“Ah!” Her foot catching a branch, Ashi tripped and fell to the forest floor. She didn’t bother to get up. How long had she been running? Her muscles felt like liquid, and she almost felt as if she were going to throw up. Why did she have to wander away again? Why did she get so distracted? Tears bubbled in her eyes, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. Her mother’s harsh voice hissed in the back of her head, condemning her for her weakness.
The lure of the forest had just been too much for Ashi, and she had wandered in without another thought (and away from the escorts her father had given her). She must have walked for over twenty minutes before she saw big, yellow eyes peering at her from the darkness. Immediately, she had taken off in a sprint. She didn’t even stop when she realized she was lost. Now, she was tired, hungry, thirsty, and in the middle of nowhere. Her complacency with just staying on the ground scared her a bit; was she going to die here? You deserve it her mother seemed to say. Ashi didn’t protest.
Aku’s schedule was packed with his various obligations as galactic overlord, such as accepting tributes from his subjects, hearing the pathetic pleas from those seeking his aid, spying, punishing resistance leaders, conferencing with his useless team of scientists, etc. He’d thought it would be perfectly fine to allow his daughters outside with a few escorts after their training. Surely, his guards could babysit some little girls for a few hours without messing up, right?
All seemed to be going well until Aku received a phone call.
“Yes, this is Aku speaking,” he answered begrudgingly. The voice on the other line trembled, ‘Boss, we uh… we lost one of your daughters. We don’t know what happened. She just disappeared!’
The demon overlord was suddenly very awake.
“YOU WHAT?” he screamed. Then, slamming the phone down with a growl, he turned to his spy screen on the wall and began searching. There was no doubt in his mind which daughter it had been to wander away. He knew from the day he found her that Ashi had a knack for getting herself lost. It wouldn’t be so bad if her powers were awakened, but as it was, she was merely a defenseless child and Aku found himself searching rather frantically through the scenes of his spy screen.
Finally, as Aku panned over a forest, it dawned on him where it was she had gone. The child had a strange fascination with nature and beauty so it made perfect sense that she would have been drawn to it like a moth to flame. But Aku also knew that the forest was home to a wide assortment of beasts, both natural and unnatural.
Unbeknownst to him, one such beast had caught Ashi’s scent with a flick of its lizard tongue. The creature, with its large yellow eyes, was presently making its way through the forest, stalking quietly after its human prey.
He…wanted her to join him? Taking it as an order, the young girl quickly scrambled to her feet and moved to the edge of the spring. There was a stone ledge under the water that was tall enough for her to sit on without her head going under. Stepping in, she winced as the bubbling water burned her leg, but ignored the pain as she stepped further in. This is must be like the coals from the Pit of Hate she though to herself. Sitting down, she fought back tears as the water burned her body. After a few moments though, it felt sort of…nice. The temperature didn’t continue to scald her skin as the coals had. Perhaps it was a sign that she was in Aku’s favor?
Gulping, she gazed up at the said demon. Should she say something? Usually with her mother, she and her sisters were to speak only when they were spoken to. Thinking of something, Ashi quickly bowed her head, her hands folded in a prayerful position.
“Thank you Lord Aku for not punishing me for my disobedience. Once I return home, I promise to never leave again, and to accept the punishments my mother will give me.”
“Punishments?” Aku had been relaxing quietly but now his eyes blinked open. He suspected these ‘punishments’ were quite severe. That would certainly explain some things…
“She is very strict, your mother,” he conjectured. It was probably why Ashi had wandered away in the first place. Aku hated all forms of confinement and it would not surprise him if the Aku in her sought to escape. “Was it she who coated you in that tar?”
Send “Tag along” for a starter where my muse is a child following your muse around.
Tears bubbled in Ashi’s eyes as she gazed out at this unfamiliar place. She was lost. She knew she shouldn’t have gone outside, but the temptation of the light was just too much. What was her mother going to do when she found her? Beat her? She’d probably go without food for a few days again. Maybe even more time in The Pit – a dark, lonely place where her mother placed her and her sisters when they were especially disobedient. Little Ashi was terrified of that place. None of this made her too eager to find her way back.
Suddenly, her eye caught something; actually, it was pretty hard to miss. A black, monolithic, towering creature. As her eyes traveled up its form, her heart practically stopped as she reached its face. Eyebrows of flames. Six black hors protruding from its head. Four fangs hanging out of its mouth. It was Aku.
Her knees began to shake, and she found she was frozen. Seeing the God she had been taught to fear since she was born was almost too much for little Ashi to handle. Had he learned of her disobedience? Had he come to punish her? Her mother always said Aku watched every move they made. Perhaps her had finally had enough of her antics, and had decided to end her life right here. Despite all these thoughts rushing through her mind, the young girl could only gape at the Demon as he peered down at her with eyes that she felt could see into her soul.
“Ahhhh… what a relaxing soak this has been,” Aku proclaimed aloud to himself.
He had been enjoying a dip in the natural hot spring he liked to visit. The location was remote enough that he wouldn’t expect anyone to stumble upon it or find him here. But as he sat in the steaming water with eyes closed, he heard a sound nearby and realized he was not alone.
“Mhh?” The demon blinked open his eyes but he did not see anything at first. It wasn’t until he rose up slowly from the water and turned that he saw who dared to interrupt his bath.
What he saw standing below him was not what Aku was expecting to see. A small human covered in some sort of ashy substance was standing there staring up at him in terror. What was this? What was she doing all the way out here?
The yokai stared down at her in silence while he pondered these questions, then he spoke: “…Are you lost, child?”
Dr. Love thinks that a relationship between curioosity and unspeakablyevil has a very good chance of being successful, but this doesn’t mean that you don’t have to work on the relationship. Remember that every relationship needs spending time together, talking with each other etc.
The Shogun of Sorrow 