Mori versus the Oni Part 1 - Chapter 3
A Boy Becomes a Man, a Man Becomes an Oni, Death Entwines All
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Kota rubbed his chest where the oni had kicked him the night before. The bruise was yellow, green, and fierce. Mori was not certain no ribs were cracked but he wasn’t telling Kota that. The boy had protected his sister against a terrifying threat and for that Mori was proud. Mori’s own throat stung and his voice was hoarse and strained. The walk from their home to the cemetery had been long and quiet, save for Ano’s singing about the toy she had left behind. When she wasn’t singing she was crying. Mori had stopped trying to silence her out in the wilderness.
Pampas grass covered hills gave way to jungled mountains far to the north. There were no towns or villages. Only temples and hermits. The trio climbed the last hill to their parent’s grave. Mori carried Ano on his back as he scaled the rocky hill path. Kota sprinted to the top holding his kimono up as he jumped over tufts of hard grasses. He reached the top and bent over before popping back up with the incense sticks Mori had lost the last time he was here. Snapped and soggy from being outside.
Mori reached the top where rows of grave stones ringed the hill top. Many coated in a layer of moss or overgrown with grass and ivy. A buddha statue rested amidst them all, hands clasped, eyes closed, in permanent prayer. Crickets chirruped all around. Mori set Ano down and picked up the flowers. The yellow heads had withered, the stalks dried up. He sighed and set them against the grave stone anyway. He placed his hand on top of the stone and felt the ridges of the names carved across the top.
Kota stood rigid, his hand resting on the hilt of the wakizashi in his belt, surveying the rolling hills around him.
Ano approached the grave and heaved, her shoulders rising and falling, but no tears came. She had none left to give.
‘Ma. Da. What am I to do?’ Mori whispered to the stone that marked his parent’s resting place. He closed his eyes for a moment. His heart raced. ‘Kota, come and pay respects.’
‘I’m standing guard.’
‘Kota,’ Mori said forcefully.
His younger brother strode over and knelt beside the grave marker. He took the snapped incense sticks and set them in the ground before the grave marker. ‘I have nothing to light them with,’ he said.
Mori sighed, ‘Me neither.’
Kota sniffed and stared at the stone, a simple pillar of rock with a base a little wider than the trunk and a pointed top where their parent’s names where carved. They had no family name, not important enough. Not accomplished. A tear rolled down Kota’s cheek, but he did not sob. Mori nodded to himself.
‘You have a purpose,’ a disembodied voice said on the breeze.
Mori spun around checking behind every grave marker. Ano jumped, ‘What are you doing?’
‘You have a destiny, Mori. That mark must be used to seal the oni away. Seal them back to the underworld where they belong,’ the voice boomed inside Mori’s head.
‘I know!’ Mori shouted.
Kota and Ano flinched. ‘What do you know?’ Ano said.
Mori opened his eyes, his hands clutching the sides of his head. He was panting and his head throbbed.
‘Do not forget that,’ the voice faded into the wind.
‘I won’t.’
‘Who are you talking to?’ Ano said.
‘To whoever gave him the mark,’ Kota grabbed Mori’s hand to show Ano.
‘Was it ma and da?’ Ano said.
Mori snatched his marked hand back, ‘Could have been, they didn’t say.’ He didn’t think it was.
Ano smiled and rubbed her bloodshot eyes.
‘We should keep moving. The ferry is on the north coast,’ Mori said.
‘Where?’ Kota said.
‘I don’t know exactly but I know it is there. Traders would mention it in Umaji, when they came that far.’
‘So we just walk?’ Kota said.
Mori nodded. ‘We can rest along the way. Temples should be safe.’ Mori gazed northward and surveyed the emerald green forest covered mountains. At the heights would be temples. Always at the top. Never the bottom, Mori felt his legs tire from the thought. He turned to his parent’s grave one last time, ‘I will return.’ He promised and set off at a quickened pace.
Mori, Ano, and Kota, had climbed for miles. The dense foliage provided blissful cover from the sun but the humidity cooked them anyway. Kota held Ano’s hand and helped, dragged, her up the mountain using the trees as leverage and rest stops. Birdsong filled the forest, woodpeckers drilled at tree trunks up out of sight, while squirrels darted through the undergrowth. There were no signs of people.
For a brief moment Mori wondered why they were here. His burning house flashed in his mind and his throat ached. He leant against a tree and closed his eyes for respite but all that came to mind was the four armed woman turning into an oni. He snapped awake as Ano tugged on his kimono.
‘Can we eat?’ Ano said.
‘I don’t have anything to eat.’
‘I want my drum.’
‘I know, Ano,’ Mori ran his hand through her silken hair. His sister sat on the ground and lay back.
Mori sighed and joined her wondering how much daylight was left. Not that it mattered in the forest, it would turn dark far before the sunset.
‘We need to keep going,’ Kota said.
‘Why?’ Mori said. ‘Let your sister rest. I could use it too.’
Kota huffed and stuck his thumbs in his belt. ‘Well I’m hungry.’
‘We all are.’
Kota kicked the earth and prodded a loose root with his toe. ‘I’m going to catch something.’
‘Kota, don’t go far.’
‘I’m fine,’ his brothers voice cracked.
‘Kota!’ Mori’s voice rolled through the forest, echoing for miles around. He bit his tongue and watched his brother trudge over the dense bushes and ivy that slithered along the forest floor. Kota crept low and disappeared behind a copse of trees. Mori sighed, set his head against the tree behind him and closed his eyes.
Mori awoke to Ano snoring with her head on his thigh. A fire crackled and spat in front of him. Kota knelt and turned over three squirrels in the fire. A pile of guts and fur piled to one side. Mori cleared his throat, ‘I’m impressed,’ he croaked.
‘Yeah, well. Da taught me different to you,’ Kota stared into the fire, his mouth downturned.
‘Good,’ Mori quelled a strange rage. Da never taught me that, he thought.
Ano yawned and reached for something. She opened her eyes with the sad realisation it wasn’t there. ‘Something smells good.’
‘Yours is ready,’ Kota said pulling a squirrel on a stick from the fire. He handed it to his sister who buried her face in the greasy meat. ‘You hungry?’
‘Of course,’ Mori said forcing excitement into his voice. It was strange to see his younger brother of twelve looking after him for a change. A uneasy feeling quibbled him but if the three of them were going to survive Mori would have to accept it and encourage it. He took a roasted squirrel from Kota, the edges charred, and began eating. He had never liked squirrel before but there was no alternative. He wolfed it down. Kota ate in silence. ‘You should get some rest,’ Mori said.
‘I’m fine,’ Kota said kicking dust over the fire, smothering it.
‘Kota.’
‘I’m fine. We need to get moving. Up is north, right?’ Kota folded his arms within his kimono like a real samurai.
Mori picked squirrel from his teeth. ‘Best direction we have in the forest is up,’ he stood stifling his need to parent Kota. At twelve I’d ran off and tried to sign up with a mercenary company, he laughed.
‘What’s funny?’ Ano said.
‘Nothing,’ Mori lied and followed Kota up the hill.
Darkness seeped into the forest gradually. Moonlight filtered through the trees, illuminating the thick, waxy leaves, and swift forming dew. Midges fluttered in the pillars of light sent by heaven. Cicadas buzzed in concert.
Mori reached a peak. Sweat rolled down his back. ‘We should sleep,’ he said struggling to see Kota up ahead in the darkness.
‘No.’
‘Kota, it’s dark and everyone needs to rest. You do no good collapsing from exhaustion.’
His brother huffed and stomped back to Mori. ‘Fine. First light we carry on,’ he puffed himself up.
Mori towered over his brother. ‘You caught some squirrels, don’t let it go to your head.’
Kota knotted his eyebrows and deep lines appeared around his mouth. He swallowed, ‘Fine. We sleep until Ano wants to.’
‘Fine,’ Mori crossed his arms.
Morning came all too quickly. Ano rose first, a little after sunrise. Mori was next and roused Kota who bolted upright coated in a cold sweat. ‘Bad dream?’
‘I don’t remember,’ Kota said. The trio walked along the ridge of a mountain, the trees curling around them like an enormous archway.
An hour later Ano pointed ahead, ‘What’s with the cloth?’
Mori squinted into the distance and found what Ano had spotted. Lengths of white mourning cloth tied to tree trunks fluttered in the breeze at the edge of the ridge before the mountain descended back into a valley. Mori began to run towards the square that the four strips of fabric made. ‘Hey!’ He shouted.
Kota and Ano followed but were too small to keep up.
‘Hey!’ Mori shouted again when he saw a man kneeling on a mat, his kimono open to the waist. The man startled and dropped his wakizashi. Mori skidded to a halt as he reached the man. Incense burned around the man who wore a white headband. Fierce featured were framed by bushy eyebrows and recently styled topknot. ‘What clan are you?’ Mori pointed to the mon on the strangers kimono.
‘Kagawa,’ he answered, eyes puffy and red.
‘Amagiri Castle?’ Mori said gulping air between words.
‘The same.’
‘Why are you here?’
The stranger looked about him, ‘Isn’t it obvious.’
‘You’re ending it, yes. Why?’ Mori wiped his brow. Ano and Kota caught up, panting and sighing heavily.
‘I have no honour,’ the stranger dropped his head and shook it. ‘Would you honour me?’
Mori frowned, ‘No. You should reclaim your honour.’
‘I don’t think that would be possible. I abandoned my post. Left the innocent to slaughter by those… monsters,’ the stranger twisted his expression to quell tears.
‘In the castle?’
‘Lord Kagawa himself was found,’ the stranger looked ready to throw up. ‘Found eating his wife.’
‘Eww,’ Ano said.
‘Others attacked us. Wild eyed and unable to speak. I fled,’ he shook his head. ‘I should have stayed and guarded the children, the innocent. I can’t redeem myself.’ The stranger grabbed his wakizashi and was ready to plunge it into his gut.
Mori dove forward and grabbed the man’s hand. He strained against his strength. The blade hovered a blade of grass away from his skin.
‘Let me die a good death! Do not dishonour me!’
‘No! You can redeem yourself. You see my brother and sister. There are others like them that need your help. Women, the weak, the crippled, you have to live so they can live too,’ Mori fell backwards, the wakizashi in hand.
‘Are you certain?’ The stranger held his head in his hands. A pained expression across his face.
‘I am. What’s your name?’
‘Sadatsugu,’ the stranger said.
‘Mori, and that is Ano and Kota.’
Sadatsugu nodded absently. ‘I am stuck between life and death, a wandering soul.’
Mori sighed, ‘Get up and let’s talk as we move. And take that band off your head.’ He pinched the white headband and threw it down the hill.
Sadatsugu gasped and rose, his hand on his uchigatana.
‘You chose to live. Now live,’ Mori said holding Sadatsugu’s wakizashi for him.
Sadatsugu frowned, his eyebrows meeting above his nose, and grunted. He took the short sword and sheathed it. He dressed, ‘Aren’t I the fool. What clan are you?’
‘None. I kept this from the last lord I served.’
‘Ohh, blood for gold,’ Sadatsugu worked his tongue over his teeth pushing out his lip. He shrugged, ‘Everyone’s gotta eat, I guess.’ He gazed over Ano and Kota, his eyes resting on the wakizashi. ‘You know how to use that?’
‘Well enough.’
Sadatsugu laughed, his arms folded within his kimono, ‘Good. I think you’re going to be using it.’
Ano shied away, hiding behind Kota.
‘I’m no monster, little girl.’
Ano didn’t respond.
Sadatsugu shrugged and turned back to Mori, ‘Where you headed?’
‘To the ferry for the mainland, I know it’s north but I don’t know where.’
Sadatsugu scratched his chin, ‘Niocho Nio. Back past Amagiri and some temples. Fishing town I think. A few days travel. Can rest at a temple on the way, if they haven’t all burned down.’
‘You’re jovial for a man who was about to kill himself,’ Mori said.
Sadatsugu shrugged, ‘I am between life and death. I can afford some joviality.’ He stamped on the incense sticks lodged in the ground, ‘Don’t need those. You hear that spirits! You’ll have to wait a bit longer for me!’ His voice thundered across the mountaintop and down into the valley. Birds chattered in response. ‘We should get going if we want to reach Unpen Temple. It is the nearest and furthest from any town.’
‘Lead the way, Sadatsugu,’ Mori said thanking fate that they had crossed paths. Mori was unable to admit he was lost.
Forested hills gave way to grassy hills once more as Sadatsugu lead them north-west towards the coast. ‘Don’t get comfortable going down hill. We have to climb up that to reach the temple,’ he gestured to a steep mountain draped in nature’s finery. The path climbed and climbed in an endless incline to the peak where a stone statue holding a stave stood above the trees.
‘Well at least we can see where we are going,’ Mori said trailing his hand along the pampas grass heads.
Sadatsugu grunted and began to cut across hill, parting the grass before him. ‘Quicker this way.’
Mori started to protest for Ano’s sake but thought better and instead made her climb on his back. Kota stood the same height as the stalks. Mori had him walk ahead of him. To the left the sea washed against the distant shore, an endless blue field harassing the coast of the island.
Sadatsugu marched up the mountain eating up the moss covered steps. Statues guided their path, some smiling and laughing, others grimacing and crying. Some played flutes and drums, others fished or contemplated meaning. Each was unique and life size. Mori watched each as he past them by half expecting one to come alive. Ano clung to Kota, weary of the statues as well. ‘The statues won’t harm you. They are enlightened ones,’ Sadatsugu grunted.
Together they reached the Unpen temple. Sadatsugu knocked on the ancient wooden gate of the complex. He strolled back and forth as the door opened inward gradually groaning with the effort. Four monks appeared, all smiles and welcomes.
‘A strange group,’ one of the monks said, his orange robes tied with a simple length of rope.
‘Have any others arrived here? Is anyone inside sick?’ Sadatsugu said.
‘No, not for many days. Everyone is well. Why? Is there a plague?’
‘Worse. Oni.’
‘Oni?’
‘Oni.’
‘You best come inside for food and rest,’ the monk bowed and lead them inside, his leathered feet scraping the ground with each step. He lead them inside the grounds dominated by two buildings, the main temple to left and lodgings to the right. A garden separated the two where a dozen monks tended to a variety of herbs and flowering plants and trees. The monk guided them inside an eating room, cushions sat in circles around tables. He bowed and disappeared without a word.
Moments later another monk appeared, in similar robes but with an extra white layer and carrying a staff, ‘You have news of the outside world?’
‘I am Sadatsugu, this is Mori,’ Sadatsugu said.
‘I am Enki, elder of Unpen Temple,’ he bowed.
Mori and the others returned the bow. ‘Oni, demons, monsters, have appeared all over the island. We are heading for the ferry at Niocho Nio and require food and lodgings for the night.’
‘Oni you say. That is a… bold claim but I have no reason to doubt you. I warn you our fare is simple and unrefined. Our beds hard and cold in winter,’ Enki said.
‘At least it isn’t winter then,’ Mori said.
The elder laughed, his face creasing a hundred different ways, ‘True. I shall ask food to be prepared for you. Please wait here while rooms are also prepared. You may use the bathhouse while you wait,’ Enki bowed and shuffled out of the room.
Mori returned from the bathhouse to find a family in the eating room. Two children clutched at their parents, gaunt and terrified, and clustered in the far corner of the room. Mori ran his fingers through wet hair and asked if they had spoken. Sadatsugu said they hadn’t, wouldn’t respond either, just kept bowing.
‘Well I would be terrified too if I was that underfed,’ Mori sat down as two monks set pans of steaming hot rice and vegetable dumplings on the table. The second monk served the family at the far end who watched the monk leave before approaching the table.
Sadatsugu sat down beside him and filled a bowl, ‘I hope Lord Kagawa’s children had swift deaths.’
Ano and Kota ate in silence bunched up to Mori as far from Sadatsugu as they could manage.
After dinner the four of them retired to bed. Sunset was hours away but all were exhausted from the trek up to Unpen Temple. Mori lay awake for hours listening to the monks potter and chatter through the temple. Joyous and removed from the horrors beyond their walls.
A shriek tore through the temple. Shouting and screaming pierced the air. Mori leapt out of bed and ran outside with his sword expecting to see fire arrows raining through the air. A monk ran from the room next to Mori’s. A man followed, gaunt and drooling blood with skin and hair embedded under his fingernails. Mori charged and cut the man down in an instant. Hissing and shrieking emanated from the room the family had stayed in. Mori approached the darkness. A woman lunged at him, all teeth and nails. He fell back on top of her dead husband and rolled into the garden. Sadatsugu charged across the wooden walkway his footsteps heavy. He swiped twice, cutting the woman in half.
Mori panted and felt his hand warm. The corpses wilted to piles of ash around him. Enki appeared from the main temple hall, ‘What is this?’
‘Oni,’ Sadatsugu said wiping his uchigatana clean in the elbow of his kimono.
‘The children?’
Mori pointed into the room the family had been staying. There was no movement inside.
Enki made a knowing nod, ‘You must leave at first light. We have to ward the temple from further incursions. I’m sorry but it can’t be done with you here.’
‘I understand, Elder,’ Sadatsugu said lazily.
Mori rose and tidied himself up. He flexed his right hand, the warm tingling sensation fading. ‘Thank you for your generosity this night,’ he bowed to Enki.
Enki smiled and returned the bow, ‘What is that mark? It lit up when they were slain.’
‘A gift… from a yokai.’
Enki laughed, ‘Perhaps you should ward the temple.’
‘I don’t know how. This is… a mystery to me,’ Mori turned his hand over.
Enki hmm’d and nodded knowingly, ‘You will uncover it in time. Rest now. We shall clear up what is left and perform the necessary rites.’
‘We can help.’
‘You have already helped by saving us all. Now go and rest,’ Enki bowed and shooed Sadatsugu and Mori away.
The pair returned to their room. Ano and Kota were waiting at the door, panic in their eyes. ‘It’s all safe now,’ Mori said, uneasiness nestling in his thoughts.
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