The descent down the mountain was more difficult than the ascent, with the winter season bearing down on us. Ichimatsu had repaired the shoe that had caused my fall yesterday, but my ankle was still aching from the awkward angle it had bent in.

I gladly accepted Ichimatsu's offer of a back ride, letting my arms hang loose around his neck while resting my head against his shoulder.

It felt oddly nostalgic.

"(Y/n)," I felt his voice rumble against my chest, "When this is all over, do you have any thoughts of what you wanted to do?"

"Not really..." I closed my eyes, "I've been so busy trying to find a way to reverse my mistake that I haven't put any thought towards what comes afterwards."

"May I tell you what I want?"

I only nodded against his head.

"I want to find a place where we can live without interruption, where you can find endless inspiration for your songs and where I could listen to you," His left ear flicked backwards, shaking off a large clump of snow that had fallen on it, "I would like to finally consummate our relationship."

"I'd like that, too."

"Which part?" Ichimatsu laughed a little, tilting his head back towards me.

"All of it," I pressed my cold cheek against his warm one, "If our parents were alive, do you think they'd have a fit that we weren't married yet?"

His lips pulled back into a rare smile, "Your parents would have a bigger fit than mine."

"True," I laughed, my breath turning into white wisps in the cold air.

Ichimatsu carried me down the mountain with no complaint and refused to let me off when we were in the gentle foothills, claiming that if I tried walking now then my ankle wouldn't be able to handle the pressure. Without a second thought, he kept walking down the footpath that widened into a main road.

When the sun touched the horizon, we arrived at a town I didn't recognize.

The town was split down the middle by the river we had been following for some time, the waters providing a lush ground for farming. The ripe green stalks of grain sprouted from the ground, creating vast fields of what looked like tall grass from a distance. The river curled through the town with some artificially created branches that fed farms, continuing on past the town and further through the low mountain range.

"This is Awa. We'll be stopping here for the night before continuing to Tokushima for a boat to Wakayama," Ichimatsu explained as he finally set me down on the ground, holding my hand while I steadied myself before letting go.

"Wakayama...that's near Osaka, isn't it?" I slightly winced as I felt my ankle throb before matching out my pace with his.

"Correct. That's our halfway mark," Ichimatsu reached up to rub the patch of hair behind his left ear, "From there, we continue north-east until we reach Nagoya."

"You're heading to Nagoya?"

A stranger's voice called out to us, drawing our attention towards a man walking with two children, one in a sling across his back with the other holding his hand.

"Is there an issue?" Ichimatsu responded to the question.

"There's been rumors of troubled waters between Tokushima and Wakayama. Every ferry that's been leaving port hasn't returned," The man shifted the child on his back a little, "Everyone has had to reroute through Awaji Island to make it safely."

"That'll set us back a few days..." Ichimatsu growled to himself.

"Thank you for the warning," I called out, waving my hand in thanks as the man continued on his way. I looked back towards Ichimatsu, noticing the irked look on his face as he pressed a thumb against his bottom lip, "Ichimatsu?"

"We'll continue on our original path. There's a way to get across safely," He looked back towards me before heading towards the town's center.

"Ichimatsu, you don't mean that you're...going to use more of your ability, are you?" I reached out and touched the sleeve of his kimono, partially realizing that he was still in his yokai form.

"Don't worry about it, (y/n)," Ichimatsu glanced over his shoulder, "My brush is already broken."

I lowered my gaze as I followed his lead, stopping only when he did.

"We'd like to stay in one of your rooms tonight," A female voice called out, startling me into looking towards Ichimatsu. His dark hair had grown longer, almost looking like black silk that rested near his waist. The vulpine ears had vanished, as had the nine tails, leaving him in a completely human form as the black kimono had readjusted itself to settle around his suddenly supple shoulders. The face that turned to look back towards me was not Ichimatsu's face, but a lithe female face, her eyelashes long and her thin lips pulled into a coy smile. Her dark eyes locked onto mine before a playful wink was sent my way. The red markings that lined Ichimatsu's face were still present, but had shifted into a more glamorous look.

"Of course," The man that was being talked to had a growing look on his face, "I do have a room available for use. It'll cost fifteen mon for one night."

"Fifteen...?" The woman gasped, turning back towards me, "That's such a high price for just two sisters out on the road..."

I stayed silent, quickly glancing around me to see if I could find Ichimatsu. The woman pouted and turned back towards the male clerk, leaning a little on the desk to push her breasts into view.

"We only have ten mon on us right now..." Her voice turned into a low whine, just bordering on sounding sexual, "I promise we'll be good."

"T-ten mon is fine," The male's voice grew tense before taking the coins from the woman's hand, his eyes struggling to pull away from the woman's chest as he handed her a room key. The woman grabbed my hand and pulled me into the hotel behind her, my feet partially dragging me as I tried to resist being carried along with this strange woman's whims.

Opening the door to the simple room, she pushed me in first before quickly closing it and turning towards me. The woman sighed as she gathered her kimono over her chest, closing her eyes and her face shifting into an embarrassed expression.

"I should've warned you first."

"...Ichimatsu?" I could only stare at the woman.

"Ichiko, in this form..."

"Uh-huh..." I hesitantly agreed as my mind tried to wrap around the fact that my fiancé, my male fiancé, had turned into a more beautiful woman than me. The tales of kitsune shapeshifting into women were not an uncommon tale, but to see it for myself...was really weird.

"It's easier to explain that we're traveling together as sisters than as an unmarried couple," Ichimatsu, or rather Ichiko, sat down near the window, the long kimono trailing behind her.

"I guess," I knelt at the table, "How...often have you had to take that form?"

"I try to avoid it when I can," She turned back towards me, "Sorry that you'll have to see me like this until tomorrow."

"No, it's all right...it's just weird..." My voice quieted. I heard the shifting of cloth over by the two futons, drawing my attention to that corner of the room, "You're not going to have food?"

"I'm not that hungry," Ichiko covered herself with the duvet, "Go ahead and eat what you'd like, though. I'll pay for the bill in the morning."

"Oh...all right," I partially leaned against the table, feeling the book that Ichimatsu had given me press against my stomach before taking it out. The worn leather of the book appeared to be old, and the pages were weather-stained by either rain or melted snow.

I opened the book to the first page, reading through the journal that was handed down from generation to generation until only a few decades ago. Pulling out the fude brush from its pouch, I gently lay it on the table in front of me before reading through the first page.

The first entry described how a family had reached out to the owner of the journal, begging him to ease their suffering from some monster that was ravaging their winter storehouse. After going through a few exorcists to try and remove the monster, the owner turned towards his family's secret craft and crafted a fude brush out of a white pine tree, using a small bit of branch that the tree had given him after days of prayer. The entry didn't go into detail about how it was crafted, and only stated that the process worked when he found out the true name of the monster.

I dug through my bag to find the book I had written in, flipping to a new page before grabbing some dry charcoal and carefully writing out the list of monsters that I knew of.

Osomatsu had been turned into an oni, Karamatsu into an ao-andon, Choromatsu into a daitengu, Ichimatsu obviously turned into a kitsune while Jyushimatsu had turned into an inugami, and Todomatsu was a tanuki. I paused before writing down my own name, scribbling out 'yuki-onna' next to it.

Seven monsters, seven fude brushes.

There was no way to see what kind of wood they were made of, since we had already tried to break them with brute force to no avail.

I re-read the last few sentences of the entry, finding that the true name of the monster was never written down. If it was found in a storehouse, then it was probably safe to guess that it wasn't any of the brushes that I had found...which meant there were more out there.

With a soft sigh, I put the charcoal down and leaned back a little, my mind working through the problem that I faced. There was a chance to undo my mistake, but what would it cost? Would the yokai completely leave the brothers, or were they so intertwined that they'd be sealed along with the yokai in the brush?

A soft knock on the door disturbed me from my thoughts, the door sliding open to reveal a young girl kneeling in front of the doorway before giving a deep bow.

"I'm here to collect your dinner order," Her voice was soft.

"Here," I knelt on my side of the doorway, sliding the small piece of paper that we had been given by the clerk and giving a bow in return. She took the paper, bowed once more and closed the door between us before I heard footsteps walking away.

The small dinner arrived shortly after, the food smelling delicious and it tasted just as amazing as it smelled. Setting the empty plates and tray outside the room door, I closed the open window and blew out the candles in the room, carefully laying next to the sleeping Ichiko and falling asleep.

----

A shadow loomed outside the closed window, its figure forming into the rough shape of a robed man before his fingers pried open the window. A long tongue slipped out between its lips as the man looked towards the two sleeping women, carefully setting foot into the room before the shadowy form gained some physicality to it. He silently crawled on all fours towards the woman closest to the window, her light breathing drawing his attention more than the other female.

When the creature was close enough, he leaned down and pressed a hand on her hip to keep her still while his tongue danced over the skin on her face. As soon as it made contact, the woman's hand clenched it tightly as her glowing red eyes flew open to stare at the shadowy man. The figure tried to retreat, but the woman had its tongue in a deathgrip, not letting it slip away like it would normally be able to if seen.

"A kuro bōzu, huh?" The woman's amused smile turned into a disgusted sneer, "Crawl back into darkness, monster."

An orb of purple fire flickered to life near her head before shooting towards the shadowy figure, catching the robes ablaze and reducing the physical form back into pure shadow, the creature slipping out the window back into the night.

Flexing the hand that had held the tongue, the woman winced as both hands covered her eyes, biting down on her bottom lip to keep from crying out. After a moment, she pulled her hands away and looked towards a small mirror leaning against the far wall, her face falling into despair as her reflection looked back at her with piercing blue eyes.