Challenge Submission They've Forgotten the Yōkai

[firefly]

Japan, 1568.
The "Demon Daimyō" Oda Nobunaga seizes Kyoto and brings an end to the Ashikaga shogunate.

Above the unnatural hush of a village in embers, the shriek of a woman carried high and far.

It startled a flock of cranes nearby, and the white, great-winged birds took flight to soar over the smouldering ruins. They were beautiful and delicate – their red crowns like drops of blood on snowflakes against the dark, ashy blanket of sky that broiled with smoke and intermittent screams.

Far below them, one home stood out from the rest – still standing, not burning, and despite the neat line of three bodies lying solemn and stark in their cloth wrappings in the middle of the courtyard, it also showed signs of life. A woman, a cat, and a rotund dog stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time.

The woman shrieked again.

She clutched the front of her kosode and stared at the fat dog in her courtyard. Her fat dog. But also, not her fat dog. It was currently sitting in front of the pot of stew bubbling over a small fire, and was frozen in the middle of what looked to be an attempt to scoop out a spoonful using a ladle gripped awkwardly in its short jaws.

"What are you!?" She cried, backing away from it and looking around in bewildered fright. "And what have you done with Jaga!?"

The fat dog that was definitely not her dog blinked at her a few times with large, round, not-very-bright eyes, as if considering how likely it was that it could still get away with the charade. Eventually, it slumped backwards onto its large rump with a dramatic sigh. The ladle flopped into the pot and the dog smacked its jowls together sadly.

So close… It thought to itself, shooting the cat a glare. It arched its back and hissed, hair standing on end.

"Jaga?" The dog replied, ignoring the angry cat and bending its head down to scratch behind one ear. It was rather difficult, given its girth, and it fell over sideways in a very ungraceful fashion. It lay on the ground for a moment, legs in the air and slightly out of breath. "I suppose that name is quite fitting."

The woman, having found a broom, brandished it in front of her with both hands. The broom was shaking, because she was shaking. The dog sighed and squirmed laboriously until it could right itself.

"If that's the name of the pathetic excuse for a dog I've borrowed this likeness from, then I haven't done anything to him at all." It replied, sounding quite affronted. "In fact, I tried to warn the stupid mutt that not all the bushi were fond of dogs, but noooo, the idiot just had to beg for a strip of pork."

With every word that poured improbably from the dog's mouth, the woman grew paler and more unsteady on her feet.

"O– oni." The lady whispered fearfully.

The dog carried on, not noticing. By now it had sidled close to the pot of stew and was attempting to grasp the ladle between two paws while sitting upright, and very un-dog-like, on its rump.

"Before I could decide whether or not I could be bothered to save the moronic thing, they had already bundled it into an empty sake barrel and rolled it down the hill. Being the kind and gentle deity that I am, I retrieved him and opened the barrel to find him very comfortable and chewing on pork while half asleep. So I thought, why not let him rest, and find out just where this rolly lump was getting all his rolls from? It's hungry work being something like me, you know, and nobody makes food offerings at the shrines anymore–"

The woman gasped, and the dog laughed.

"I know! I can barely believe he could fit in that barrel either."

"Demon!" She shouted suddenly, stepping forward with the shaking broom. The cat fell into line at her heels, hissing and spitting at the dog.

The dog looked between them like they were terribly boring.

"Oh, come on! It's funny! Ayakashi, I always forget that you humans don't have any sense of humour."

The woman shrieked a third time, but on this occasion she managed to gather enough courage to charge at the thing that looked like her dog, but definitely wasn't. The dog's eyes widened.

"Calm yourself, woman! You know, there was a time you mortals feared the great and powerful Matsuura– ahh!"

The cat pounced and the woman raised the broom high over her head and brought it down with a fierce cry, but the dog-thing rolled away at the last moment, and bolted for the gate.

"I was going to let him out eventually!" It yelled over his shoulder.

Seconds later, its wobbling bottom was disappearing down the lane – away from the woman, the bodies of her family, the first hot meal it would have had in days…and that stupid, angry cat.

Down the alley, where it was dark and empty, the round, earnest eyes of the fat dog burned red. They grew brighter and larger, rising in the darkness to a height far taller than the average man. Then, from the shadows a man stepped out lightly and dusted his robes. He was tall, and slender beneath the long red kimono, with a pale, unearthly handsomeness. A long, fluffy brown tail twitched in agitation behind him, as did the short, pointed ears on his head.

A barrel lay on its side in the alley, with the lid laying nearby. Inside, the fat dog still dozed, filling the alley with his snores. He'd make his way back home soon, and would likely get a bowl of fish stew.

The man scowled at it.

"You know, it wasn't long ago that my kind never had to worry about silly things like hunger, or resort to trickery to get a meal." He said conversationally to the dog while smoothing his waist-length black hair. "But I suppose back then there were plenty of them who still honoured the old ways. Now all they wanted was land, and gold, and blood."

The yōkai's stomach turned and lamented to the quiet night, and he covered it with his hand and grimaced. He had been so close. He'd almost fooled that silly woman like any respectable tanuki would have, and then that wretched thing had sniffed him out and ruined everything.

He wondered if those damned creatures would ever feel the cold ache of becoming irrelevant, forgotten, out of place. He huffed and swept down the alley in a foul mood.

Matsuura hated cats.

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Kosode - a traditional garment resembling the modern kimono.
Jaga - (ジャガ) "Potato"
Bushi - warrior, like Samurai.
Tanuki - aka Bake-danuki, a kind of yōkai.