The second part of our monk fic
And heeere's the second part. Be sure to read them chronologically!!
For rating and plot summary, read the previous post.
“Houshi-sama!”
I had been sitting outside on the porch, watching Kohaku and his sister play with their pet when Kohaku took note of me. Two days had passed, and only then had I realized that their little cat had two tails, and was in actuality a demon. For demon exterminators to take in a demon as a pet meant that there was more to this family than met the eye. They were unusually tolerant; even the young lady of the house was kind enough to me when my hands were kept to myself (which was not as often as it should have been, I fear).
I smiled at the young Kohaku as he sprinted over to me, the small cat in his arms.
“Have you met Kirara yet?” I shook my head and offered the cat a light pat on the head. “Hello there, Kirara,” I told her. “It’s a pleasure to formally meet you.” Seeing her up close, I found it difficult to believe that I had been unable to tell that she was a demon. Her wide red-orange eyes closed in contentment at the gentle touch on her forehead and she let out an endearing mewl. She seemed to like me, which told me that she was quite intelligent.
I looked up to see Kohaku’s sister looking up at me, then turning away with a dim blush.
She had not told me her name, nor had she asked for mine. I doubted that my name would have mattered much to her. After that first day, both her father and her brother resorted to calling me “houshi-sama.” I did not detest the term, but felt unfit to bear a title of such respect when it was obvious that even young Kohaku knew more about spirituality than I was supposed to know. I had taken to calling the girl Taijya-chan. She hated the name, but did not seem inclined to give me her real one. She was quite strange, but charming all the same.
“Are you feeling better, houshi-sama?”
With a smile, I ascertained that I was. Kohaku had seated himself besides me and let Kirara go. She sprinted off and joined her mistress, bringing a smile to the girl’s face. I sighed and tried to ignore her beauty; it would be my luck to find a girl that was as pretty as she was strong and yet be unable to make any sort of advances towards her since even her younger brother was probably able enough to kill me before I knew what was happening. “Much better, thank you. I do believe I am well enough to depart your village soon.”
I saw with some surprise that this brought a small frown to the boy’s face.
“Where will you go?” I shrugged as I tried to look at the sky rather than at Taijya-chan. “I have never bothered to stop and think of a given destination, Kohaku-kun.” Looking down at him, I explained, “I am after a powerful demon, you see. Your father has been allowing me to read some of your village’s historical texts to assist me in capturing it.”
The boy nodded solemnly and whispered, “Naraku.”
I nodded. “So then you have heard of him as well?” Kohaku looked down. “Yes. We’ve all heard of him. He’s a dangerous villain, to be sure. We have kept ourselves hidden from the more dangerous demons who hate us and the villagers claim that he has threatened to reveal our whereabouts if he hears that we know anything about the sacred jewel and are hiding it from him.” Looking back up at me, he continued. “Personally, I think that such a rumor is foolish. I have asked Father about it, but he will neither deny nor affirm it.” With a pause, Kohaku then noted, “Though we have been getting attacked more and more frequently by progressively stronger demons.”
No sooner had Kohaku said these words than a scream was heard in the distance.
I looked up and rose to my feet. I saw that Taijya-chan was gone, as was Kirara. A roar was heard coming from the trees that separated the village from the wilderness. I was about to tell the boy to stay back when he ran forward. “Sister!” How foolish of me. The boy was a trained fighter, and his elder sister has suddenly gone missing. He would not take this laying down, and neither would the rest of the village.
I looked about me to see that the taijya of the village were gathering their weapons and running for the woods, in response to the screams.
Picking up my staff from the ground, I moved to follow after them when a hand fell upon my shoulder. I looked back to see the stern face of a man who looked vaguely familiar. “Stay here, houshi. This is a job for the taijya.” I shook my head, feeling something foreboding in the direction of the woods. “No, you don’t understand. An ominous presence looms-.”
“You’ve used that line far too many times, houshi.”
I blinked at him in surprise. He must have appeared familiar because we had crossed one another’s paths in another village. To this day, I am unsure. I only know for certain that he was not a taijya. Walking away, he said, “You’re injured and have been receiving good care, and have not found yourself turned away despite your obvious lack of composure. Don’t meddle in their affairs, or they’ll begin to expect far too much from you, and will be highly disappointed when you don’t deliver.”
Irritated, I turned swiftly and ran into the forest, ignoring his calls.
I think, on some level, I knew that he was right. I had only recently set out on my own and was hardly as strong as I could have been, caring only for women and the occasional sake. Kami, I prayed as I ran blindly amongst the trees, not realizing that I had sprinted into a different part of the woods than the taijya had. Grant me the power to do these people a good turn.
I only subconsciously realized that my cursed hand was wrapped painfully tight around my staff.
I stopped at a clearing. Looking about, I felt the presence of a demon. Bearing my staff, my free hand slipped within a secret pocket of my robes, clutching an exorcism scroll. Hearing a low growl behind me, I turned swiftly. A large demon was making its way towards me quickly. I was about to call upon my spiritual powers before I looked into its large red-orange eyes and realized who it was.
“Kirara?”
The two-tailed cat was much larger now, flames licking about her body. I walked closer and ascertained that these flames were a part of her and not actually engulfing her. I looked up into her eyes and could almost swear that they conveyed a look of sadness. Coming towards me, Kirara nudged her face against my shoulder. I took this to be some form of an embrace and draped my arm about her neck. My hand touched upon something sticky.
I peered around and saw that her yellow fur was damp with blood.
Taking a step back, I looked at her. She returned my gaze firmly. She had not flinched when I touched her, and so it was safe to assume that the blood did not belong to her. Slowly, I understood that Kirara had come to retrieve me and take me to her endangered mistress.
Quickly jumping onto her back, I called, “Go, Kirara!”
I held onto her tightly as she unexpectedly took to the air. Regaining my balance, I wondered if there was anything that this cat could not do. Thankfully, I was acquainted with a tanuki who also had flying capabilities, and so this was not a wholly foreign thing for me. Looking down, I saw that her speed greatly outmatched that of my acquaintance.
Something dire must have happened to force Kirara to make haste.
As she descended from the air, I quickly saw what had happened. The young Taijya-chan was being attacked by what appeared to be a snake demon. Its monstrous head almost cleared the trees and it stared down evilly at its prey. She was on the ground, her leg twisted in such a way to suggest an open gash, at the least. Having been caught unawares, she was unarmed. Or so I thought at first glance. I did not see her katana lying on the ground some feet away from her, blocked from her grasp by the coiling tail of the demon. I noticed Kirara slowed and wondered why for only a brief moment. A spark of energy surged out and hit her, making her jerk backwards.
This demon had the ability to create a barrier.
I cursed to myself. I had never learned how to break down barriers, only create them. Kirara lowered me onto the ground and I dismounted from her. The snake set its glowing red eyes on me, its expression similar to that of a grinning madman. Desperate to find some way to help Taijya-chan, I took a step towards the barrier and extended my hand.
It passed right through the barrier.
I blinked at it in surprise. Could it be that only demons were repelled by this barrier? How can that be? I looked up at the snake, which emitted a hiss of enraged surprise. Deciding to use this to my advantage, I put on a determined expression and ran straight through this “barrier.”
The snake charged at me at the same time.
It made a lunge for me, its jaws opened wide. I jumped into the air and struck its head with my staff, rolling off its back and onto the ground. It let out a sound similar to that of dead leaves rustling on a winter’s night as it hit the ground. I got up quickly and sprinted towards the wounded warrior, who was looking up at me in shock.
“H-h-h-houshi-sama,” was all she managed to say.
I quickly crouched and looked down at her leg. She had not had the time to change into uniform, and so her yukata was stained by her own blood. Hearing movement behind me, I spun around. My staff’s top piece had recently been sharpened by the taijya, and so should have torn open the flesh of the demon. I saw no such injury. This led me to one simple conclusion.
The demon had no flesh.
A ghost, is it? I stood straight and put my hand back into my robes. The snake went for me again. I heard an uncharacteristic screech coming from Taijya-chan and could have sworn I felt hands clutching at the hem of my robe. Easily enough dealt with. “Disperse, evil spirit!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, calling forth every ounce of spiritual strength the Buddha had blessed me with as I threw the scroll at the ghost.
It was hit between the eyes, mere feet away from us.
It let out a shrill hiss, if such a thing is possible. As it began to tremble, I crouched once again, and put a reassuring arm around Taijya-chan, who stared on in disbelief. Horrible, earth-shattering sounds were heard, and I saw its weak barrier wavering and then finally fall. Was I able to walk through it because of my spiritual gifts? I had not time to expound on these thoughts as a bright light flared. Taijya-chan and I both turned our heads to shield our eyes.
This put our faces but an inch apart, causing her to blush furiously.
When the light died down, I stood once again and walked to where the demon had been. In its place was a small snake, no different than one would find in a garden. How terrible that even the most harmless of things can be consumed with evil, I thought as I slammed the end of my staff down onto it, putting the creature out of its misery. The average monk would have let it go back into the wild and pray that the animal would find rest.
I am not the average monk.
Looking back, I saw that Kirara had made her way back to her mistress. Taijya-chan was trying to use her in order to help her to her feet. I walked over and extended my hand to her. She pretended she didn’t see it and continued to struggle. Amused by her pride and simultaneously aghast by how bloodstained her clothing had become, I moved behind her and took her by the waist. She tensed up, but relaxed when she saw that I was only lifting her onto Kirara’s back.
For some reason, I felt that I would have been more likely to do something if she had been strong enough to strike me.
“Sister??” I looked back. It was then when I realized that the sounds of the forest had been silent while the snake was alive. Had the barrier also been enough to block out sound? But then, why would it block out sound and not sight? I had never heard of such a barrier. And had I not also heard the snake’s hissing while I was still outside? What exactly was it that enabled me to enter the barrier? I looked up at the large cat, who was accommodating her injured comrade as best as she could. And did Kirara somehow know about it?
“Kohaku-kun,” I yelled out, “Gaanetto-sama! Over here!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I was happy to finally see the girl open her eyes.
She looked up at me blankly. I saw her legs move underneath the blanket and stop suddenly. Her eyes widening, she must have realized that her legs were entirely bare, save for a bandage. Gasping and sitting up, she clutched the blanket about her waist and tried to stutter out some sort of order for me to leave.
“Do not fear me, Sango-chan.”
She blinked in surprise. “H-…how did you…?” Gently pushing down on her shoulder to get her to lie down once again, I stated, “Your father told me. You did not fully expect me to stay here a number of days and not learn it, did you?” Sango-chan looked around, ignoring the small smile that crept on my face. “A number of days? How long has it been since the attack?”
I affirmed that it had been five days hence, and her eyes shot back to meet mine in disbelief.
I went on to explain what had happened. The snake had somehow managed to bite her at the junction between her hip and left leg. Either it had wanted to toy with her or she had managed to escape its grip; I had not been able to ascertain. Whatever the case, he weapon was knocked away and she ended up wounded on the ground. This snake bite did not release venom, as the snake was but a spirit. It could not physically wound another. However, it preyed upon the souls of innocent young girls. As long as it was on this earth, Sango-chan’s soul was being used as a food source. Perhaps this was why it did not do away with her right away. Whatever the case, I was glad that I had destroyed the carrier and buried it properly, lest Sango-chan be plagued by this demon encounter in the future.
It took many days of prayers and nursing to get her to awaken after she had fallen unconscious on Kirara’s back.
She listened to the story in shock. I suppose that she had taken the time it took for me to tell my rather long-winded tale to inspect my face. I had slept little since that day, and ate even less. After a long moment, she placed her hand over mine, a look of gratitude in her eyes. “Thank you, Houshi-sama.” I shook my head at her. “Please, call me Miroku.”
Sango-chan shook her head right back at me.
“I owe my life to you. I never thought that I would be indebted to a man in such a way. Calling you by anything other than your revered title would be minimizing this deed you have done for me.” She did not look me in the eye as she spoke, and I noticed a slight tint of red in her cheeks. I was about to ask her about this when I heard the sound of creaking wood and realized that someone was at the door.
“Sister!”
I turned back and pulled my hand away just in time for an excited Kohaku to throw himself at his sister, hugging her fiercely. “I’m so glad! Father and Houshi-sama and I have been so worried.” I saw Sango-chan’s startled eyes turn to look at me and quickly looked away, seeing Gaanetto-sama at the door. With a gentle smile, he walked into the room.
I stood, smiled at him, and left the room quietly.
What was that feeling that went through me when Sango-chan willingly touched my hand? Why did my heart feel greatly at ease to see her awaken? And why had I willingly stayed up for hours on end, meditating more than I ever had in my life? Folding my arms over my chest and hiding my hands in the sleeves of my robes, I looked down as I walked through the expansive hallway. I was merely repaying a debt. That is all. If not, then I was probably just hoping that this would grant me more time with which to win her over. I knew that these thoughts were false when I stopped outside the room that contained the shrine to Miroku Bosatsu.
Without knowing why, I entered the room.
Someone had just laid down incense. I walked over to the large statue and knelt down in front of it, bowing my head. I know little of you, I told the Bosatsu, and so I have never paid homage to you. I scarcely believe that you exist. Does this make me a traitor to my robes? Though I knew that I was still speaking to myself within my own mind, I was almost certain that the voice changed slightly and did not… did not belong to me. No. You called upon me when you needed me most. You called upon me when you needed to save a life. I shook my head as though in disagreement. I called upon the Enlightened One.
And what do you think I am?
I looked up at the statue. As characteristic of many depictions of Miroku Bosatsu, he was sitting cross-legged, a finger on his cheek as though in contemplation. In this case, however, it seemed as though he was keeping a secret. I do not know. But perhaps I should endeavor to find out.
“I’ve never heard of a monk who questions his faith religiously.”
I spun around to see Gaanetto-sama walking quietly into the room, slowly making his way towards me. I looked down, as though in shame. “Is it really faith if I question it?” The man stood besides me and placed a hand on the top of my head. “A Greek philosopher by the name of Socrates once said, ‘The wise always question themselves. Only a fool is certain.’” With a half smile, I questioned, “Are you certain of that, Gaanetto-sama?”
Laughing good-naturedly, he knelt besides me.
“I do hope I was not interrupting your meditation, houshi-sama.” I shook my head. “Just an inner conflict that will straighten itself over time. It will not leave anytime soon.” He nodded, as though understanding completely. Looking back up at the Bosatsu, Gaanetto-sama quietly said, “Those are the only wounds that really heal that way. And if you play your cards right, you might just escape without any scars.”
He let a contemplative moment of silence pass before speaking again.
“I’d like to thank you for rescuing my daughter.” I nodded. Over the past few days, I had heard his side of the encounter numerous times. He and his son were not too far away from where I had been, but had seen and heard nothing. No one but Sango-chan knew what had carried her out so far into the woods on her own and so quickly, and so that can only be speculated on until she was questioned. And no one at all knew how I was able to see both captor and captive through what others had decided was a powerful barrier if even Kirara could not get through it. Most attributed it to my holy powers, but Gaanetto-sama thought otherwise.
“You are a miracle,” he kept telling me.
I nodded again as he repeated this statement, saying nothing. It was uncomfortable enough dealing with my own spiritual confusion; having someone who worships a Bosatsu who shares my name claim that I am a miracle made me feel wrong about even questioning my beliefs.
Placing a hand on my shoulder, Gaanetto-sama told me, “She told me why she ran off.”
I looked at him questioningly. “She said she felt the need to ride on Kirara- though she didn’t elaborate as to why.” His eyes sparkled for but a brief moment. I remembered that I had caught Sango-chan looking at me and then turn away moments before this occurred. “She encountered the demon and was stubborn enough to try and take it down without assessing the situation. That has happened once or twice before, but never with ill consequences. Something must have bothered her.”
Looking down, I replied, “Yes, indeed.”
Another moment of silence enveloped us. Then I was asked, “Do you still plan on leaving?” I nodded. I had told him that I had meant to leave days ago, and would only stay until the day that Sango-chan was healed. “Yes.”
“Where will you go?”
I remembered Kohaku asking me the same question. Though it was only a few days before, I now had an answer for him. “Home.” Gaanetto-sama looked at me. “Oh? And where’s that?” I looked back up, into the eyes of the stone Miroku before me. “At the temple of my foster father, Mushin. I feel that there is still much for me to learn before I can go on with my quest.” Seeming to already know the answer before he even asked the question, he asked, “And why is that, houshi-sama? You were strong enough to defeat that evil spirit.”
It took me a moment to formulate the words, possibly because they were the bare truth.
“Yes. And I had believed that I was strong enough. There is no reason why I cannot be that sure of myself during all of my waking hours.” I looked at the village headmaster and saw him smiling. I offered him a smile back. I wanted to tell him more, so much more, but I was never one to know what sort of words to offer men. Instead, I only said, “Give your daughter my regards. May she and the rest of your family be blessed.”
Gaanetto-sama nodded as I stood to leave.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Houshi-sama!”
I stopped and turned around. I had just exited the taijya village, a small change purse filled with coins given to me by Gaanetto-sama in his gratitude. Kohaku was waving his arms and chasing after me. Walking towards him, I was alarmed and hoped that Sango-chan had not relapsed. “Kohaku-kun?” He stopped before me, panting, looking up at me with troubled eyes.
“Are you leaving?”
I nodded down at him. Why did he seem so reluctant to see me leave? “Yes,” I told him plainly. “I need to go back to my home temple.” After a moment, he waved back in the direction of his village, “But you haven’t said goodbye to my sister. You can’t just leave without saying goodbye!” I gave him a smile. He seemed so concerned. “Kohaku-kun,” I said quietly, “perhaps it would be best if you and your sister forget about me.”
“What! Why?”
I crouched down to meet the boy at eye-level. “Kohaku-kun, I tell you this because I have grown to like you and your family. Chances are we will never cross paths again. This is not planned, this is simply the way Fate unravels. Memories risk becoming bittersweet, and then simply bitter. Memory can eventually become a curse. Look towards the future in all things; only then will you grow.”
It broke my heart to see that the boy was fighting back tears.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I just don’t understand.” Standing, I said, “You will someday.” I ruffled his hair playfully, trying to lift his spirits. “But perhaps I am wrong, and Fate plans for us to meet again. Whatever the case, I cannot stay here for the moment. After all,” I added with a smile, “I am a traveling monk, am I not?” I was relieved to see Kohaku smile. “It’s good to hear you say that, houshi-sama.”
“Say what?”
“That you’re a monk.” I thought upon this. Yes. Something about this village, it had reawakened my spirituality. I am… I am a new person. “You know what else Father told me that you are?” I asked him what it was. With a laugh, he responded, “A miracle.” I smiled down at him. How is one to respond to such a thing? “Perhaps in a past life, I was.” Kohaku nodded. “I believe it.”
With this new thought in mind, I felt more anxious than ever to return to the temple in which I had grown up.
“Yes well, I can speculate on that for as long as I wish, but past lives only matter in the sense that they affect how you live your current one, and any subsequent ones.” Kohaku laughed quietly. “I don’t think you’ll be reincarnated again, houshi-sama. I think you might just find Enlightenment this time around.” I smiled. “Thank you. That would be nice, would it not?” I sighed, anticipating the long journey ahead. “Go. Your sister will be wanting some company. Do not deny her the affection she deserves.” He nodded as he began to walk backwards towards his village. “Thank you again, houshi-sama!” No, Kohaku-kun. Thank you. May we meet again someday, under better circumstances. With that, he turned and sprinted back towards his home.
And feeling more empowered than I had for months, I began to walk back towards mine.