"Hold still!"

"I am holding still!"

"Hold even stiller!"

Hashi watched Sen as Yuzuha and Aoi crowded around him and helped him put on the old armor that had been given to them. He chuckled when he saw Sen lurch forward when Yuzuha yanked on the cording after it got caught under one of the plates. "Quit doing that!" Aoi snapped. "You'll snap the cording!"

"Wanna do it yourself, old man?"

"I probably could!"

"Please! There's no need to fight!" Emi held up her hands as the two glared at one another over an uncomfortable Sen's shoulder.

Hachirou nodded, "Do you both want me to..."

"No!" Aoi and Yuzuha snapped in unison as they both spun to Hachirou, who simply held up his hands and sat down on a nearby rock as he folded his arms over his chest.

Hashi stood up off of the ground and lumbered over to Sen, looking him over as he continued to have his armor put on. "Hi," Sen looked up at him and gave a small close-lipped smile. "It's... it's definitely kinda heavy."

Hashi chuckled and looked down at him as Aoi and Yuzuha bickered absently off to one side. He gave each piece a tug to be sure that the armor fit snugly and didn't move around more than it was supposed to. He was generally surprised that it fit Sen as well as it did. The kami worked in mysterious ways, and if Sen was meant to have such a fine set of armor, then so be it. He checked the knots on the cording and his shoulder straps one more time before he gave a satisfied nod and stepped back with a smile of his own that made Sen's one of discomfort soften into a happy little thing that pulled up one corner of his mouth ever so slightly. The kabuto was conspicuously absent from the set, however. Not that Hashi was surprised. The crests on the helmets alone could fetch a pretty penny or serve as a trophy. The fact that it was missing came as no shock to him. Hashi gestured like he was holding something heavy on his shoulders. Too heavy?

"Nothing I can't get used to," Sen shook his head as he plucked an old cloth headband and wrapped it around his forehead to help keep his messy hair out of his eyes before he picked his odachi up and slung it over his shoulder.

Hashi made a shaking gesture. Anything loose?

Sen shook his head once again, "Nope. Everything feels solid. I expected it to be heavier."

"Eh, just get walking in it for a few days and your tune will change," Aoi shrugged as he passed Sen by to join Hachirou and Emi on the copiously large rock sitting beside the road.

Yuzuha stepped up and deftly took off the large shoulder guards, slipping them into her pack with a nod. "That oughta make you less bulky and draw less attention. If it sounds like we're going to fight, we can put them back on."

Sen pulled off his armguards and freed his arms as he passed them to Yuzuha too and resumed carrying his pack. "I'd prefer to wear slightly less of it unless we need the intimidation factor."

"Now you're getting it!" Aoi grinned as he looked over his shoulder at Emi and Hachirou, "What do you two say? How far to the next town?"

Emi looked down at the map she had open on her lap and hummed thoughtfully, "We seem to have just passed into Shinano... We've come quite some ways already. Let's see... If I am reading this correctly, there should be another monastery coming up soon that we can stay at for a day or two to get out bearings and stock up on supplies. There's a decently sized town close to it as well."

After the group had gathered themselves, they followed their intrepid Buddhist companions and soon found themselves at the town that Emi had mentioned. The temple could be seen above the trees in the distance, the pointed top of its pagoda emerging from the canopy. The town around it was flourishing with a vibrant central road and lines of shops selling everything Sen could imagine and then some. The aroma of freshly made food wafted from nearby shops and the inn up the road and the lines of baskets and boxes lined with fresh local wares reminded him of the farmers who would come to sell to Ebume in exchange for fish and game. It looked amazing, and he felt the saliva pooling in his mouth as he eyes locked onto a stand selling what smelled like duck. He glanced up at Hashi and saw his large eyes staring intently at whole slabs of roasted fish and wondered how long his friend could contain himself before he caved and bought their whole stock.

Yuzuha peeled away from the group and quickly bought a fistful of meat skewers before she walked back. The look on her face told Sen she definitely didn't plan on sharing. Emi cast a disapproving look before she coughed, "We should make for the temple as soon as we can."

Aoi, who had slipped away seemingly while Sen ogled the duck, stepped back and frowned as he pulled his arms into his kosode with a shake of his head, "Might want to delay that, sister. Apparently, the monks are under siege by a Tengu."

That came as a surprise to Sen and drew his attention away from the fragrant aromas swirling around him. Tengu were solitary beings often only consorting with each other and, very rarely, humans who they deemed worthy. He had never seen one in person before, or at least hadn't suspected he had. He moved to the group, "Are they of the bird or long nose variety?"

"Karasu, apparently," Aoi scratched his chin and furrowed his brow. "I wonder why it was down here..."

Hashi and Sen exchanged a glance and the great yokai shrugged his shoulders.

No idea.

The bird-like Karasu variety of tengu were even more isolated than the long-nosed Dai-tengu. Why one decided to harass a group of monks was more of a puzzlement than anything else. There were no mountains, so Sen assumed that it must have been a forest-dwelling variety, which in and of itself was uncommon. An old shrine, perhaps?

As he ran through the possibilities, Emi turned to the sound of a commotion and saw a monk hurrying up to them and stopping breathlessly before them. "Are... hah! Are you the... the people who helped Dainei?"

Emi nodded as Hachirou passed the monk his water gourd, "Yes... Though might I ask why you are asking?"

The monk took a long swallow of the water as he stood up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "My name is Saizen. Our monastery is under... surveillance? A siege? Attack? I have no idea. There is a tengu that is attacking anyone who tries to leave. I barely got out myself."

Yuzuha turned to Sen and looked at him, "Think we could take a tengu?"

Sen turned to her and raised his eyebrows, "You think we can fight it?"

"Just a big chicken, right?"

Hashi too turned to her wide-eyed and began vigorously shaking his head in blunt refusal.

"Our abbot, Umemaru, actually hopes that perhaps it doesn't need to be fought," Saizen supplied as he handed the gourd back to Hachirou with a nod of thanks. "One of our senior monks hired some people, but the abbot hoped that you might be passing by. Dainei mentioned in his letter than you would be passing through this way to Kyushu."

Aoi whistled, "We're becoming right celebrities!"

Saizen bowed his head, "We just know that you are people of character who aid those in need. Enjaku-ji isn't far, if you'd be willing to come and take a look for us."

Hachirou looked him over before he asked, "How did you even make it out of there? Tengu are some of the best fighters in the yokai world."

Saizen got a sly smile on his face, "There's a hidden tunnel out of the monastery in the event of an attack or a fire in case we ever need to move our sutras and relics. Follow me. I'll take you there."

---

Saizen led them to a small clearing where a moss-covered door lay concealed perfectly into what seemed to have once been a small moss yard connected to the temple. They followed the junior monk down into the musty passageway. How he was able to navigate without a torch, Sen hadn't the foggiest idea,           but he led them on for what felt like an eternity before he reached up and shoved. A small doorway revealed itself, and together they crawled out into the back of the temple grounds. The courtyard was bustling with nervous monks, and as they popped out, Sen saw the abbot in his fine robes approaching them.

"Saizen!" He exclaimed in a voice laden with relief. "You found our friends!"

"I did. Not that they were hard to find," Saizen grinned back at them.

"Welcome to Enraku-ji. I am Umemaru, the abbot here..." He trailed off as Hashi squeezed himself up through the door with a series of grunts, prompting Sen to grab his good arm and try his best to pull him up with Hachirou's help. "Ah," the abbot smiled when he saw Hashi, "so the rumors were true. It has been a long time, old friend."

Sen blinked in surprise and looked up at Hashi, who chuckled and gestured to Umemaru with a nod.

Yes, it has.

"Do you know him, Hashi?" Sen asked as he glanced between the two.

Hashi nodded and gestured a long line with his hands.

Yes. A long time.

"Hashioni is an old friend of my good friend, Abbot Myugou," Umemaru nodded, "from back on Myugou's travelling days."

"You knew Myugou?" Sen blinked in surprise as the abbot nodded again, a simple smile on his face.

"Myugou was once a traveler of no small renown. Hashioni accompanied him for a time, and that is how the two of us met."

"He never mentioned that to me," Sen crossed his arms and spoke softly.

Umemaru glanced briefly at Saizen before he furrowed his brow, "Are... you perhaps Sen? Myugou spoke often of a boy he met in Ebume. When I heard the description, I thought that perhaps maybe..."

"He talked about me?"

"Often, actually, as if you were his own grandson. He was rather proud of you," Umemaru gesture to the door and offered them entry into the temple.

The group followed his hand and found the temple's main hall populated with monks trying their best to meditate and do chores around one another. With the tengu keeping them cooped up in the main hall, it seemed like they tried all they could to be productive while staying out of one another's way.

"I heard that Hashioni has the Rot," Umemaru began as Saizen handed him a caddy with tea utensils and cups on it. "That is why you are heading to Kyushu, yes?"

"Yeah," Aoi crossed his arms over his chest as he joined the others on the cushions with the Abbot as they all sat down. "You're well informed."

"Being well informed is important," Umemaru shrugged as he began passing the cups around. "Especially in this day and age."

"Are you all warrior monks?" Hachirou asked as he looked around, making many of the monks pause and turn expectantly to Umemaru. Sen hadn't noticed it before, but all of the monks did seem to be in remarkable shape.

The abbot laughed, "Surprised? Yes, we are trained in the martial arts, but I would hardly call us warriors. We believe that cultivation of the body in addition to that of the spirit leads to a more holistic development. Almost every monk here can wield a weapon, but we are hardly a match for a tengu, especially since we do have our scholars and more spiritually oriented brothers."

"Saizen mentioned that there were people here that a senior monk called in," Yuzuha broke in as Umemaru finished.

The abbot frowned and gestured out the window with his chin. "They are out in the courtyard," he sighed, "trying to come up with a plan to deal with the tengu. I could hardly imagine what it wants."

"When did it arrive?" Sen asked, hoping to perhaps glean some reason as to why the tengu had broken its usually isolated routine to bother humans. Something about it didn't make sense.

Umemaru frowned down into his tea, "It arrived shortly after an onmyoji did. He claimed that there was a dangerous yokai and that he hoped to bind it as a shikigami. Apparently, his attempt failed and he claimed that the beast was Rotted, unable to be bound."

The group all exchanged glances before they seemingly decided to unanimously go out and get a better look at the tengu in question. They slipped out the back and into the courtyard. The great creature stalked around the roof, making guttural bird-like noises as it occasionally flapped its great wings causing gusts of air to rattle the trees and the windchimes hanging at the temple's eaves. Sen had heard stories of the prowess of the tengu and their command over wind. He wondered of it would be possible to abide to the abbot's request to end things peacefully with the yokai. He hoped it would. The idea of fighting such a powerful being was not one he wanted to even entertain let alone test.

"Hey," Yuzuha gestured with her chin and Sen followed it to the sight of two men clothed from head to toe in black. Sen knew their armor. "Aren't those the demon hunters?"

"Sayonakidori," Aoi sniffed dismissively. "They're thieves in black armor."

"I heard they help people plagued by yokai," Yuzuha crossed her arms and looked to Aoi with one eyebrow raised. "What's with the vitriol? Never heard you get so snappy before."

Before Aoi could reply, the two men seemed to notice the group standing there and made their way over, pulling off their somen and lowering their black face masks to reveal the faces of two rather normal looking men. Their eyes were painted around with black paint and they watched the group curiously before the older of the two cleared his throat, "Ah, so you're the group that the Abbot mentioned..."

Sen noticed their eyes drift to Hashi, who looked down at them with disinterested stares. Aoi quickly moved to the front and rested his hand on the pommel of his sword, putting himself between the demon hunters and Hashi, "This isn't going to be an issue, is it?"

"Dunno," the second of the men did the same with his sword. "Does your big friend here have a contract on him?"

"I do not believe so," Emi supplied with a charming smile, but Sen saw Hachirou slowly begin to shift his stance to better grab his naginata.

The moment she said that, the older man gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "Then who cares? My name is Shou and this is Kai. We're Sayonakidori here by the request of senior monk Tenshin. No worries. We only kill yokai who have contracts and are dangerous."

Aoi snorted, "That's a first."

"Hey," Kai moved to cross his arms, "some of our brothers and sisters may get stab happy, by Sango runs a tight ship here. We only do contracts and we check those contracts."

"It's like Kai says. There are some pretty strong yokai around here that we'd like to not piss off, so we do our research," Shou nodded and did the same, crossing his arms over his chest with the rustle of fabric and creak of leather armguards. "Your friend here doesn't have a contract, we're not touching him. Simple as that."

Hashi seemed to visibly relax, and Sen followed suit. Aoi, however, didn't seem to keen on doing the same. Shou watched him carefully before Kai narrowed his blackened eyes at them, "Let me guess: samurai?"

"That obvious?" Aoi growled.

Shou snorted, "Figures. You people hate it when someone comes along to do your job and gets the people to realize that maybe, just maybe, there are alternatives to your so-called Shogunal authority."

"Or maybe," Aoi countered with bitterness edging his voice, "I just hate vultures that take advantage of people's fear for profit."

"Enough!" Emi snapped from behind everyone, prompting all eyes to turn to the nun, who stood with her fists balled up at her sides. "I will not see you fighting in this place of peace!"

Hachirou walked forward and nodded, "Our first priority needs to be making sure that this temple remains safe for pilgrims and the monks. Before anything, that should be our focus."

Shou paused for a moment and watched Hachirou before he nodded, "The sohei is right. Follow us. I think we have a way to get close to the tengu to work out a plan."

---

The group prowled through the underbrush after Shou and Kai until they reached a small hedgerow that kept them well-enough concealed to see the Tengu but still remain mostly hidden. Kai hummed quietly, "There's got to be a way to draw it down. Shou?"

"I mean... Hm," Shou furrowed his brow behind his mask. "We could try the kusarigama."

"Maybe. The wind might be an issue. Plus, if that thing goes airborne..."

"Onmyodo?" Emi supplied in a whisper, prompting Shou to look over his shoulder at her.

"Sen," Yuzuha hissed, "you... know stuff about yokai. What do you think?"

"I don't know," Sen shrugged nonchalantly, "but I could always try drowning to get its attention." The entirety of the group turned to him in silence and he slowly looked around before he blinked. "Did... I say something wrong?"

The only one who gave a non-concerned reaction was Hashi, who chuffed beside him, while Emi blinked at him, "Did... did you just tell a joke?"

"Uh... yeah..." Sen looked between them before he frowned. "Did... I mess up?"

Aoi finally snickered, "That was dark as hell, kid. I love it. Do it again."

"He told a joke," Yuzuha shook her head. "Someone mark that down as a monumental event."

Sen frowned and turned back to the temple, "I'm just going to stop talking now."

"Our light bullying actually made him loosen up," Yuzuha laughed. "I am aghast!"

"I didn't know you knew words that big," Sen muttered and tried to fight back a smirk as Yuzuha cackled.

"Yes! Aoi, we did it!"

"Would you all focus!" Shou snapped from beside them. "This is a dangerous situation!"

"Maybe we could politely ask it to leave," Hachirou supplied with a chuckle.

"Or invite it to tea," Emi giggled in reply as Shou let out one long sigh from beside them.

"Shou," Kai turned to his partner, "we made a mistake."

However, when the group turned back to the roof, they saw the tengu staring down at them, it's bird-like yellow eyes narrowed as it looked between the party. It didn't make a move to attack, nor did it make a move to flee. It simply stood there, eyes flicking between the different members with a mistrusting gaze.

"Shitshitshit," Shou whispered as Kai stared wide-eyed up at the yokai before him.

The tengu's shakujo that it held in one mighty clawed hand clinked as it rotated itself to better see the group. Strangely enough, the great demon still didn't attack. It just kept gazing down at the group with narrowed eyes before finally, Sen sighed and stood up, prompting excitable hisses from his party as they tried to drag him down again. The tengu watched him, eyes un-narrowing and turning to an angry scowl as Sen made his way to the front of the party and cleared his throat. "My name is Sen," he began, prompting nothing from the tengu, "and we are here in behalf of the monks..."

"I know them," the tengu pointed one clawed hand to the two Sayonakidori, before lowering it and looking back to Sen, "but not you." The voice had a strange trill to it, like the fancy birds that could speak that one merchant had when he came through Ebume once, though not as distinct. The gravelly deep voice was ended with that odd warble, but it was almost human if Sen hadn't known better.

"We are travelers. My friend, Hashi, is ill and we are looking for a place to treat him. May I ask... your body... is that the-?"

"No," the tengu hissed as it leaped down from the building and slammed into the ground before Sen, walking over to him and the rest of the group slowly emerging from the bushes nearby. "It is not the sickness. No, these marks were caused by an onmyoji! A foolish one at that! He tried to bind me, make me a shikigami, but he was nowhere near powerful enough to command me – especially without my consent!"

Sen had to admit that on closer inspection those wounds did indeed look more like burns than the strange ashy markings that had become so familiar to him during their travels. When he looked back to Hashi for confirmation, the yokai nodded his head. "Then why terrorize the monks?" Sen asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

The tengu stamped his shakujo into the ground and the round rings of the staff clattered and tingles wildly. "They house the onmyoji!"

"Is that man what this whole mess is about?" Everyone, including the tengu, turned to the voice from the temple and saw the abbot standing there with his hands on his hips, a look of exasperation on his aging face. "By the Amitabha... Okay, well, I hate to say it, but you've been standing on our roof and yelling for nothing. That weasel left here two days ago through a portal he made. I do believe you have been had, my birdy friend."

The tengu stared at the abbot before he slowly turned his head and let it sag with his shoulders. Even his wings seemed to sag under the weight if the revelation and he let out a chirping sigh. "Then... I have been causing you trouble for nothing."

"Being fair, our fear kept us from being useful to you," Umemaru walked down the steps and bowed an apology. "Do you need some food? I wager you haven't eaten."

Shou stood up from the bush with Kai and hurried around front, "Wait! Wait, what about the contract?"

Umemaru looked over at them in disinterest before he sighed, "We will pay you, but we no longer require your services."

Kai coughed, "Listen... If we were to go back without payment, our boss would skin us alive, old man. Nothing personal – against you or the bird."

The tengu seemed to consider for a moment before he reached up and yanked a handful of his wing feathers out to hand to the two demon hunters. Shou reached out and took them as the tengu nodded, "Take these. Our wing feathers are priceless and hold the powers of the wind. An onmyoji could fashion you many powerful items from them of great value. Please, ask your master for my forgiveness, and let him know that I shall not trouble him or the monks again."

"Hey," Shou looked up at him, "so long as you're not killing people or Rotted, we don't have any issues, bird man."

They stepped forward from the bushes and bowed to Umemaru, starting to walk away before Saizen called out to them, "Would you at least like a meal?"

Kai gave a wave over his shoulder, but neither of the two men stopped as they walked out of the temple gates and down the old dirt road, leaving the group and the monks standing by. Umemaru chuckled before he turned back to Sen and company, "Then perhaps you would be kind enough to join us?"

They filed in after Umemaru and Saizen and resumed their seats from before the monks had begun grabbing their things and dispersing once again throughout the temple as Sen heard the great flapping of the tengu's wings outside as it made its way back to wherever it came from. Judging from its heading, it must have stayed somewhere deep within the woods. Sen watched as Umemaru prepared the powdered tea, mixing it with a skill and care of a skilled master of tea ceremony. He noted that Myugou used to make tea in much the same way, albeit taking it slower so Sen could watch how he did it. He began handing out the cups among the group as Sen let his eyes wander across the temple interior. Something about it didn't quite strike him as a normal old temple like one he had become accustomed to seeing. It seemed almost as if, at some point long ago, the temple had been used for something else. The relief carvings were unlike any he had ever seen, and the altar seemed like a later addition. There were carvings on some of the walls in small alcoves of people who Sen had never seen, and when Umemaru caught him looking, the old abbot smiled, "Do you recognize any of them?"

"No," Sen shook his head and took a sip of the tea, surprised by the heavy herbal flavor as it rolled across his tongue. "Are they local saints?"

"Bodhisattvas?" Emi and Hachirou asked excitedly in unison, and Umemaru gave a laugh.

"Some would argue that, yes! They are known as the Hachiman no Deishi. Just Deishi for short."

The old stories that Myugou would tell rang in Sen's ears, and he could tell from the look on Umemaru's face that the old man saw the recognition.

"What do you know of the Deishi?" Umemaru asked as he brought his teacup to his lips.

Sen shook his head as he stared down into his, "Not much more than what Myugou told me. That they're some... I don't know, Kami-sent heroes that arrive in the moment when the world needs balance. It was... kinda esoteric and I was young."

The old abbot chuckled, "That is the crux of it. They say that they were served by an order of warriors who came to be known as the Blades of Hachiman." At the sound of the name, Sen saw Yuzuha look over to the monk, suddenly interested in what he had to say. "These Blades used to look for the new Deishi, but it seems to me that they've all but vanished. There used to be a sect who lived here once."

"Old man," Yuzuha knelt closer to Umemaru, "have you seen a man come through here claiming to be one of them or looking for them? He should be in his mid-forties, tall, muscular, tanned skin?"

"A rather common description of most warriors," Umemaru replied patiently.

Yuzuha frowned and pulled out an old carved wooden amulet from her neck from her kosode, "He wore an amulet like mine."

Umemaru shuffled himself closer to her and took the amulet in one hand to look it over. "Now that you mention it, I do remember a man pass through here some time ago wearing this amulet. I don't know where he was going or where he went, however."

"He is lying," something whispered in Sen's ear, only when he looked, there was nothing there to greet him except empty space.

Sen watched Yuzuha's face and saw the hope that had filled up in here eyes slowly leave them as he face fell with a nod. "I... I see."

"Forgive me, young one. How did you know him?" Umemaru asked as he released the amulet and moved back to his space between her and Sen.

"He... was my uncle," she admitted quietly as she shoved the amulet back into her kosode and looked down at her hands as they balled up on her knees.

Hachirou turned to her with a friendly smile, "Have no fear, Yuzuha. If he passed through any of the monasteries, I am sure that one of the monks will have seen him. Perhaps we will meet him on our travels."

Sen saw Umemaru's face shift for a moment, his usually benevolent face taking on a look of conflicted concentration before it returned to its benevolent smile, "I heard him mention that he was returning to Izumo. You are headed that direction. Perhaps you may meet him on the way."

However, while the group made small talk and the abbot became engrossed in a conversation with Emi and Hachirou about local saints, Sen found himself drawn to the murals on the wall. Hashi hadn't joined the group, instead having opted to stand before one mural and look it over rather intently. There was something on his face that Sen couldn't quite place, particularly when his eyes fell upon a wooden carving nearby that depicted a man wielding a longbow.

Sen walked up to the wall beside Hashi and traced the mural beside the statue with his eyes. The work was unlike any he had ever seen before. Older, he assumed, since it was foreign, and yet something about it was familiar. There were two kaichi, the sagacious heavenly rams who judged innocent from guilty, charging towards a figure unlike any Sen had seen before. Two horns that glowed a brilliant crimson jutted out from either side of the beast's head, its body was covered in what appeared to be molten rock draped in tattered cloth, and from its mouth came six mighty fangs. It looked like Hashi, and yet not, but one thing it did share in common was the fact that one whole side of its body was coated in the Rot.

"Umemaru," Sen turned to him as the old man poured some more tea for the guests, "what is this mural of?"

Umemaru looked up and nodded, "That is one of... hm, I believe fifteen or sixteen murals done up in temples all across Nihon by an artist name Sugiwara no Yomi. That one depicts the rams of the kami assisting Yayoi no Shika in the defeat of Hotaru-no-Kami, who is believed to be the origin of The Rot, according to the yokai."

When Sen looked again at the mural, he saw a figure wielding a seven-branched sword kneeling as though wounded behind the two kaichi. The sword was becoming enveloped in a light, a dancing blue and crimson swirl of flame. The clothing was foreign to him, as was the armor, but the figure, even wounded, struck up a mighty image against the great creature beside it.

"They say that Yomi died before he could finish all of his murals," Umemaru added as Sen heard him sit back down and adjust himself.

"Who was the man he painted?" Hachirou inquired.

"A legendary hero of the ancient world, his story lost to time. He is revered by the yokai as a protector and savior. There is a legend that he even became one of their God-Kings, but I couldn't tell you how much of that was actually true."

"I've heard of him," Emi spoke and made Sen turn to her. "They say that he and his companions traveled around purifying ancient wellsprings from which all yokai were born, but that his companion succumbed to a curse and became Hotaru-no-Kami."

"So the legends say," Umemaru nodded as Saizen joined them. The junior monk whispered something in the abbot's ear that made his eyebrows rise slightly. He smiled apologetically at the group and gave a hasty bow, "Pardon me, but temple business calls me away. Please, drink and dine with us tonight so you can be well rested tomorrow. We have prepared a guest room for you all tonight." Without an explanation, the abbot vanished out of the main hall.