At the foot of the bed, Chiho remained focus on some figmented point ahead of her. Icy blue hues swallowing her pupil whole. She mimicked that of a doll how lifeless and still she remained as Kojitsu, with glee, began to dress himself in robes of the finest shades of lavender and gold. He even hummed a merry song as if he was on his way to a celebration. Like he hadn't skewed right in front of her heaps of old maids that scattered about this castle hoping to be picked by the Charming prince Himself.

From the tips of her fingers to the curved edge of her nipples, every motion, every stitching of fabric stood to a pivot underneath Chiho. Her senses were maximized but her mind, on the other hand, was back in the corridors. Back in the mountains with her parents. Back in the cramped sleeping quarters that she shared so happily with Naomi. How she would give to feel the cheaply woven cotton futons and stiff oval-shaped pillows once more versus the woven tapestries and ice-cold silk that blanketed between her porcelain thighs in such a lazy fashion.

If there were a coin she needed to be flipped to backpeddle to that exact moment Kojitsu noticd her and do it differently, she would have picked that moment in a heartbeat. By the gods, she would have.

As her arms remained fixed into position, spread widely from her body, Kojitsu continued to him. With one final glance in the mirror and a reassuring tug of his collar, he turned to face Chiho. A merry whistle still cascading from his throat, he stood in front of Chiho even with her focus still foreword as if he were an aparition.

"Oh, Chiho.. Don't make this harder than what it needs to be.." Kojitsu spoke in a singsong fashion, gently stroking the damp locks of hair away from her flushed cheeks and equally dampened forehead.

Cupping her cheeks, he tilted her face up to him so her vacant stare could meet his piercing almond-coated glare. Irritation seeped across his forehead as he looked down at the checked out Chiho. He knew that it would be a futile effort to get rid of her at such a delicate time in his quest for conquest. He especially picked Chiho those many moons ago from her lackluster portrait of a village. He was the one who came to the village from the rumors. A blue haired demon was born in  the mountains! In a poor village! He remembers that night.

He had just finished sodomizing some loosely jointed concubine that made continuous hints and boistorous jesters around the other maids that she would win his eye. And even with   a chest so endowed, hair as silky and pigmented as that of crushed chestnuts and a backside as round as freshly plucked pears, she was also the one to gossip till the sun set and rose again. That's how he knew of Chiho.

So, he indulged.

After 8 hours of having her put her gluttonous lips and crevices, he found her to be quite the satisfactory lay. But, with all great sunrises, it has to set eventually. He found her trying to steal gold and stuff it in her satchel. And Kojitsu just wasn't one to tolerate theivery.  But with such an amazing skillset as her, her exit from this earthly realm had to match the spirit concealed in fleshy form.

So, he decided on her grand exit. Whilst ravaging her from behind, he stabbed her in both hands, then her neck. Never stopping his rhythm, he yanked her head back and made her stare at herself as she left her body. Pump after pump, she bled out. Luckily for Kojitsu, he finished long before the final drop.

The older maids worked for 7 days getting rid of the blood. He wasn't worried about their wrinkled lips spreading the true happenings in the upper quarters because if so, he made a sworn promise to each of the women that the so-called nunnery that seemed like a peace haven for older, worn-out concubines would be so torturous that they would rather walk the mountains barefoot to the top.

He was restless one night. The moon was peaked across the horizon and all of his senseless guards, minions of his father, were asleep on the job. Drunk, some with their hands in the hem of their pants and others just huddled in a corner trying to catch a bit of rest before the beginning of their shift.

Nobody knew but Kojitsu, but these men were demons who took the forms of human. All of their weapons blessed by Futsunushi, the god of war which endowed each sword, each blade, each arrow, even the horses were blessed. He didn't, nor cared to know what strings his father pulled to have this kind of power but he didn't bother to banter or inquire. Besides, he was nothing but a product of a one-night lay between a whore and his father who decided to walk amongst the humans one faithful night. He regretted it not, because it turned out Kojitsu's father, Raijin, The Thunder God, wanted a son more than anything. But, as Kojitsu grew older and a darkness and rage built up inside of him knowing the guy that he could not grace the heavens with their father, the more he became violent and it worried Raijin. So much, that he cultivated an entire Kingdom for his son to keep his rage at bay.

He mounted his horse that night, a focus and determination in his eye. Over the years, he tried his best to quell his wants in the form of a woman and it only nulled what his heart really wanted. A wife. A queen. And to hear such news of a demon being born in a poor mountainous village made it all the more mouthwatering to be able to wed in a proper manner. Even if he was a more potent demon than the other half-breeds he's come across, he still needed to thicken his bloodline, and what better way to do it than to find a mate suitable for his Acquisitions.

His horse knew the way and in short, glorious strides he stood at the edge of the dilapidated village. The vagrant farmers all huddled around a wimpering fire. Crackles of charcoal, the humming of some women, and soft banter of the men around said circle brought nothing but a pitiful nausea to Kojitsu's throat.

His feet pressed firmly into the snow onward into the village. He didn't bother to tie his horse to the rickety woodpost at the entrance of the village, it looked close to breaking apart at the next violent gust either way. Even when the stray dogs wandered close to his trusty steed, they all scampered off in a frightened howl.

When his looming figure was seen by the first villager, it almost shocked him into an early demise. Kojitsu stood nonchalantly aside a lopsided hut with his arms crossed, the embers from their weakly lit fire bouncing upwards into the air, giving his amber hues a sinister glow.

"S-s-stranger! Who are you!" an older man with thick, grey eyebrows plastered across his face stood shakily to his feet, supporting his weight on a makeshift cane more than likely fashioned by the withered oak trees he passed in the forest. He could sense the evil entering the village from a mile away and it sent a quiver up his old bones. Around his village, he was a healer, doctor, and botonist that prescribed floral herbs and remedies for the villagers. With his age, his practive slowed down but it didn't slow down his sensitivity to energies and spirits. Nobody in the village knew, but he also indulged in Shaminism. In his previous village, a vicious rumor sparked about the old man where he signed a contract with a spirit to sense demons to protect his village in exchange for eternal life and it ran him out of the village, leaving his wife and children behind to be executed.

"State your business here, demon!" the older man whisked his cane in the air, a fiery glint in his eyes. "You are not welcome here no matter how outside appearances seem to be!"

Kojitsu, unphased by the taunting older man, only stepped forward more. His boots enmeshing into the blanketed sheets of white making the only apparent noise outside of the fickle crackle of the fire.

"I mean you nor your village any harm, grandpa-"

"Then state your business!"

The women in immediate range of the old man huddled together in fear at the sound of the stranger being a demon. Those with children pulled them closer underneath their blankets as they stared, frozen in fear.

"Granpa Jii-Jii, come back and sit with us, please." a middle-aged woman huddled in a tattered grey cloth, pleaded with the older man who, despite balancing his weight on his stronger leg, remained stoic in his guard.

"Yes Jii-jii-chan, please come and sit with us and tell us more stories!" a smaller child with a freshly lost front-tooth, projected her squeaky voice from behind her mother. She coughed a few times after speaking which only made her mother hold her closer.

"Don't strain yourself, child."

"Not until this Demon," Grandpa jii-jii spat, "States his business!"

Kojitsu's eyebrow twitched. This old man would make a delicious kill that made him salivate at the thought of silencing his quivering bark once and for all. He sensed some kind of energy off him, a disgusting potency of white magic. It made him want to vomit.

"Old man, you seem to be one of spiritual inclination. Its come to my knowledge that you harbor a demon and," he waved his hand around the circle of middle and old-aged women in the circle, "From just an observative stance, I wouldn't believe any of you are demons. I'm here to see the child and bring her back to where she will be taken care of properly."

There were whispers of the demon child that echoed over the wails of wind. Apparently the rumors were true. There was a demon here.

The old man's face softened only slightly, but he still bared his fangs. "And who might you be to make such a request?"

This time Kojitsu's upper lip twitched in reflex. He merely removed his hood and smirked.

"Father, if you will."

The wind ceased and all motion ceased around the villagers and Kojitsu. The clouds above them split open and an ear shattering crackle of lightning cascaded atop the fire, causing the fire to transition from a meek flicker to a roaring flame, standing high into the air with pride.

The children and women gawked in awe, some even running into their tents to fetch their freshly skinned meats and fish, but Grandpa Jii-Jii still remained biased. His arms now crossed over his chest.

"Old man," Kojitsu continued motioning forward, his patience running thinner than freshly woven thread. "I assure you that I am a demon of my word and I will not harm your village, I merely want to see the demon and confirm that such is staying in your village. If so, I will be sure to honor this village and rebuild it back to a livable state. "

When he finally met the old man's eyes, there was a humored glint in Kojitsu's dark eyes.

"I fear this winter will be a treacherous one and the soldiers that pillage villages for shelter would be more than happy to overrun this wasteland of a place you call home."