The Legend of Akikumo

by Dani Hoots

  “There was a landslide in Nagasaki. We must hurry and help them.”

  I shook my head. “You can’t be serious. There won’t be much we can do in this weather. And besides, it’s the humans’ fault for living in one place for a lengthy period of time. Don’t they know one should travel with the season as the kami intended? That is why certain plants grow in regions during different times of the year. Even the animals understand that.”

  “Ketsueki...”

  Rolling my eyes, I stood up. “Fine, but you know as well as I that I am right.”

  Akikumo said nothing as he led us down the mountainside and out of the forest. Nagasaki was a town right on the ocean that seemed to use a lot of ships. I still didn’t understand why humans didn’t listen to nature but always fought what they couldn’t control. If they opened their eyes to the possibility that forces stronger than them existed and they should act accordingly, there would be fewer disasters. That is, if humans contained the capacity to work together. From what I noticed, such a thing was impossible.

  The closer we got to the town, the stronger I smelled the unearthed ground. Akikumo was correct—there was a landslide. It amazed me he had picked up such a thing at that distance. If only I was as skilled as he was, then perhaps I could hear where aburaage was frying in the distance so I didn’t have to wander all around trying to find it.

  As we entered the town, we both transformed into our human form. Humans ran in every direction, afraid that the land would slide more or trying to help the people stuck in the building under all the debris. Akikumo acted fast in asking what people needed. He helped use tools to dig out some of the dirt that covered the doors to help the people out of their homes before the weight of the rock caved in their roof.

  I hadn’t seen such chaos since the day my mother and father died. This was different, however, as the disaster was not from a war but something natural. I wondered if life would have been different if I had lost my family in this way instead of during a battle. Would people have stopped to help me? Or would they have kept on walking by?

  Shaking my head, I tried to push those memories away. This was neither the time nor the place. I needed to help these people, even though they didn’t help me in my time of need. Akikumo would be disappointed if I didn’t grow up and forgive them.

  But if I was honest, I would never forgive them for the way they had treated me.

  I just needed to act the part in order for Akikumo to let me stay with him. I wouldn’t interact with humans without him near. And he would always be near, so it was fine.

  “My son! My son is under there!” a woman screamed as she ran around. No one seemed to pay her much mind as they went to the primary areas that needed help. It reminded me of when I was begging for help from the humans who had ignored me.

  I stepped up to her. “Where is your son?”

  Tears ran down her face, although it was hard to tell from all the rain. Her soaked kimono was a dark pink rose color now stained with the dirt that slid off the hillside.

  “He was playing behind the house! I had no idea!” She wailed further. I started to understand why no one stopped for her as I found it difficult for her to articulate what exactly she needed.

  I grabbed her by the shoulders, even though I barely came up to her chin. “Where is he?”

  She pointed over to the debris. “He is under there! I pray to the kami he is still alive! He has to be.”

  I listened closely, just like Akikumo taught me. I heard a child crying from underneath there. Examining the debris closer, I found that there was a small hole that I could enter with my fox form. Listening some more, I came to the conclusion that the kid was only a few years old and could fit through the hole as well. If he was smart, he would have climbed out already, but he was probably too scared to move.

  Glancing around, I found that everyone else was on the other side of the landslide, trying to get to the buildings. If I transformed into a fox, only this woman would see. I was going to save her son. Would she get mad at me for being a yokai once she found out? There was no time to think about it—I must save the boy, otherwise I wouldn’t be any better than these humans.

  I transformed into my fox form, my fur matted from the heavy rain. Even more, the poor twin tails appeared less beautiful than normal. I darted into the hole and searched for the child. As I climbed through the debris, I found the child crying and not noticing I was there. I bit at his collar and dragged him out of the debris through the tunnel. He didn’t fight it but seemed to calm down as he realized I was rescuing him.

  As I dragged him from underneath the debris, I felt something hit me straight in the head. Letting the boy go, I jumped back to find the lady kicking me with her waraji. She grabbed her son and kept hitting me with her waraji.

  “Yokai! Yajuu! Get away from my son!”

  I knew I shouldn’t, but I snapped at the old woman and bit her foot. Blood filled my mouth, but I didn’t lose control like I did when I was younger. I was angry that she would treat me like this after I had saved her son.

  “It bit me! This yajuu bit me! Someone help me destroy this yokai! It is an abomination and will bring destruction.”

  Kuso, I was in trouble. Akikumo was going to scold me. I bolted toward the forest, away from the humans that gathered around me. They tried to chase after me, but I flew past them, even in this heavy rain.

  I heard Akikumo calling for me in the distance, but I kept running. I shouldn’t have transformed into a fox in front of the humans, but I wanted to help the boy. It wasn’t fair that these humans labeled me as a yajuu even though I was helping them. As I found a modest cut-out in the hillside, I curled up into a ball and hid. It kept the rain off my wet fur, and I hoped the rain would soon pass so I once again would be dry.

  Laying my head down, I wondered if Akikumo would give up looking for me and move on. I had let him down. He had told me to stay close to him in case anything happened. I failed as a yokai.

  Half an hour passed as I sat there, curled up in a ball, tears running down my snout. I heard a crunch of leaves under a warajii. Glancing up, I found Akikumo standing before me. I turned my head away from him.

  He bent down. “It’s all right. You were trying to help.”

  “I know that. And the busu still tried to kill me.”

  Akikumo let out a sigh as he transformed into a wolf and snuggled next to me. “Humans are fragile beings and have to put up a defense if they want to survive.”

  “They need to learn to trust.”

  “But have you learned to trust? Trust works both ways, my dear Ketsue-chan. Now, let us rest until the rain passes. Then we can head north away from this place.”

  I nodded and leaned my head against his fur. He was warm compared to the cool air. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, vowing to never forgive humans ever again.

  Chapter Nine

  Present day—Train from Kyoto to Nagoya

  MY EYES WERE GLUED to the other side of the train window as we traveled past what humans called kilometers upon kilometers. Not only had Kyoto changed drastically, but so did the rest of Japan. I kept having to close my mouth as it dropped open, seeing the state of colonization of humans. How did they become so vast in only two centuries? Never had they increased this many in numbers before.

  I noticed, however, that fewer yokai occupied the space between towns, even though fewer humans still inhabited those areas. I pondered why that could be. Perhaps it was because so many humans now traveled around the country and could come across these yokai homes. Humans used to fear travel due to unfriendly yokai attacks and human bandits. Now, however, they no longer feared those things, one because they no longer saw the yokai and the other because more rules were enforced. I wasn’t sure if either of those things were a good thing or a bad thing.

  Yamato leaned his head on the glass, his eyes closed and his phone still in his hand. I didn’t quite understand what use those devices possess, other than to distract one’s attention
with. I had seen many humans carry them as they venture up the mountain, pointing them at each other as the other person paused. Were they like cameras? And if so, how come humans never looked away from them?

  “It’s rude to stare,” Yamato commented as he peeked an eye open.

  I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t staring at you in particular. I simply find you humans to be peculiar.”

  He straightened up and put his phone away. “Oh, and why is that?”

  I shrugged. “Well, for starters, you humans obsess over the strangest things, such as that square device of yours.”

  “My phone?”

  “Yes. And there is all this expansion and settling in one place. You realize it is smarter to travel as nature intended, right?”

  He laughed. “Easier said than done.”

  “It used to be, as long as you stayed in groups. Animals travel with the seasons, knowing where food was to be found and better weather. Instead, you humans stay put and don’t listen to nature.”

  “It’s because of agriculture. We planted crops and stayed in one spot.”

  I folded my arms. “That’s stupid. Do you not realize that plants grow in certain seasons to help with illnesses and nutrition for that season? Such as the nettle that is high in minerals and vitamins during the spring months after you fast during the winter. Now humans hardly use the plant and it’s everywhere.”

  “Humans grew and now find it impossible to move around. Besides, few people in the past traveled since it’s so dangerous. It’s not like the terrain is human friendly.”

  He made a valid point, and it surprised me he possessed knowledge of Japan’s history. I let out a sigh. “Whatever, humans still make little sense.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “And yokai do?”

  I glanced around, making sure no one heard him call me that. No one seemed to pay attention. “We make a lot more sense than you do. We don’t complicate things and are connected with the kami and nature. We want something and we try to get it. Unlike your kind, we don’t make up excuses.”

  “Then why have you waited so long to go searching for this Akikumo?”

  “That’s Akikumo-sama to a human like you.”

  “Sorry. Akikumo-sama. Isn’t he an okami? Do they even exist any longer?”

  I wanted to slap this punk but decided not to. I didn’t need to explain to Ichika why his face was bruised when we got back. “There are a lot of things you humans don’t understand, and there is no way that Aki-chan could have passed away without me knowing.”

  “Aki-chan? Was he your boyfriend or something?”

  My face turned red. Why did Inari want me to take this back-talking kid? He was getting on my nerves more and more as each second passed. “Aki-chan was not my boyfriend. He was a mentor, best friend, and someone I could look up to. He taught me everything I know.”

  “So he taught you how to be a troublemaker?”

  I let out another breath. “You are troublesome.”

  He shrugged. “I try. But I am wondering, how do you spell Akikumo. It’s not exactly a common name.”

  “With the kanji for sun and moon, and the kanji for cloud. My name, Tsuki Ketsueki, is the kanji for moon and blood. He gave me the kanji for blood and took th kanji for moon from his name and gave it to me as a family name since he didn’t have one.”

  “So he adopted you?”

  “In a sense. Sometimes he told others I was his daughter, but I think that was so they wouldn’t be confused as to why we traveled together. He didn’t feel like a father to me, even when we first met.”

  “When was that?”

  I was surprised by his interest in my past. It wasn’t like I cared about his. “About seven hundred years ago.”

  “Wow. You’re old.”

  I frowned and adjusted my white-and-blue floral kimono as he laughed. He grabbed some device and placed it on his ear, then pulled his phone back out and started playing on it again. I sighed as I looked back outside. How could this much have changed over only two centuries? I wished I were back to a much simpler time when I didn’t need to keep up with these humans. It surprised me what they accomplished in such short lifespans, but I supposed it was because there were so many of them now.

  What would happen to us yokai? Would we still find a place in this world, or would we have to move on to the netherworld?

  WE reached our first stop in Nagoya, and I followed Yamato as he led us toward the other train. It still smelled foul, so we weren’t quite to the mountains yet. Apparently we couldn’t get on one train and reach our destination. There were so many people that I reached out and grabbed Yamato’s hand. He didn’t seem to mind, as it kept us from getting separated. Once we neared our area, Yamato stopped.

  “We have two hours before our train leaves. Do you want to grab lunch?”

  I nodded. “Yes please. I only packed for the hiking trip but packed nothing for lunch while we traveled.”

  He led us toward an entire line of shops. I gasped, not believing so many stores existed in this area. They were all lit and decorated with many colors that I didn’t even think were possible. Everything was so bright. I didn’t quite know what to expect. There were even symbols I didn’t understand. It was like a different type of writing. I concluded it was from the other continents that had influenced Japan over the years.

  Most people wore the same things as Yamato, and I only saw a couple of people in yukatas. It was strange, as people used to wear kimonos all the time. Kimonos, I felt, were more practical and beautiful. At least we yokai wouldn’t change what we wore.

  “Well,” he began. “What do you want to eat?”

  I bit my lip. “Do any of these restaurants serve aburaage?”

  Yamato laughed. “So that legend is true. All right, we can eat at the sushi bar.”

  He led us to one and we entered the restaurant. I gasped as plates of food moved from one side of the restaurant to the other.

  “What sugure is this?” I exclaimed as Yamato pulled out a seat for me.

  “Sh, someone will hear you. It’s all electricity and machines.”

  I took a seat and cocked my head to the side. “Electricity? Machines?”

  “Yeah, you remember those black strings you saw?”

  I nodded.

  “Those carry power that we call electricity. It powers machines like this one.”

  “Do the machines possess souls?”

  He shook his head and laughed. “No, nothing of the sort.”

  I was about to ask him more questions when I caught sight of my dearest aburaage moving in front of me. I snatched it before anyone else could and clapped my hands. Suddenly another moved by and I grabbed it as well. As I reached for the third, Yamato grabbed my wrist.

  “How about you eat those and then get more? Don’t worry, there is plenty.”

  He almost sounded like Akikumo. I couldn’t help it, though, as much time had passed since I’d gotten to feast on my favorite food. Sure people left it out as offerings at the Inari shrine, but the more powerful kitsune got first dibs and there was hardly ever any left for me. If there was, it was old and appeared spoiled. I usually ate it anyway and immediately regretted it.

  I clapped my hands together. “Itadakimasu.”

  Yamato grabbed a couple of plates of sushi and clapped his hands together.

  “Itadakimasu.”

  I took a bite and was instantly thankful for Yamato finding this place. They filled the aburaage with sesame rice, like an inarizushi typically was. Did humans eat like this constantly? There were many people in here, not to mention we came across many other places to eat. Did people not cook for themselves any longer? No wonder they had time to create all of this.

  “What is it?” Yamato asked.

  “It’s surprising how much food there is with how many people are in this city. I wouldn’t have thought it possible. You humans must have really figured out the whole agriculture thing.”

  “I suppose it would be strange. You weren�
�t around when Japan expanded and started trading with other countries.”

  “I was around when they first came about.”

  “Now it’s possible to be in another country in a matter of hours.”

  My eyes widened. “How is that possible?”

  “You know those things you see moving in the sky?”

  “Yes. One of the other kitsune said they were called planes and could hold people, but I didn’t believe him.”

  “It’s true. They hold people and you can travel the world.”

  I was both surprised and a little disappointed. Humans could travel anywhere? Why would they want to do that when there was plenty in Japan?

  I frowned. “I don’t want to go to any of those other countries. They don’t worship our kami and try to bring different gods to this land.”

  He held back a laugh. “That wasn’t something I expected you to say, but I suppose it makes sense.”

  “Aki-chan worked for the kami. I was there when the foreigners came. They look nothing like us.”

  “That is true. Well, maybe after we are done looking for your friend, I can show you some more of Japan and how it has changed.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Why would you want to do that?”

  He shrugged. “I suppose it’s just fun watching you be so flabbergasted at everything. It is quite entertaining.”

  I frowned as I ate another inarizushi. “Well you won’t have to worry because when I find Aki-chan, I will stay with him and we will get away from human cities like this.” I glanced down at my dish. “Although I have to admit the food is good.”

  Yamato laughed as we went on with our meal. I took many other plates of aburaage with many different fillings. My favorite was the pickled sakura as it possessed the right amount of sweet and sour.

  Too bad I was being truthful about never wanting to set foot in another city again. Taking a deep breath, I sighed and fiddled with my magatama. I would trade all the aburaage in the world to be at Akikumo’s side once again.