The Sun Prince

Human cheaters D:<

In a fair footrace through the streets of his Capital city, Kuro would win paws-down. But humans were never fair.

A delivery boy veered into his path, forcing Kuro to lose precious seconds by whirling around him, only to run into a palanquin. The samurai guards rested their hands on their hilts and glared at him as Kuro tried to dash right and then left. The guards kept getting in the bloody way. Finally, he crawled under the palanquin, only for a basket peddler to stop in front of him to yell at the surrounding humans. Mochi scattered around Kuro like falling leaves as he was forced to dance and whirl around them.

The humans were ganging up on him. Any patch of street that had once been empty suddenly filled with humans, while the retainers strode through unobstructed. The lower ranked merchants and artisans scampered out of their way, while the samurai guards nodded their greetings.

Almost like they smelled Kuro's disguise. Kuro shook his head. They couldn't even smell the difference between one human and another. They couldn't know.

The only point in Kuro's favour was that the sun was still high in the sky, so he had hours before they shut the residential gates. If he didn't lose them by nightfall — what a stupid thought. Of course he'd lose them by then.

He had to get out of the humans' domain. But where? Up north toward the Dragon Shrine, with the tumbling Imperial Palace walls gloating over its artisan neighbours? Down south toward the Shogun's Palace, so more samurai could swarm him? The retainers wouldn't dare invade Inari Shrine, but that was never an option.

The Riverbank Settlement. The retainers would rather cut off their balls than descend into human filth. This was his only chance.

A dozen workmen spilled out of an oden shop, lurching side to side and laughing brazenly after indulging in a few early drinks. Perfect. Kuro crossed the street slow enough for the retainers to follow. Too drunk to recognise the retainers' topknots, they refused to move out of the retainers' way. When the retainers attempted to shove their way through, the workmen yelled and shoved them back.

Grinning, Kuro slipped behind them and turned a corner, leaving the crowded streets of lattice-covered shops for the empty roads surrounded by plastered garden walls. But as he reached the next crossroad, the two retainers entered the alley. The first retainer jabbed a finger at Kuro, and they both picked up their pace.

If only Kuro could transform into his real self. He could have easily jumped over the walls before the samurai pounded after him. But in this human form, he'd have to ditch the mochi and while he struggled to scale the wall, the samurai would drag him down by his ankles.

Why were they even still chasing him? They must have gotten the same chuckles out of the boy-samurai's humiliation as the lady. They should have gotten more, since they were both a decade older than the boy — or so Kuro reckoned. Human years were so difficult to figure out. They aged so quickly that by the time he figured out they might be toddlers or middle-aged, they'd turned another decade completely. But Kuro was pretty sure that grey hairs and wrinkles meant old, and yet the retainers had to serve a boy who had probably never even seen a demon before.

They couldn't possibly be loyal to a brat like that. Oh no, humans weren't much different than spirits. They only cared about themselves. The boy-samurai must be rich and they hoped for a reward. They couldn't be too clever, then.

But Kuro couldn't laugh them off either. They might be no better than dogs, but dogs were terrifying and so were samurai. Samurai didn't arrest human thieves. They hired commoners do to that distasteful duty. If the retainers chased him down, then they meant to test their swords on him and leave his body for the Undesirables to collect.