Wicked Yokai Prince

Yokai monster

Jiro decided to cut the joking aside and flew scouring the forest for every fine detail of its land. He searched for the faceless oni until his wings grew tired and the last glimmer of sunlight sank behind the horizon.

He has no choice but to meet up with Shintaro  later on. Shintaro who went ahead and found refuge inside a cave.

Moonlight touched over the forest soon.

A voice came over from deep within the cave. Jiro wouldn't have known it was Shintaro if he hadn't known he was there in the first place. The Shinigami has an uncanny way of blending into the darkness.

"Where have you been?" Shintaro spoke with lethal silence. A silent hiss.

"Been scouring the forest." Jiro grinned. "Why? You missed me?"

All thoughts of joining Jiro for company vanished instantly. He could not possibly accommodate such immaturity. "I can't believe they made you leader of a village."

Jiro shrugged. "Right. I can't believe it either, but they did. They must be out of their minds."

"I'm sure they're left not much of a choice."

"It's either me or Kurama."

"I'm sure the fox yokai would have been a far better choice."

Jiro exhaled. "You sure are a tsundere. Lighten up my friend, I will not rape you in your sleep."

His comment annoyed Shintaro even more, sinking back into the dim darkness.

Jiro shot a fire from the tip of his finger igniting the school of twigs nearby. "Come join me in the fire. I'll roast some squirrels for dinner."

Shintaro let out a grumble in his breath which soon echoed by his stomach. "I'm not hungry."

"I can promise you it'll make your mouth wet."

Shintaro grimaced in the darkness. "I'll rather starve."

"Suit yourself." Said Jiro smiling.

****

The night passed quickly. Jiro did not remember falling asleep, but something moving around woke him up. There was someone else in the cave and the energy it gave out was not the same as Shintaro's.

He sprang into life. Wings splayed behind his back. "Didn't think you'd be wise enough to hunt us."

A monster with body long and sleek as a snake slithered from the mouth of the cave. It has a face with slit eyes and large mouth. Large enough to house sharp pointed edge of his teeth.

It hissed as it talked. "This side of the forest is my home. And anyone foolish enough to make his home here becomes my meal."

It was an evil snake yokai.

"By chance, you wouldn't have eaten a yokai with a face of a human girl, would you?" Jiro looked at the monster's belly and noticed the pregnant swell. "You look like you just had a meal."

The monster flicked its tongue, still tasting his last meal on the edges of its mouth. "I remember seeing a yokai with a face of a human passing by – but it did not stop here. Lucky too, because I would have eaten it as well." He clutched his belly, "no, this is a far lesser meal than that oni. I'm still hungry."

"I'm sorry to disappoint but I'm too high of a spirit to be a meal for a lesser demon." He made a show of his wings which shone like sharp blades.

Jiro didn't have to do much. Shintaro was like liquid in the mask of shadow within the cave. He moved without being noticed that not even Jiro saw or felt him in the darkness.

A shape of a weapon materialized in the shadow. It moved to quick for normal eyes to keep up with. The monster didn't even know what happened when the other part of its body slid and dropped on the ground.

He'd been cut in half.

Shintaro stepped out of the darkness after and crouched beside the oni with his shadow weapon. He pressed it against the monster's cheek threatening more of his life.

The monster was still overcoming with shock not knowing what happened. His life flashed before him upon realizing he'd been cut. The lower part of his body laid twitching slowly losing life on the ground. And even as the other half of him survived, he was too frozen unable to move.

"Care to tell us where the yokai with human face went?" Growled Shintaro threateningly.

"The oni with a human face headed east." The monster struggled to answer. "I did not pay too much attention to him. I lost interest after I learned he wasn't going to be a meal."

Jiro made himself lower to the ground. He watched the monster struggle. He didn't feel much empathy towards it. He'd rid his village of too many of the like. "How long ago?"

"It was half a day ago when the sun was still up. It passed hours before the two of you wandered into my forest."

Shintaro seemed satisfied enough the monster was telling the truth, but he still couldn't allow a man eating demon roam around freely, especially one with appetite for spirits also.

His hand moved like a flash when he slit the monster's throat.

Jiro grunted and moved back, avoiding the pool of blood slowly staining the ground. "Now, look at what you've done. How do you expect me to sleep on a ground covered with blood?"

"Hang on the ceiling like a bat?" Answered Shintaro. His body shifting into his regular form.

Jiro lifted his eyes to him. "I'm a TENGU not a vampire."

"What difference does it make?"

"I won't make a meal out of you."

"We don't know that."

Jiro sighed. "Now, I wonder if you were like this the whole time when you were with Rin? I seem to recall you were more friendly back then."

Shintaro flushed suddenly feeling a pang of guilt. Good thing it was too dark in the cave to notice the fret on his face. There's no doubt he preferred the company of a woman but it made him more guilty she's Jiro's woman.

"No sir, just have to be more respectful to a delicate human girl who got her face stolen. You on the other hand is cursed monster. There's no reason why I should be kind around you."

"Fair enough." Said Jiro. "I supposed I have a lot to prove before I could gain your trust."

"Maybe, maybe not."

Jiro raised a brow.

"I don't like being teased." Answered Shintaro sternly. He straightened back to his height vanishing the weapon on his hand. 

"So, you're a manly dude."

"I'm a government official and so are you, we must behave within our ranks."