Oguchi (C)

[zizi]

"I'm going to need definitions of each of those terms. Forgive me, I am but a simple man; undead, spells, any of that thing goes far beyond my understanding. What is a jijo? A dekishi? A nensho?" He glanced at the Maiso. "You can control it? Her?"

[Kodos]

Kana looked extremely uncomfortable talking about such things in front of the Maiso, the Undead thing's gaze now shifted towards the cat woman. "No...no. Not, not exactly. They-they are intelligent. They and their kin were the victims of the tyrant Hizen's cruelty." The Maiso gave a sobbing wail. "The women put to death during the madness by the dogs of the tyrant shogun. They became the maiso, nensho, and dekishi. Those who succumbed to the unfortunate ravages of the plague, they rose as the jijo. Voiceless but not without will. We gave them what they wanted, and they have agreed to help us - to help Hitomi," Kana corrected herself.

"They help us because they choose to. We do not control them. The male undead, the dogs, they are mindless, bonded forever to the will of the others to answer in undeath for their crimes in life." Kana gave a look. "The men of Oguchi, unlike your Sogi, must answer for all that they have done."

[zizi]

"And they choose to terrorise these towns, so people are afraid to leave their homes at night for what? Justice? That is not justice. That is the same cruelty and tyranny that this wretched country has always suffered under." He waved a hand dismissively.

"'Our Sogi'? Ah- you mean Rin. Are you truly trying to paint Rin as the evil one in the picture?" He laughed, "Are you truly so ignorant you don't know that Hitomi didn't end the plague, she created it?" He shrugged, "After all, even I know that to bring back Otoyo you'd need a pretty big sacrifice. Like, say, a plague, a civil war, and a massacre. She didn't liberate this country from the tyrant shogun, she set her rabid dog upon the innocent and then shot him once he had ceased to be useful." He stared at the Maiso. "Do you understand? You have been serving the woman that caused this. She caused the madness." He paused. "Well, I say Hitomi did this, but lets be honest she has all the subtly and finesse of a drunken Oni. It's clear someone or something else is truly behind this."

"But whatever. I imagine you have nothing else interesting to say, since these basic facts eluded you. Friends," he turned to the group, "I suggest we return these hostages back to their homes and then move on to the capital. Ah- one more thing, regarding the hostages- why did you have them? Is that just standard procedure? Also what's the story with the less-than-ugly Oni over there?"

[Kodos]

The Maiso did not seem pleased with this plot development.

At all.

"OH FUCK." Kana screamed as the Maiso gave a horrific wail lurching forward to attack, the Hakagoto heeding its call.

The Oni-thing was, unlike the Undead, apparently under Kana's control. The fight was relatively quick. Yuanjun and Shari noted how kicking the Maiso and Hakagoto was like kicking rocks.

When it was all over, the Maiso and her servitors were literally piles of packed dirt, bone, and matted hair, and Kana was standing uneasily with the help of her Oni-thing.

"Oh, well this is just fucking great! Great!" She whined.

[Regantor]

Shari was far more concerned with protecting the hostages than she was with allowing Kana to escape the undead thing's rage, but the result was the same; The room broke out in a frenzy of combat as the living tried to whittle down the sluggish dead before they could do any damage.

When the fight was over and the dust was settled, Shari was breathing heavily with exertion, yet still retained her combat stance as yet. Her sights were fixed on Kana.

"...What was that all about?... Did you have some kind of psychic link with that thing?" The monk regarded agitatedly, not in the mood for any more suprises. "Did you order it to attack us as a diversion, then? Or was it really just reacting to you giving up that information?..."

A moment passed. Her palms ached to resolve the combat with the Bakeneko quickly, but she wasn't so she that the quasi-Oni would be so accomodating this time. All she could do was keep on trying to make out that they had the upper hand, and try not to let Kana see the stalemate that it seemingly was.

"...Well... What was your answer? Are you comming with us, or are we finishing you off? I do not appreciate being kept waiting."

[Kodos]

"We're not taking her with us, you dumbass. Are you insane?" Yuanjun growled as quietly as she could manage at Shari, giving the more muscled Monk a hard elbow to the side as 'subtly' as she could manage.

"What do you thin it was about!" Kana yelled, still apparently on edge. "You ticked it off with that comment about the plague, you shitheads!"

[Regantor]

Yaun's unexpected elbow certainly hurt, but Shari restrained her yelp of pain in order to continue look imposing towards Kana.

Slowly, she turned her head to face her fellow monk, rubbing the scar on her nose habitually with agitation.

"I know you are normally into killing our prisoners, babyface..." A half lie, but a pretty convenient one as the circumstances go. "But this one can be useful. Use your damn brain for once... Surely it can't be used for keeping those goofy saddlebags from toppling you over all the time..."

A look back to the Bakeneko again, and an elongated silence. She didn't bother answering Kana's complaints.

"Isn't that arm hurting you enough yet? You want round two?" Shari suddenly sneered. It was like watching a dog refusing to hand over it's favourite toy. Principles where principles, and the lumbering monk was determined to give the cat-thing the same chance that Rin gave her. "Wouldn't you prefer it healed? Or is this just what you like doing? Being a wimpy little pissant to Hitomi's lash?"

"I never stop until my enemies are dead. So hurry up and answer me already. Are you one or not?"

[zizi]

Kai rolled his eyes. "Calm down," he snapped at Kana, "the undead things are back to rest. The only thing you have left to fear is us, and unlike them, we can be satisfied without bloodshed." He crossed his arms, and took a breath, making an effort to control his irritation. "So, answer our questions. You can start by telling us about him," he gestured to the Oni thing.

[Kodos]

"My husband." Kana answered, unhelpfully, before elaborating. "Hitomi promised the women revenge. For the samurai this meant death, but for many of the daimyo, their punishment was to be more severe. Hizen and his accomplices were given forms more befitting their natures, and what transmutation did for their bodies, enchantmants did for their minds." She seemed amused. "We took them as husbands for legitimacy purposes, and to help the magics bind them to our wills. Hitomi took Hizen for her husband, and I got saddled with this lout and his shitty crapsack of a town."

[Regantor]

Shari narrowed her eyes and gave Kana's apparent husband a prolonged glare. "So... He's effectively a human?"

The monk hadn't really even given it any thought. The more she considered it, the dirt-ridden walking corpse more or less had been, too, along the same lines. Rin generally sent her on missions against things either too abhuman for her to feel pity for, or humans that had become morally repugnant of their own free will.

A creature that was performing evil without willing it... She had no idea where that was supposed to stand on her newly-gained moral compass at all.

"How many Bakeneko are there under Hitomi's command? One for each town or even more than that?... And what kind of proof does she have that she is even trying to resurrect Otoyo? Surely you aren't all that gullible."