Aoki Shrine (II)

After climbing flight after flight of stone steps, Han finally reached the shrine the elderly village head had told her about. At first glance, it was anything but small. In fact, it was quite grand, with a full complement of halls that lent it a sacred, solemn air.

Han paused, then walked beneath the vermilion wooden torii. The plaque above named Amaterasu Omikami as the deity enshrined here; passing beneath it meant she had officially entered the shrine grounds. A straw Shimenawa hung from the torii, adorned with white paper streamers. Han found this strange. A torii marked the boundary between the human and divine realms, and crossing beneath one generally meant entering a god's domain. A Shimenawa was also a kind of barrier, separating the sacred from the mundane and keeping out evil beings and impure people. Both should therefore have carried barriers imbued with spiritual power, separating the shrine from the mortal world. Yet Han had sensed no such power when she entered. Even if it would not bar her entry, as a shrine maiden, she should have been able to sense the barrier. Really... how strange...

A little nervous, Han tightened her arms around Yunai and whispered into the rabbit's long ear about what she had noticed. Yunai came from Gensokyo, where Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden who protected the Great Barrier, normally lived in a shrine, so it knew something about them too. But it had sensed no monsters either... As a rabbit, Yunai was almost at the bottom of the monster food chain, excluding half-monsters. Without keen senses, it would long since have ended up in another monster's jaws, so it was certain none were lurking nearby. At least there were no monsters. Yunai climbed onto Han's shoulder and whispered that reassurance into her ear.

Han walked carefully along the approach. In the dim night, the flames within the stone lanterns were clearly visible, and the swaying shadows of the trees looked especially eerie in their light. She drew an arrow from the quiver on her back and took her longbow in her other hand. As she followed the path, her brow furrowed. Ox-drawn carriages were parked along the roadside-the vehicles of nobles. Almost every carriage had people dressed as attendants beside it. A closer look revealed family crests on their fronts and backs, and the crests were all different.

"Who goes there?!" A shrine maiden approached from ahead, carrying a yellow paper lantern. She was probably a shrine maiden, at least; she wore the proper attire, and the red knot at her waist accentuated her slender figure. Yet she had almost no spiritual power, and the aura surrounding her did not seem pure either. Han was troubled all over again.

"I'm Han from Kiyomori Temple." Han still nodded politely to the shrine maiden. Kiyomori Temple was well known, especially in this region. It sheltered the surrounding villages, and no monsters dared invade them. Surely this shrine maiden had heard of it. "I'm traveling through the provinces on a pilgrimage. It's late now, so I'd like to stay at Aoki Shrine for the night."

The shrine maiden noticed Han's attire and the bow and arrow in her hands, and believed her explanation. "Follow me," she said.

Han followed behind her. For some reason, she could not shake a sense of unease, so she kept her bow and arrow in hand rather than putting them away.

"May I ask if you're the shrine maiden in charge of this shrine?" Han asked.

"No," the shrine maiden replied curtly. "We're holding an important private ritual tonight. Please don't wander around after dark."

"Yes," Han answered. "I understand." Despite her reply, she could not help feeling puzzled. Then she remembered that customs differed from place to place, and even individual villages had their own unique traditions, so she let it go.

"Um..." Han found it strange, but hesitantly asked anyway, "Don't I need to pay my respects at the worship hall?" Even though it was already evening, surely offering a prayer was the proper courtesy when visiting a shrine. When they passed the purification pavilion earlier, the shrine maiden had shown no intention of stopping and simply walked straight past, leaving Han no choice but to follow. Stranger still, she seemed to be avoiding something, keeping Han along the edges of the grounds.

"No need," the shrine maiden said briefly. "Just stay with me. The lodgings are this way."

Since she had said so, Han could only do her best to follow. Their pace grew faster and faster, until she was practically jogging. The shrine maiden ahead seemed not to notice at all, as though she had urgent business to attend to. Han thought of the private ritual she had mentioned. Perhaps she really was busy. With that thought, Han simply tried to quicken her steps.

"We're here," the shrine maiden said.

It was a small, secluded hall with only a handful of rooms inside. There were no stone lanterns nearby, so the little lantern in the shrine maiden's hand provided their only light, making the interior look gloomy and sinister. She led Han inside, lighting the candles along the way one by one, then brought her into one of the rooms. Though out of the way, the room was clean and tidy, and Han was quite satisfied. After telling her where to fetch water and other necessities nearby, the shrine maiden quickly left, warning Han once more before she went that she must not come out during the night.

That night.

The moon was bright and the stars sparse. The shrine, which should have been silent, was instead ablaze with lights, and faint sounds of music and dancing seemed to drift through the air.

Han had been asleep, but now woke in a groggy haze. She hesitated for a moment. Although the shrine maiden had told her not to go out at night, the situation was simply too strange. Han gently nudged Yunai, but the little rabbit was sound asleep. It nuzzled her palm affectionately, unwilling to wake.

After a moment's thought, Han whispered beside the rabbit's long white ear, "Sesshomaru's here."

"?!" The rabbit's eyes snapped open, and it looked warily around.

"..." Sesshomaru really did come in handy...

Girl and rabbit crept carefully along the corridor. Han's tabi-clad feet made no sound on the wooden floor. With the little rabbit lying on her shoulder, she moved silently through the dim night toward the hall where the noise was coming from. The moonlit shadows beneath the corridor eaves provided perfect cover.

She had reached a point near the center of the grounds. Just ahead stood the shrine's main sanctuary, an imposing, solemn Kasuga-zukuri hall with its entrance at the gable end [note 1]. In front of it was the worship hall. Both remained pitch-black, silent and austere. Ahead to the right was the kagura hall, which was also the liveliest, noisiest place here.

Han glanced around. No one was nearby; only in the distance did a few people carrying trays pass in and out of the kagura hall with bowed backs. Holding her breath, she crouched and hurried toward its rear. Through the paper windows glowing yellow, she could make out moving silhouettes and hear the clatter of cups amid the revelry.

Holding her breath, Han gently poked a small hole in the paper window with her finger. Through it, she saw five shrine maidens dancing in the center of the hall. Their movements bore traces of the Kagura Dance, but they held no gold or silver fans or other implements. Their robes hung loosely, leaving their shoulders half bare and making them look particularly frivolous. Three or four low tables stood along each side of the hall. Behind them sat men with whitened faces [note 2], some with beautiful women in kimono nestled beside them, others holding half-undressed shrine maidens in their laps as they exchanged drinks, laughed, and made merry.

At the sight of such debauchery, Han sucked in a breath and stumbled back a step. She pressed a hand to her chest, her heart still racing. Without realizing it, she had retreated from the shadows beneath the window into a bright patch of the corridor.

"Lady shrine maiden." A shrill voice suddenly sounded behind her. Han jumped and hurriedly turned to find someone dressed as an attendant. Seeing how startled the little shrine maiden looked, the pale-faced man asked cautiously in his habitually fawning tone, "Would you like to go inside?"

Though he phrased it as a question, he had already decided that this little shrine maiden must be new and did not know where the lords were gathered. She looked quite young, only eight or nine, but some of the lords preferred that sort, and it was not his place to comment.

"If you don't know the way, please follow me," he said politely.

"N-no... there's no need..." Anxious and afraid of being discovered, Han began to stumble over her words.

"Who's out there?!" The window suddenly opened, and a hoarse voice rang out, carrying a faintly sinister undertone.

"Lord Mountain God, I..." Before the attendant could finish, a huge hoof shot through the window and kicked him away.

An enormous boar's head suddenly appeared in the small window, with a protruding snout, long, sharp tusks, and thick brown bristles spilling down its neck. The so-called mountain god narrowed its piggy eyes and looked the little shrine maiden up and down. Its eyes narrowed again, its gaze turning wicked as its mouth spread into a grin and a thin trickle of saliva dripped from the corner. "Oh? A shrine maiden?" it asked, though its tone made it clear it was already certain.

"You're nothing but a boar monster." Han sneered. The moment it appeared, she had sensed its thick monstrous aura. "And you dare pretend to be a mountain god?" As she spoke, her hands kept moving. In one smooth motion, she drew an ordinary arrow from the quiver on her back, nocked it, and infused it with spiritual power. Just as she was about to release the string, someone lunged at her from behind. The arrow that should have pierced the monster flew to its left instead, missing it entirely.

Han looked back. It was the attendant the monster had kicked away. A human, yet he was in league with a monster... Han gritted her teeth, but she knew that while demon-purifying arrows were devastating against monsters, they were no different from ordinary arrows against humans. In fact, against ordinary people, her shots were less effective than those of an expert human archer [note 3]. With the human attendant restraining her, she was already at a disadvantage, and launching another attack would be difficult. Rather than force it, Han turned to flee.

"After her!" Startled by the spiritual power in Han's demon-purifying arrow, the boar monster did not dare confront her directly. It would have these humans capture the shrine maiden who dared trespass on its territory instead. "Catch her! Take her alive!"

"Yes, Lord Mountain God!" Attendants streamed out from both sides, drew the swords at their waists, and chased after the fleeing shrine maiden.

After running from the kagura hall, Han considered the nobles' attendants guarding the shrine's entrance. Breaking through them would be difficult. After a moment's thought, she decided to flee deeper into the shrine instead. This mountain shrine was quite large, with a complicated layout; hiding one person should not be hard. But with so many people pursuing her, she could not shake them off right away.

Han thought as she ran. Another branching path appeared ahead. She hesitated briefly, then saw the people behind her closing in and turned left. Someone unexpectedly came toward her from the opposite direction. Unable to stop, she nearly threw herself into his arms.

The man reacted swiftly, gently catching the little shrine maiden as she hurtled toward him. Hearing people drawing closer and seeing the anxious look on her face, he understood. He raised an index finger to his lips in a quiet gesture for silence. With his other hand, he released her and took a paper talisman from inside his robes, murmuring an incantation. A transparent barrier shimmering with a blue glow rose around them. Han's eyes widened. Only someone with powerful magic could erect a barrier so casually; most people had to prepare one in advance.

The pursuers reached the junction and looked both ways, but saw no one. With a muttered "Damn it," they hesitated briefly, then split into three groups [note 4], their leader taking the path to the right.

Only when she saw the pursuers run past without noticing either of them did Han slowly let out the breath she had been holding. Now she noticed that the man before her wore a long black robe beneath a blue kasaya-the typical attire of a spellcaster. Having just seen humans and shrine maidens reveling alongside a monster, Han did not dare let her guard down. Still, this spellcaster had saved her, so she thanked him softly.

The spellcaster smiled faintly. In the corridor's dim yellow light, she could see that he was a young man, with short black hair, neatly trimmed bangs, and a small braid tied at the back of his head, giving him a rather dashing air. He gestured for silence again, took the little shrine maiden's hand, and led her on tiptoe toward the main sanctuary. Han felt conflicted about a stranger holding her hand, but his expression was open and composed, and he had just rescued her. She did not pull away, and instead began running along with him.