Just a short Anonymous 2011/06/21 (Tue) 13:42 No. 1 ▼ File 130866375239.jpg - (888.65KB, 1203x3251 , Yorimasa_shooting_at_the_monsterous_nue.jpg)
Human are really wonderful and interesting.
They need to write everything happens to them, to compensate for their shorts lifespans. Unlike us youkai, they can't revive once killed, nor they can live forever. I don't know how it happens, but unlike us, old human are weaker than young human. Totally the opposite of us, in fact.
However, still unlike, they can show consideration to their children.
This is why they tend to write everything down.
The story I'm going to tell you... well, it's not really a story. Basically, with time, it became a legend. That's another interesting human side. They don't hesitate to rewrite history when they are bored with it. But I digress.
I'm going to tell you a nice story. A story about friendship, sacrifice and honor. I hope you'll feel inspired by this story.
It was a nice night, and everyone was sleeping in the Imperial Palace. Everyone except guards, of course. And something else.
At first, it looked like a fog. A very thick and dark fog, moving according to its own desire, disregarding any logic, moving against the wind. At first, it looked a like a fog, but a smart man with a sharp mind could see through the fog, and watch the beast's true form. But a guard isn't smart with a sharp mind. Smart people aren't guards, it's an awful job to do. But I digress again.
The fog sneaked around the Imperial Palace, ignored by everyone.
“It's just a fog. Nothing else.” They said. None of them tried to look beyond the black veil. None of them tried to see the truth. None of them could bother with that.
That night, the Emperor screamed in fear, in terror, and in pain at once. Guards went in his room, but they didn't founnd what they were half-expecting: a dead man with a knife in his chest. Instead of that, they found a normal man, shaking and scared so hard that his hair turned white.
Later, he said to his right-hand man, that the creature whispered in his ear: “I'll come back tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after.” And he ordered his best man to hunt down that creature, and to exterminate it.
Yorimasa accepted the task, because it was his lord's wish, and because that thing went through the guards, meaning that it could kill the emperor without anyone noticing. Yorimasa was a smart man with a sharp mind, his eyes could see through any lies. Even the creature's black fog would be useless against such a formidable man.
But even the smartest man in the world can do nothing if he doesn't have a clue on where to start. And, sadly, that was Yorimasa's case when he left the emperor.
After all, guards didn't paid attention, and they were unhelpful. The only interesting testimony was the emperor's, and Yorimasa couldn't interrogate his emperor. So, as the smart man he was, he decided to ask the regent for his opinion. He asked Fujiwara no Tadamichi for his opinion.
Tadamichi was a clever man, but he was more versed in political conspiracy than he was in youkais. But he managed to help Yorimasa, but suggesting him to visit a Buddhist shrine, and ask for a wise man's opinion.
During the morning, Yorimasa left the Imperial Palace, with nothing but his bow, some arrows, and 3 servants. He rode to the most famous shrine in the land, the Hakurei Shrine. But it was too late, the shrine was already a part of the Hakurei Border, and all that Yorimasa found was a abandonned shrine, where two young girls were living. The first one was without any doubts japanese, but the second girl was chinese. When he saw her, Yorimasa ordered his servants to learn how that girl could get to Japan so easily, without any help. The servants tried to interrogate the girl, but she never said anything. It was the other girl, the japanese one, who spoke for her.
She explained that her name was Houjuu, and that they were traveling together. She met the other girl several weeks later, and yet she didn't spoke a single word since that time. But Yorimasa, if he was smart, wasn't the most patient man, and he left the two girls alone in that ruined shrine, wishing them good luck, even giving them some food, but not listening to their whole story.
Finally, he came back to the Imperial Palace empty-handed, and he decided to change his plan. He wanted to hunt to beast down and exterminate it during the day, but since he couldn't find it, he had to trap it at night, and exterminate it. During the whole afternoon, he placed archers all over the place, with order to not move without he said so.
When night came, the whole palace went to sleep slowly, and everyone was afraid for the emperor's life. Would they hear a scream during the night? Would they find a bloody corpse when waking up tomorrow? The only one not shaking in fear were Yorimasa, and Tadamichi. The first one was expecting an interesting hunt, and the second one was already planning what would happen if the emperor was to be found dead in the morning.
After several hour, Yorimasa's “Banzai!” reverberated in the whole Palace, waking up every man, woman, and child. But all they saw was a night fog running away in the darkness, followed closely by Yorimasa, shooting arrow after arrow. The creature escaped by jumping over the surrounding wall, escaping from Yorimasa's wraith. But, scared by that unexpected resistance, the creature let an important clue in the Palace: an amulet. Fujiware no Tadamichi found it, and brought it to Yorimasa, suggesting him to visit the buddhist shrine again, and even saying that the creature was hiding in the shrine.
For the second time, Yorimasa left the Imperial Palace, but this time with an armor, a katana, a bow, lot of arrows, and 8 servants. He went back to the same Shrine, but this time, the chinese girl was alone.
He regretted it during his whole life, but he had to kill her. It was clear in his mind that that silent girl wasn't human. Unfortunately for him, she was. After that infamous murder, he decided to stay in the Shrine, to make sure the creature would come back.
That night, the Imperial Palace was peaceful.
That night, the Hakurei Shrine heard the nue's cry.
When the nue came back, only to see her human friend murdered, she cried and cried, and decided to get rid of those foolish men. Changing from her fog form to a disgusting and twisted form, having a the head of a monkey, the body of a raccon, the legs of a beast, and a snake as a tail. , she faced Yorimasa's servants, and killed them one after another, scaring them to death.
Several times during the night, you could hear a man screaming. After 8 similar screams, the nue came for Yorimasa. But he was prepared. Shooting an arrow at point blank, he wounded the nue, forcing it to run away instead of killing him in the same way it killed his servants.
Feeling that the nue was planning to kill the emperor, Yorimasa went back to the Imperial Palace as fast as he could. Too late he noticed that the Nue scared his horse to death, forcing him to walk.
After walking all the day, leaving everything behind him, save for his bow and one arrow, Yorimasa reached the Palace, just when the nue was about to enter in the Emperor's room.
Standing in the courtyard, Yorimasa challenged the nue. Said nue accepted the challenge, and went to killed the brave man. But Yorimasa stood still, and, slowly, carefully, drawn his bow, and sent one powerful and mighty arrow through the nue's form, hurting it badly.
Legends says that when the nue was hurt, everyone could hear a little girl's cry, instead of some wild roar. Legends says too that 8 bodies were found in the old Hakurei Shrine, but that the murdered girl's body was never found. Legends says that when Yorimasa faced death and committed suicide, that girl was standing in front of him.
That was the legend of the nue who loved humans, even though she was preying on them.