Walking back to Yasaka’s home, Inari’s ears drooped as she received scowls and hateful stares from the residents. Trying to use Yasaka and me to hide from them, both of us shrugged her off and let her enjoy a small sliver of what was to come. Running into the young Miko as we drew neared the home, she asked why the Goddess was here and why she was permitted into the village.
“Sana, Lady Inari came on behalf of the Shinto Pantheon to apologize to us…and ask for our allegiance again.”, Yasaka informed her not attempting to hide the spite in her tone.
“We do not need you anymore!”, the Miko shouted as she threw the Shinto Emblem on her kimono to the ground and stomped on it, “You never came to help any of us when we needed you!! My parents starved themselves to death to help make the tribute every month, I watched them slowly die in their bed!! They believed that one day you would come around, but that day never came!!”
Blinded by anger, the young woman slapped Inari and ran off into the village. Hearing other villagers nearby voice their discontent as well, Inari tried to reason with them but no one wanted to listen to her. Throwing rotten food and stones at her, they demanded that she leave immediately.
“Get out of here you False Goddess!!”, a man yelled at her.
“You bled us dry and have the nerve to come here asking for more!!!”, a mother yelled hiding her children from the Goddess, “We will never go back to your Pantheon!!”
“You let the bad people take my mommy!!”, a young boy cried loudly, “She is gone because of all of you!!”
“...Please hear me out…”, Inari pleaded to them, “We are sorry for what happened! Please give us another chance, I swear we will do better!”
Under normal circumstances, I doubted they would have been bold enough to talk to a deity like this. My presence here likely gave them the confidence they needed to speak their minds to her because if she turned violent I would have killed her. Watching everyone walk away from her, she asked us to please hurry and take her to Yasaka’s home as she could no longer take this abuse.
Getting inside the home, she took a seat at the table on the verge of tears but neither of us felt pity for her. Telling Yasaka I would make tea for us, I made a fresh pot of Oolong and brought out some rice crackers. Setting them on the table, the two of us poured each other cups of tea and left Inari to pour her own. Thanking me for the tea, the kitsune took a few sips of her tea before beginning to speak.
“Let me start by saying that we are mortified by what Susanoo did to your people.”, Inari said tightly gripping a few of her tails, “We had no idea he was forcing you to give more than you were supposed to, or that he lied about our agreement with the Youkai. Amaterasu only received confirmation today that he had been lying to both sides, and she is very upset by his betrayal. We are willing to negotiate a better deal with you, so please reconsider!”
Hearing that they had been overpaying their tribute, I saw Yasaka’s expression sour as her teacup began trembling in her hand. Seeing the veins in her hands begin to pop out from her skin, this revelation must have enraged her to no end. Depending on how much extra they had been handing over, I thought I might witness Yasaka strangle Inari to death.
“We were handing extra over to you…how much extra did we give you?”, Yasaka said using every ounce of restraint she had not to snarl at her, “Was it only a few portions, or more than that?”
“If I heard the information correctly…it was ten to fifteen percent extra. I was not in the room when the information was read off so I could only faintly-”, Inari started to say when Yasaka’s cup finally broke under her grip.
Paying no attention to her bleeding hands, Yasaka’s tails puffed out and her fire orbs flared up. Unable to contain her anger and frustration any longer, her pupils narrowed and she snarled at her with venomous hatred. Surprised by the sudden shift in her demeanor, Inari’s ears flattened on her head while tails shot between her legs. Feeling the intense power radiating off of Yasaka, she knew she was outclassed by her in terms of power.
“Do you know how many people I watched starve for those tributes!? I had to convince families to take food from their tables to pay you for nothing!!”, she howled as her fingernails dug into the table, “Several of the women in this village had miscarriages because they could not eat enough to sustain their unborn children!! You stole from us and used me to trick my fellow Youkai!! How dare you come here begging for our allegiance again!!”
“Lady Yasaka, I am sorry we were fools and trusted Susanoo!!”, Inari meekly replied as she dove to the floor and pressed her head to the dirt, “Lady Amaterasu is willing to do whatever it takes to regain your allegiance. We are willing to accept less tribute from you as repayment for our folly. Please at least take some time to reconsider, our two factions have had an outstanding relationship for generations!”
“An outstanding relationship…do you consider nearly starving us to death an outstanding relationship?”, Yasaka inquired as stood up, “None of you care about us, otherwise you would have seen our plight and what he was doing. What else did he lie about, were we actually supposed to be protected from the Devils all this time!?”
Looking away from Yasaka, it was all the confirmation she needed to have. Leaping over the table, she jumped on Inari and began beating the crap out of her. Showering her with insults and curses, Yasaka took all her anger for the Shinto Pantheon out on her.
“We believed in all of you, we believed that you would shelter us and protect us from the horrors of the Great War!! For generations, my family took from our kin to pay you for your Divine Protection, but you never once lived up to your end of the agreement. The Youkai were once a numerous, thriving people with a bright future, you all sat back and watched the war take everything from us!!”, she howled in anger as she began clawing at Inari’s face, “How am I supposed to face my kin now knowing that everything I was told was a lie!? I almost threw my happiness away to satisfy that pig along with several other women!!”
“Please stop!! Have mercy!!”, Inari cried trying to shield her face, “I am sorry, I did not know what was going on!!”
“Yasaka, I think she has gotten the point now. While not completely innocent, she is not the one you should be tearing apart.”, I called out to her, “Susanoo is the one we should be punishing here, Inari understands now that there is no reconciling with our people.”
Screaming in frustration, Yasaka punched her one more time before getting off of her. Telling her to come over to me, I began picking out the shards of pottery from her hands and healed them. Leaning into me, she was done with this conversation now and had nothing left to say to Inari. Any lingering respect she had for them was shattered into a billion pieces.
“Please…we will die without your support and prayers…”, Inari whimpered as she wiped the blood and snot from her face, “There has to be something we can do.”
“The Youkai do not need your protection or blessings anymore, I will see to it that they will have everything they need and can work for whatever they want with their own hands. All of you deities are lazy, how did the Goddess of Harvest and Fertility never notice that birth rates went down and harvests were poor?”, I pressed her, “I guarantee you left it to your servants or did not care enough to carefully monitor things. Unlike you, I come here every few days to check on everyone and they have ways of directly contacting me if there is trouble.”
“You are right…I left everything to my subordinates and spent my time doing as I pleased. Being immortal is hard, you get into a routine that will never end because you will never die and nothing ever changes. After a few centuries, it drives you mad and you do not want to do anymore..”, she stated looking at me, “As a deity yourself, do you not get tired of the monotony?”
“This is why deities need to get off their high clouds and experience the world for what it is. All of you are afraid of getting your hands dirty, and coming down to see the people that worship you. If you did come down and experience life, you would never feel that things were monotonous. The world is a living, breathing entity that is constantly changing with the people that live here, every day is different and there are new experiences to be had.”, I remarked looking out the window, “Unlike the paradise you live in, the imperfections in this world are what make it unique and keep you searching for the next adventure. It is on those adventures that you meet people that you enjoy spending time with, fall in love with, and make rivalries with.”
Understanding what I was getting at, Inari thanked us for our time and excused herself. Leaving Yasaka’s home, she promptly teleported away probably to her home realm.
“Cole…can I stay like this for a bit?”, she asked me softly.
“How about we get in a more comfortable position?”, I suggested carrying her to her bed.
Taking my chest plate off, I laid down and had her snuggle in close. Wringling in as close as she could, within moments of laying her head on my chest she was out cold.
Walking back to Yasaka’s home, Inari’s ears drooped as she received scowls and hateful stares from the residents. Trying to use Yasaka and me to hide from them, both of us shrugged her off and let her enjoy a small sliver of what was to come. Running into the young Miko as we drew neared the home, she asked why the Goddess was here and why she was permitted into the village.
“Sana, Lady Inari came on behalf of the Shinto Pantheon to apologize to us…and ask for our allegiance again.”, Yasaka informed her not attempting to hide the spite in her tone.
“We do not need you anymore!”, the Miko shouted as she threw the Shinto Emblem on her kimono to the ground and stomped on it, “You never came to help any of us when we needed you!! My parents starved themselves to death to help make the tribute every month, I watched them slowly die in their bed!! They believed that one day you would come around, but that day never came!!”
Blinded by anger, the young woman slapped Inari and ran off into the village. Hearing other villagers nearby voice their discontent as well, Inari tried to reason with them but no one wanted to listen to her. Throwing rotten food and stones at her, they demanded that she leave immediately.
“Get out of here you False Goddess!!”, a man yelled at her.
“You bled us dry and have the nerve to come here asking for more!!!”, a mother yelled hiding her children from the Goddess, “We will never go back to your Pantheon!!”
“You let the bad people take my mommy!!”, a young boy cried loudly, “She is gone because of all of you!!”
“...Please hear me out…”, Inari pleaded to them, “We are sorry for what happened! Please give us another chance, I swear we will do better!”
Under normal circumstances, I doubted they would have been bold enough to talk to a deity like this. My presence here likely gave them the confidence they needed to speak their minds to her because if she turned violent I would have killed her. Watching everyone walk away from her, she asked us to please hurry and take her to Yasaka’s home as she could no longer take this abuse.
Getting inside the home, she took a seat at the table on the verge of tears but neither of us felt pity for her. Telling Yasaka I would make tea for us, I made a fresh pot of Oolong and brought out some rice crackers. Setting them on the table, the two of us poured each other cups of tea and left Inari to pour her own. Thanking me for the tea, the kitsune took a few sips of her tea before beginning to speak.
“Let me start by saying that we are mortified by what Susanoo did to your people.”, Inari said tightly gripping a few of her tails, “We had no idea he was forcing you to give more than you were supposed to, or that he lied about our agreement with the Youkai. Amaterasu only received confirmation today that he had been lying to both sides, and she is very upset by his betrayal. We are willing to negotiate a better deal with you, so please reconsider!”
Hearing that they had been overpaying their tribute, I saw Yasaka’s expression sour as her teacup began trembling in her hand. Seeing the veins in her hands begin to pop out from her skin, this revelation must have enraged her to no end. Depending on how much extra they had been handing over, I thought I might witness Yasaka strangle Inari to death.
“We were handing extra over to you…how much extra did we give you?”, Yasaka said using every ounce of restraint she had not to snarl at her, “Was it only a few portions, or more than that?”
“If I heard the information correctly…it was ten to fifteen percent extra. I was not in the room when the information was read off so I could only faintly-”, Inari started to say when Yasaka’s cup finally broke under her grip.
Paying no attention to her bleeding hands, Yasaka’s tails puffed out and her fire orbs flared up. Unable to contain her anger and frustration any longer, her pupils narrowed and she snarled at her with venomous hatred. Surprised by the sudden shift in her demeanor, Inari’s ears flattened on her head while tails shot between her legs. Feeling the intense power radiating off of Yasaka, she knew she was outclassed by her in terms of power.
“Do you know how many people I watched starve for those tributes!? I had to convince families to take food from their tables to pay you for nothing!!”, she howled as her fingernails dug into the table, “Several of the women in this village had miscarriages because they could not eat enough to sustain their unborn children!! You stole from us and used me to trick my fellow Youkai!! How dare you come here begging for our allegiance again!!”
“Lady Yasaka, I am sorry we were fools and trusted Susanoo!!”, Inari meekly replied as she dove to the floor and pressed her head to the dirt, “Lady Amaterasu is willing to do whatever it takes to regain your allegiance. We are willing to accept less tribute from you as repayment for our folly. Please at least take some time to reconsider, our two factions have had an outstanding relationship for generations!”
“An outstanding relationship…do you consider nearly starving us to death an outstanding relationship?”, Yasaka inquired as stood up, “None of you care about us, otherwise you would have seen our plight and what he was doing. What else did he lie about, were we actually supposed to be protected from the Devils all this time!?”
Looking away from Yasaka, it was all the confirmation she needed to have. Leaping over the table, she jumped on Inari and began beating the crap out of her. Showering her with insults and curses, Yasaka took all her anger for the Shinto Pantheon out on her.
“We believed in all of you, we believed that you would shelter us and protect us from the horrors of the Great War!! For generations, my family took from our kin to pay you for your Divine Protection, but you never once lived up to your end of the agreement. The Youkai were once a numerous, thriving people with a bright future, you all sat back and watched the war take everything from us!!”, she howled in anger as she began clawing at Inari’s face, “How am I supposed to face my kin now knowing that everything I was told was a lie!? I almost threw my happiness away to satisfy that pig along with several other women!!”
“Please stop!! Have mercy!!”, Inari cried trying to shield her face, “I am sorry, I did not know what was going on!!”
“Yasaka, I think she has gotten the point now. While not completely innocent, she is not the one you should be tearing apart.”, I called out to her, “Susanoo is the one we should be punishing here, Inari understands now that there is no reconciling with our people.”
Screaming in frustration, Yasaka punched her one more time before getting off of her. Telling her to come over to me, I began picking out the shards of pottery from her hands and healed them. Leaning into me, she was done with this conversation now and had nothing left to say to Inari. Any lingering respect she had for them was shattered into a billion pieces.
“Please…we will die without your support and prayers…”, Inari whimpered as she wiped the blood and snot from her face, “There has to be something we can do.”
“The Youkai do not need your protection or blessings anymore, I will see to it that they will have everything they need and can work for whatever they want with their own hands. All of you deities are lazy, how did the Goddess of Harvest and Fertility never notice that birth rates went down and harvests were poor?”, I pressed her, “I guarantee you left it to your servants or did not care enough to carefully monitor things. Unlike you, I come here every few days to check on everyone and they have ways of directly contacting me if there is trouble.”
“You are right…I left everything to my subordinates and spent my time doing as I pleased. Being immortal is hard, you get into a routine that will never end because you will never die and nothing ever changes. After a few centuries, it drives you mad and you do not want to do anymore..”, she stated looking at me, “As a deity yourself, do you not get tired of the monotony?”
“This is why deities need to get off their high clouds and experience the world for what it is. All of you are afraid of getting your hands dirty, and coming down to see the people that worship you. If you did come down and experience life, you would never feel that things were monotonous. The world is a living, breathing entity that is constantly changing with the people that live here, every day is different and there are new experiences to be had.”, I remarked looking out the window, “Unlike the paradise you live in, the imperfections in this world are what make it unique and keep you searching for the next adventure. It is on those adventures that you meet people that you enjoy spending time with, fall in love with, and make rivalries with.”
Understanding what I was getting at, Inari thanked us for our time and excused herself. Leaving Yasaka’s home, she promptly teleported away probably to her home realm.
“Cole…can I stay like this for a bit?”, she asked me softly.
“How about we get in a more comfortable position?”, I suggested carrying her to her bed.
Taking my chest plate off, I laid down and had her snuggle in close. Wringling in as close as she could, within moments of laying her head on my chest she was out cold.
