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 Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 9:47 pm
"Suwatte..." Umeda whispered, his black gaze never leaving Izanagi.
Even as the young man reverted back to how he, in all truth, should be.
"SUWATTE!"
This time, it was an order.
And order backed by a gust of wind that would force Izanagi to fall onto his a**, no doubt.
Stepping toward the Tamiya heir, Umeda smiled ever so slightly. "I saved your a**... and then you turn into HIM." the kodama spoke, seeming to be thinking as he walked forward. "And now you're wondering about the Kitsune... seems to me, Izanagi... you're avoiding."
In other words, the young man was thinking of the problems of those outside of the room... and not on the problems of those within.
Mainly Izanagi's own.
"Your seal is obviously broken." Umeda continued, standing directly in front of Izanagi now. He knelt down, looking the man in the eyes with just inches between them. "I don't want to fix that seal until you're fully healed. But... I didn't say I wouldn't put a tiny little charm in place to help you control the 'demon' within."
Reaching into the folds of his kimono, the kodama pulled out a small pouch-like charm. It was of a yellow color, a very pale light yellow.
"Wear this." he spoke, leaning forward enough to tie the charm around Izanagi's neck. "Not only will it keep Iemon's spirit calmed and sedated for a time... but it will also help control the poison as it builds up within you again. With it, the banshee can't control you as easily through, said poison." Umeda pulled back.
He was still angry.
Very... very... angry.
The rage contained in the kodama was nearly unbearable...
"I promised to protect you, Izanagi. Lately... you have given me little reason to make good on my promise. Just..." he sighed, trying to find the right words. "Just stop pissing me off, alright?"
Up until that point, Noe had been rather formal... but it was as if something within the kodama switched itself off once Izanagi was himself again.
As if that formal self... had fallen away.
Either the formalities were a mask that the kodama hid behind in the presence of Iemon.
Or his laid back pissed at the world attitude... was a mask to hide from Izanagi.
Either way... it was clear that Umeda wasn't kidding with the young man.
"I have the power to help you now... more so than I did when we first met, Izanagi. Let me use this power to protect you... but do not ever, EVER, try to use me or my power for yourself." reaching one delicate hand out, Noe placed his fingers beneath Izanagi's chin, tilting the young man's head up. "Do you understand?"
(((Suwatte = Sit)))
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 10:32 pm
"Suwatte? Jo dan ka? I'm not a dog!" Izanagi seems pissed at the word 'sit'.
But he didn't mean to make the kodama angry.
He'll sit. This time, and only this time.
Why was Izanagi avoiding? Simple, he has no time to think about his own problem or act pity to the kodama.
Izanagi is who inherits by the terms of a will to inherit the Tamiya family.
He has the responsibility to take care of who works under his command.
If he can assure his knights are safe, then he will be safe as well.
The descendant look at the tiny pouch. 'This thing will help me to control my demon'? "You're joking right?" He asked Umeda with a sheepish grin.
He didn't believe it at first. But after the charm has been put on, he feel...lighter than before.
Burden and resistance...They aren't heavy anymore.
"Just stop pissing me off, alright?"
He look at the kodama for few seconds before looking down to the charm again.
"Your speech is boring." Izanagi pouted as he look away.
However, before the kodama getting any angrier. Izanagi put his hands on Umeda's cheek.
His smile is so fake yet it is true that he is smiling at the kodama.
"If I was to use you, I wouldn't have try to make you piss and leave me."
His hands pull back slowly, like he is pulling something off from the kodama's face.
"You don't need a mask in front of me. Let me tell you something. The more you hide your feeling, the more Iemon is happy to see it. Show him your true feelings and carve your pain inside him. Make him guilty as he was nothing but a filthy man who lost everything for being too greedy. Besides Umeda-san, the more pain it is, the more happy I am. Pain, is what makes me strong and move on till today. To anyone who tries to eat Izanagi's soul and hurt you, o re wa yurusa nai."
Then, he paused a while, touching Umeda's cheek with his hand once more.
"I am not asking you to show your weakness, Umeda-san. Forgive my rudeness and naiveness. And thank you for giving your life to protect me. For this reason, I shall not let you die with regret..."
Isn't Izanagi...overacting his role as a head of Tamiya?
He pull back his hands and crossing his arm in front of his chest.
"I can't believe I am saying all this!" It's a bit embarrassing to act like this.
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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 9:36 am
"When have I ever joked?" Umeda asked seriously, just before the young man put a hand to the kodama's cheek.
That hand was warm... nowhere near as cold as it had been earlier.
For a moment, the spirit didn't know how to reply.
When Izanagi moved back, crossing his arms, Noe reached out and stopped him, taking one of the young man's hands and moving it back to rest against his cheek again. "This mask is for you." Umeda whispered. "You've known pain long enough, Izanagi. You needn't carry my pain, nor the pains of those you command. Your pain, should be theirs to bear... though, I would take on my own fair share of your pain, if you wanted." the kodama smirked teasingly, "But I'm not going to serve you like a slave, Izanagi. I am your friend... your protector... Is this relationship... acceptable to you?"
Okay so a part of the spirit wanted their relationship to be... something more.
But he wasn't about to tell the young man that.
Not now.
Not when Iemon was so close at hand.
"I don't plan on dying needlessly if I can help it, ne?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:55 pm
Izanagi blushed when Umeda took his hand and place it on the cheek again.
He dare not to look the kodama in the eyes.
"But I'm not going to serve you like a slave, Izanagi. I am your friend... your protector... Is this relationship... acceptable to you?"
Friend? Izanagi frowned and smile before answering. "It's good to me."
So...He wanted their relationship to be more than that. But he isn't a greedy person.
Suddenly, a growl from Izanagi's stomach.
"I'm hungry..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 10:49 pm
Strangely, Umeda actually smiled.
He released Izanagi's hand, sitting straight up, before shouting.
"Hakase! I know you're out there! How about lunch?"
The door slid open and the priest smirked slightly. "I had a few of the others prepare it earlier. There are two bentos beneath the sakura, if you're both hungry."
When the man left again, Umeda laughed softly. "Sometimes, I think he reads my mind... It's been a long time since someone actually waited on me for a change. I forgot how nice it is."
He stood, before reaching one hand out to Izanagi, offering to help him up.
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Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:47 am
AH?! So Hakase was out there all the time?
Does that mean the priest heard everything they had said?
Embarrassing...embarrassing...embarrassing!!!
His stomach even growled so loud!
Izanagi was frozen on the spot.
What a scary old man. Able to read the kodama's mind.
He laughed nervously at Umeda.
That moment Umeda reach out a hand to him, Izanagi hesistated.
Should he grab the hand or not?
He give his hand to the kodama in the end.
Since, they are FRIENDs...Then that should be okay. Right?
Kegareki kuni. Also known as the Yomi. A polluted land that was noted by a god named Izanagi.
Though that Izanagi and this Izanagi are totally different being.
But for mortals to enter Yomi without permit will not be pleased by the grand deity of Yomi, which is Izanami no Mikoto if she is to find out.
The tale of Izanagi and Izanami has been told from ancient times till today in Japan.
It was said the first gods Kunitokotachi and Amenominakanushi summoned two divine beings into existence, the male Izanagi and the female Izanami, and charged them with creating the first land.
The two deities became husband and wife later on and had bore more islands and many deities.
But one day...Izanami died of giving birth to their child.
Izanagi lamented the death of Izanami and undertook a journey to Yomi, which was known as The Shadowly Land of the Dead.
He found her but it was too late as Izanami had already eaten the food of the underworld and has been one with the land of dead.
She was rotting with maggots and foul creatures running over her ravaged body.
Those creatures...They are called wild shikome.
Yes, shikome. That was why Yon let Taichi to do this mission with Kamaitachi.
With the power of his shikome, Taichi will be able to live in the land of dead.
They cannot be found by other shikomes or underworld's creature. Or else...
Kamaitachi changed himself to his true form. A weasel's face with snake body and sharp claws monster so he can't be easily notice in this small form.
"So this is Yomi...How ugly." Taichi said shivering slightly.
Yomi was called land of dead because the land is an ancient tomb in which corpses were left for some time to be decompose.
The search of Sayori and the bansee Ayame has begun...
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Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 1:06 pm
"Quiet now that we're really alone?" Umeda asked, knowing that Hakase was gone this time.
The kodama led the way out into the garden, letting Izanagi's hand go only once they reached the sakura.
He knelt down, opening his bento and looking at the contents before focusing his black eyes on Izanagi. "Something wrong?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:29 pm
Izanagi didn't know what to say even though Hakase was gone.
He followed the kodama to the garden.
Is this alright? If their relationship is not something more than 'that'...
Holding Umeda's hand seems like...Izanagi is a kid being led by his father.
"Nothing..." Izanagi laugh nervously. "S-so, what do you have in your bento?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:56 pm
"Rice... omelet... yakitori... and... some grapes... odd choice but okay..." Umeda replied, picking up his chopsticks.
But he didn't eat.
Not yet.
"Something's wrong with you, Izanagi. And I'm not meaning because of the poison or Iemon... It's YOU." the kodama wasn't stupid, though he really wasn't sure what had caused this change. "It was something I said, wasn't it?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 11:24 pm
"No...It's..." Izanagi said closing his eyes. "I see the underworld."
Izanagi's left eye were injured on that day...
That day when he wait for Umeda to come back to the temple.
A noppera-bo happens to appeared in the temple and has captured Asoka, one of the guardians of Sayori.
---
"How dare you betray Sayori-dono, you two?" The faceless creature said crushing Asoka's soul.
"Asoka!" The other guardian yelled. Izanagi were the second one to be caught by the creature who wears a priest's costume.
"So you are the one Sayori-dono wants? Such beautiful color..." Noppera said looking into Izanagi's eye.
"It will be nice if I take one of your eye for myself." Saying the creature stab it's finger into Izanagi's left eye and ready to scoop it out.
Then...A wind slash cut through the creature's body.
The Noppera-bo died directly on the scene.
"Who ever harm Izanagi-sama. Watashi wa korose." The Kamaitachi appeared, with his human form and a katana.
Izanagis eye were bleeding. He thought he was going to be blind.
"Who...are you?" The boy asked the Kamaitachi. Blood flowing down from his cheek.
"Kamaitachi is one of Sayori-dono's servant. But I am here to serve you, Izanagi-sama. Because, you are the true leader of Tamiya. We've been waiting long enough for you to release our soul from Sayori-dono...You are our only hope left, Izanagi-sama. I have to take you back to the mansion at once before your acquaintance... " Kamaitachi said and scooped out his own eye to replace Izanagi's lost eye.
Since that day, Izanagi and Kamaitachi share the same vision.
---
"Good luck, Kamaitachi." The boy whispered while sitting down to open his own bento.
"Oh? Look, Umeda-san! I have yasai tempura." He pick up the fried seaweed and put it into Umeda's bento.
Right now, he can't do anything but wish all the best for his knight and bodyguard on their search.
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:50 am
"You see... the underworld?" Umeda asked curiously, not understanding what the young man meant by that.
He had no idea of the eye injury, though... something did seem off about the other.
"Wait, stop giving me your food, you need it more than I do, baka." the kodama teased, passing it back with his chopsticks. "Besides... vegetables are good for you."
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:48 am
A small 'Tch' sound made by Izanagi because the kodama passed back the food to him.
He put the fried eggplant into his mouth, chewing it.
Izanagi was hungry...But, what he see is making him lost his appetite.
Corpse...Rotting flesh everywhere in the underworld.
Maggots, fat and disgusting. They are eating those rotten flesh bit by bit.
He managed to swallow his food. But very slow.
Actually, he feel like puking when Kamaitachi saw a hell hound tearing off a rotting corpse and the organs leaking out.
In Yomi, Taichi and Kamaitachi are searching carefully without alerting other foul creatures.
They avoid getting into fights so that they won't be spotted by shikomes, hell hounds or Izanami No Mikoto.
"Taichi-san, there is a house in front there. They might be in there." Kamaitachi report to the monk after he made if back from patrol safely.
Could those two be there? Who knows? Unless they take a look inside of the house.
Izanagi stopped eating when the Kamaitachi said that.
Setting down his bento, he look up to the Sakura tree.
"Umeda-san. Have you been to the underworld before...?" Izanagi asked.
Since he has no appetite, so he would like to talk and understand more about the Yomi if it is possible that Umeda knows.
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:02 am
Quirking an eyebrow, Umeda shook his head. "No... I'm a spirit of life basically so... a place of death really wouldn't sit well with me." he shrugged, picking out a grape and popping it into his mouth. "I've heard things... from other spirits, from humans, etc etc... But I can't actually go to Yomi myself so... I've no first hand experience with it."
This line of conversation was rather confusing actually...
Because, of course, the kodama didn't know what Izanagi was seeing.
And...
He also felt the young man was still hiding something.
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:43 pm
"Tell me what you've heard. I'm curious." Even though the kodama said he has no experience with it.
But he might get some useful information from what Umeda had heard long ago.
In the underworld, Taichi and Kamaitachi reached the house safely.
Compare to the environment, the house is rather new and looks clean.
The lantern of the house is lit by hell fire. Which is light green color.
Something is abnormal about the house. There are wandering souls gathered around it and corpse were walking on their own.
That could be Sayori using her magic to control the death.
But she is suppose to be unable to use magics anymore. Her hands...
"Taichi-san, you stay here. I'll go for further checking." The kamaitachi said.
After the kamaitachi left, the monk hide behind a tomb stone and wait for a signal.
But suddenly, a hand pop out under where he was kneeling and scared him almost pee his pants.
The tattoo and Taichi's hand glow slightly and it transformed into a black sharp claw and shred the corpse into small pieces.
One of Taichi's eye were glowing the same color of Shikome's eyes.
Although Shikome weren't allow to leave her master's body. However that doesn't mean she is no use for situation like this.
The rotting flesh all over Taichi's body. It stinks and slimy.
Taichi decided to go inside the house to catch up with Kamaitachi.
The truth is...Sayori and Ayame were here. But they are not hiding in this house.
If the two are not in the house. Then...who is?
Enma? Or...Was it Izanami No Mikoto herself?
"Who dare intrude the underworld without the judge of Enma?" There comes a voice of a woman.
This is the worst...She is the grand deity of the underworld...
Kamaitachi know he doesn't need to hide anymore. So he changed back to his human form and walk into the main hall.
He kneel down as a respect to the grand deity.
"Intruding my land without any god's permission is a death penalty, do you know that?" The grand deity speaks behind a black curtain.
Several vengeful souls surrounding Kamaitachi, whispering the words of death.
"I am here in order of my master to search my mistress and her servant." The kamaitachi said honestly.
"The dead will be sent to Yomi. Are you trying to disobey the law of life?" Izanami asked.
She didn't know who or what Kamaitachi is looking for.
Besides, she has no idea Sayori, a mortal and a banshee had stepped into her ruled land without her permission also.
"My mistress is not dead yet. However, her servant is a banshee. And we suspect they will be hiding in Yomi. That was why I am here, your highness." The Kamaitachi lower his head and say.
It is a disrespect if they look at someone has higher status directly.
At this moment, Taichi appeared. He was tossed at the floor by a shikome.
Which, of course, it wasn't that shikome he has.
"You are telling me your mistress is somewhere in my land. And she has a banshee with her...? Hmm, interesting. She can be one of the underworld like me. Or...they can proudly being devour by me."
Izanami says sticking her long tongue out.
"Your master must be a powerful man in Ashihara no Nakatsukuni. A Kamaitachi. And a human monk who owns a shikome. Very interesting. Go home. This is not your territory for you to do what ever you want." The shikome picked up both the monk and Kamaitachi and throw them out of the house.
It is lucky that Izanami No Mikoto spared their lives.
But they can't go back empty hand, can they?
"Now what...? We can't do anything here anymore." The monk ask.
The kamaitachi rub his butt and stand up. "You heard her. Let's go back and report it to Izanagi-sama."
The word 'Izanagi-sama' attracted the attention of Izanami.
"Matte!" She shout. Standing up behind her black curtain, she walk out from the house.
Izanami has a silky black hair, black eyes and small red lips.
She is wearing a black kimono with gold flower patterns on it.
A standard ancient Japanese woman.
"You said Izanagi ordered you here?" Whether it is this Izanagi is her husband or not, this had become even more interesting.
"If I am to help your master to find your mistress and her servant, I have a request..."
That request will not be anything simple to do. Izanagi was stunned when he saw Izanami's true face.
Who would have such a rare chance to bumped into the grand deity in Yomi?
Besides, why was Izanami living in a small house anyway?
Whatever the grand deity is saying...It cannot be any good.
Picking up the cup of hot green tea, he take a sip of it.
"Ne, Umeda-san. When can I go back home? I'm worry about Mimi." Yeah, his cat...He wonder if Mimi had died of hunger already.
"It has been a week already." He sighed. Suddenly thinking of Matsuo...
Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni = central land of reed plains, aka human world.
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:52 am
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