Mythical

Ch 1: Oasis

Mei, despite what she appears to be, was old. In human terms, she would've been an old crone by now. Now, however, she was still just a child in her species terms. There were others though, that had been alive for more than several millennia at this point but they had fallen to earth long ago. Long before that women decided to mess up. She had only ever met one of those beings, it was one of the gods humanity still remembers. Death, or the Shinigami as their proper title nowadays. Despite their appearance that was so similar to her own, they were kind. They only cut cruel deals with humans because of what the human was asking. An eye for an eye and they weren't very cruel deals at all, at least not too many of her kind.
Not even Yokai would call them cruel, it was just that simple. You reap what you sow after all., and some things are meant to stay impossible.
Like the magic that keeps them all hidden, she isn't sure who did it or why they felt it necessary but after that family came down to earth, the ancient ones had cut off almost all connections to the spirit world. Only the powerful or needed could get through. Or the ones who had already been born in this place, like Mothman! No one knew how that being came about, but it was born on earth and it would stay on earth, order be damned. She had never met the being but they seemed to like making wool anything from sweaters to pants. Pants!
Technically a lot of those from the old world were now classified as ancients. The oldest of the oldest though had not woken up for their sleep in eons and no one knew where the hell they were. That was fine though, what wasn't fine was the fact that this redheaded kid could see her.

She often snuck out of the spirit world to go mingle with the mortals and to do a job. She was something called a Kin-Slayer. She hunted down those who had gained a taste for human flesh and gorged themselves on it. It was either that or hunt down humans who had started to soul rot. Human lives like that were always easy to take and she could get a meal to bring home to her family, so win-win.
She often came to an oasis, like these to cool off her head and since it was one of her many siblings that she had to end, she felt it was deserved. However, she never expected to see a tiny little kid staring at her while she was skipping stones.
She was somewhat angry at what she was seeing, so damn small that even an Oni toddler would be bigger than him. However, what grabbed her attention the most was the aura the young lad had around him. Her arms widened as she took in the blue swirls of color as well as a sandy brown. Even with the ears, she was surprised by the energy she felt pouring off the boy. Was this one of the beings her grandma had told her about? The ones sealed with the sage's last gift? It had to be, the little tanukis running around the oasis were all checking him out. She had heard bad things about how this particular gift was treated, rumors about how the being had lost their mind.
Quite a few of her kind wanted to take in the gifted ones after the first sealing and she could see why. Technically she wasn't an adult despite having a Job like hers. If she couldn't complete it she would not be forced to and she could decline if she wished, however, that did not make her an adult. As the elders in the clan say, 'A child with a weapon is still just that, a child.' if she hadn't reacted so violently to the prospect of therapy, she's certain her parents would've forced her to do it. Without being an adult could she truly take this little one back to her homeland? Sure the Nekomata would probably love him and so would anybody else who came into contact with a child with an aura that bright and with being one of the gifted ones, spirits would know not to mess with them otherwise they would risk dealing with an angry Oni clan.
Granted there would always be one's who were too braindead to realize but there's a reason why she's a Kin-Slayer. However, did the boy have a family? If so then it would go against everything she believed in to take him away, unless they all treated the boy poorly. If so she would take the boy back to her homeland and make sure he got the things needed.

    He was too small.

She didn't say anything but she did offer the boy a stone. The innocence when he gave her a confused stare made her want to coo. She picked up a smooth stone before skipping it across the small pond. The boy tried to skip it, however, it barely skimmed the surface before sinking. She wasn't surprised as the dessert didn't offer much water to help with the skill. The boy did well on his first try though.
"Hey, for the first time, not bad." She gave the boy an earnest smile however had second thoughts as she knew she had sharp teeth. Granted she was wearing an illusion of a human form, but inhuman traits always seemed to flow through. Though it seemed that the boy didn't seem to mind, shooting a small one back. It seemed quite awkward as if he wasn't used to making that expression. It made her heart quiver.