it; yet, would that be a situation in which she could be true to herself? You can't tear the claws and fangs of a tiger off and make it a housecat, Mother. You aren't that naive, so what are you really thinking about?"

"We have no place in this world. I don't even know where we are. I don't know what's out there. I can't help you, and I can't even help myself." Smiling sadly at her, I surprise her with a hug. She stiffens at the gesture but quickly relaxes, the tension bleeding out of her. I glare over her shoulder at Yaeko, making sure she knows that she never saw anything that just happened.

"It'll be alright, Mother. Place your faith in me, and I promise you will live a life beyond what the village could have ever offered." Having reaffirmed my position as the daughter of the year, I step back, ending the hug, and wait for Shuten to return.

As if summoned I begin to hear my sister's voice from beyond the tree line as she approaches. "Onee-sama~, guess what I found!" The sound of her greeting is broken up by intermittent sobbing and pleading, hearing this, I can't help but sigh as I await whatever she's gotten into this time.

Striding into the area we were standing, was Shuten: twigs still in her hair from her impromptu flight, dragging a sobbing… birdman? Oh wait, that's a tengu, right? From the color of his plumage, I would assume he's a Kotengu, or Karasutengu. "Please let me go! I thought you were just a human child! If I had known you weren't a human I wouldn't have gone near you!"

Really, That's his excuse? "And what would you have done if she had been human?" The bird's head whips around to me, and he dives down in a full dogeza at my feet.

"Please, kind master, save me from the demon child! She came out of nowhere and attacked me, I swear this to you!" While that fits Shuten's character, I think there's more to the story. Reaching down, I grip the feathers on the top of his head and haul him up in the air before me.

"I asked you a question, clueless." The bird stills in my grip, trying to remember what I asked.

"Ah, nothing bad, kind master! I would have simply tied her to the top of the trees. It's one of the best ways to lure in humans, children scream for hours before they realize nobody is going to help them." The stupid bird has the nerve to look proud about its scheme, still not understanding the situation it's in. "Then I'd take all the possessions the humans brought with them to my lair."

"What would you do with the humans then, tengu-san?" His beak contorts itself into some disgusting facsimile of a smile, and I barely resist the urge of snapping it off and gutting him with it.

"I'd eat them of course! I'd save the brat for last though, kids taste the sweetest. Hey, you never told me whether you'd help me!" I snort, this is what happens when you live out in the mountains your entire life. Literally, bird-brained.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from the little demon, in return just lead us back to your lair. Does that sound like a good deal?" The tengu nods furiously and thanks me profusely. Placing him back on the ground he scrambles behind me to put an obstacle between him and Shuten. My sister looks at me with betrayal, and I almost coo at the sight. Walking up to her I pat her on the head. "Don't worry, tengu hoard some nice things. I'll let you pick out anything you want, okay?"

Shuten glares at me and for a moment I think she may go against me on this. Thankfully the moment is short and she slumps before turning her glare to the Kotengu. Of course, she isn't the only one glaring at the bird; in fact, I'm the only one who isn't, right now. Both our mother and Shuten's 'bodyguard' are both giving the bird such fierce looks that I fear he may burst into flames before he can hand over the loot.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much, kind master! Come, come, follow this humble tengu and I shall fulfill my end of the bargain." What follows is a brief jaunt through the mountains along the path I threw Shuten. From the broken branches and shattered tree trunks, I can almost visualize her flight path, which makes for an amusing visual. It is with immense patience that I manage to hold my tongue through the journey as the Kotengu keeps glancing back at us and cackling. How anyone ever falls for such a poor display I'll never know.

When we finally reach his lair he leaps up onto a tree branch and gestures widely. "Foolish creatures! You've fallen for my tricks as all do! The little one was just bait for an even greater prize, and now I'll strip you of all your possessions. After that, I'll strip you of your dignity..." His tongue slips out of his beak and he licks along it, a perverted grin contorting his features. This would be terrifying if we're normal human women, but here, now? Now it's just embarrassing to even witness this farce. "Hmm? Too scared to speak? Haha, kneel and beg for death and I may make it quick!"

"Shut up." The tengu flinches from his branch and even I'm caught by surprise at the sheer vitriol in my mother's voice. A dense miasma starts to seep out of her, noxious coils of Youki curling through the air as she makes her anger known. "You have the nerve to touch my daughter, as though pathetic scum like you is even worthy to look upon her? Not only that but you try to prolong your pitiful life in an attempt to do what? Tch, trash like you isn't fit to waste the air my daughters might need to breathe later. Just die."

The tengu squawks in surprise and takes to the air with surprising skill. He does this just in time to dodge a flurry of 'magic bullets' made from condensed Youki. The projectiles tear through the bark of the mighty trees like butter, the trunks exploding into a shower of sawdust. With a heavy beat of his wings, the tengu accelerates at my mother, drawing the katana at his waist as he descends. A wall of flame bursts into existence to halt his advance but he coats himself in wind plunging straight through.

I watch impassively as the bird's blade slices through the form of my mother, her head separated from her body. Impassively since I can sense lifeforce, and that isn't my mother. The tengu finds out his target is still very much alive when a savage punch is slammed into the side of his head; the illusion fading away as my mother appears beside him. He stumbles from the impact, his focus and stance broken. Swinging his blade with a skill honed from long practice he attempts to stop the superior foe. Snorting, she negligently catches the blade, her Youjutsu barrier flickering, and with her other hand breaks his wrists.

"Jeez, you're pathetic." The tengu's bones snap cleanly and he's left whimpering on the ground. My mother tosses the sword to me and stands over him, raining heavy blows on his downed form. Leaving her to meal preparation, I examine the sword. It's… okay? It's a well-made sword, don't get me wrong, but there's nothing special or magical about it. All it is is a good katana. Hopefully, he has better items in his cave.

When looting the cave of an enemy one expects something good at the very least. Fantasies derived from gaming made me expect some magical weapons, spell books, the key to the universe, something. Instead, I would say the sword was the best thing there! It sort of makes sense that, in the modern era, people don't just carry around good stuff. That fact, combined with how weak the 'enemy' in question was, means I shouldn't be surprised by the low-quality loot. He could have had some cursed weapon or something though!

While the sword was the best item, in my opinion, my sister would emphatically disagree. I'm currently being inundated by the theme music of a video game blaring in my ear as my sister rides on my shoulders. Apparently, one of the tengu's victims was carrying a Gameboy when they died. Good news: the batteries would die eventually; Bad news: I would cave the moment my sister asked me to make it work again.

Luckily, I was awarded a delicious meal of poultry for the first time since I was born into this world. The birds near our village were too small to really bother with when you could just hunt a tiger after all. I had tried to avoid this string of thought before, knowing I wouldn't have the opportunity to feast on good food in the village. Now that we are out into the world outside, however, I'm salivating just thinking of the things I can eat! Just thinking about the plethora of delicacies out in the world makes the wing I'm eating taste so much sweeter. Tengu tastes pretty good but I wouldn't recommend it: they have way too many feathers to pluck.

Shuten, the little brat, tried to start eating before the bird was even cooked! Really, don't go rooting around the chest cavity of the bird: Who knows what diseases are inside such a thing! Thankfully, our mother saw sense and helped keep the little hellion away while the bird was roasted. We shared the food evenly among the four of us but a hundred pounds of meat isn't much for four Oni.

Up ahead there was a large grouping of Ki signatures, something indicative of a village, so we excitedly made our way there. Over the past year, I made sure that everyone with me could shapeshift enough to hide any inhuman features, so as we near the village our forms shift to not scare the locals.

A woman walks out of her home and scans us with her eyes, gasping when she finds the weapons on us. Then, to my surprise, she smiles and runs off leaving me confused. My confusion is washed away when she comes back dragging a wizened old man along with her, who, I presume, is the leader of the settlement. The woman whispers in his ear and his eyes dart to the plundered sword on my hip. When he sees it his eyes begin to water and he smiles sadly.

I'm about to ask what's going on when he speaks, "Thank you for disposing of the yokai that has been harassing our village, Demon Slayer-sama's." He bows respectfully, the woman mirroring his action, "We had not expected you to rush here so soon after we sent the request but it warms my heart that you care so much about even our small village. Come, join us for a feast, in celebration! We, villagers, wish to show our thanks before sending you off with your rewards!"

What?