I'm starting to get the feeling that there's something wrong with this Himejima chick. She stares so intensely I feel like I'm going to light on fire or something. Maybe that's just the fire bird she apparently has inside of her.
Kinda makes me think of that X-woman person. I can't really remember the name, or much of anything from my last life by now, but I'm pretty sure that isn't a good comparison to have.
Keeps things interesting though~, even if I have no idea what she's talking about half the time.
"So does the position of Clan Head just come hand in hand with the inheritance of your Sacred Beasts?" My question is met with rapt attention as Suzaku and I walk up a mountain near the city at a steady pace.
The mountain in question is called Inariyama, which is rather telling. Apparently the Torii gates here are used by the Principle Clans as what is basically a network of portals to travel the Realm. Which is cool. Also very similar to in vibes to what the Yuki-onna and Kappa had for their own home Realms.
I figure it's probably best not to mention that though, what with the precarious relationship the her clans have with Yōkai.
"Not always, Narauko-sama!" She responds quickly and excitedly. She's been full of energy basically since we left. It's a little bit cute. Like a puppy. Another thought I decide against sharing, for all that it would no doubt be amusing to do so. "There are occasions where the inheritor of a Sacred Beast may either be unsuited to leadership or deny it outright. However, should an inheritor desire the position then they will always have it. A Sacred Beast would not choose an inheritor who would be actively detrimental to have as Head."
"Hmm~. Do you have an Innate Technique?" One great thing about her enthusiasm is that I can ask all the questions I want and she never seems to tire of answering them. "Does a Sacred Beast supersede that or enhance it?"
"That is a very good question Narauko-sama!" No need to sound so impressed... She has stars in her eyes. It's weird. "An Inheritor does not need to have an Innate Technique, however that is a rare circumstance. When a Sacred Beast chooses its host, our Innate Technique will be 'burned up' and absorbed into the Sacred Beast as part of a Ritual that both allows the Sacred Beast to manifest itself properly while also modifying how the Sacred Beast expresses itself."
"For instance, the previous Suzaku was born with the Innate Technique 'Binding' and thus Suzaku expressed itself trough them as ropes of fire that could bind with far greater strength than the Technique was capable of by itself. My own Innate Technique was 'Flip', which allowed me to invert the properties of things. However, now that I am Suzaku-sama's host, my Technique has been burnt into the Sacred Beast. So I can no longer turn the world upside-down like I used to be able to, instead I can now do this."
With a bit of a flourish, Suzaku displays her hand out in front of her for a second before it ignites into flame. Then, once I have had time enough to properly admire it, the fire turns a pale, icy blue hue and I don't need to feel the cold coming from it to figure out what happened.
"So you can do everything Suzaku-sama can do as well as the opposite? No wonder you feel so strong, that's pretty impressive~." It's funny to watch how much such simple praise affects her.
Seriously, she's so weak to compliments, it's hilarious~.
"You honour me with your praise, Narauko-sama." She actually manages the full sentence without stuttering despite how red her face is. Though, I get the feeling that she hasn't realised how much she's blushing.
I also get the feeling that it's a waste of breath trying to get her to stop referring to me so respectfully. You'd think a Clan Head would have more pride, even if she thinks I'm a kami or related to a kami or whatever. Still don't get what's up with that.
I mean, I'm definitely going to marry Amaterasu someday, so I guess I will be related to kami in the most technical sense eventually.
Eventually.
Still, I can't help but feel like there's got to be more that she is capable of. Not that I think she's trying to hide anything obviously, just that explaining everything concisely isn't easy. At least, I'd be a little bit disappointed if she isn't capable of more, because her Innate Technique sounds cool as Yomi. It'd be a shame for it to be lost entirely in favour of just more elemental stuff.
Like, elemental stuff isn't not cool. I still plan on getting me a cool fire attack at some point, but y'know...
Fire and ice can hardly compare to modifying the laws of the world, y'know?
I wonder how Gojo-san is doing these days?
Shrugging the random thought away, I don't open another line of questioning as I note we appear to have reached out destination. Well, not that this specific Torii gate stands out to me in any way compared to all the others but y'know. Context clues.
Suzaku comes to a stop right before the gate and I feel a pulse of Cursed Energy from her before the entire feel of the Torii changes ever so slightly. Then she turns herself to the side and bows like she's a servant and not a Clan Head.
So weird.
"After you, Narauko-sama."
Shrugging, I go along with it and walk through the gate.
It's instantaneous.
Bafflingly instant. Nothing at all like using my own shadow to teleport, which isn't really teleporting in the technical sense, but that's all semantics really. It's also noticeably different to the Yōkai's portals.
With the Yōkai, it was very clear that I was moving through a portal. You could eel the air change, the shift in position, the slight impression of displacement.
None of that happens here.
Instead, I just walk through the Torii gate and when my foot touches the floor I blink as I realise I am somewhere else. No sensation, no noticeable change in air, no anything to suggest I hadn't just taken another normal step.
Somehow, that makes it all the more stunning than anything else, leaving me standing there for probably longer than necessary just lost in my mind as I observe the new scenery.
Seriously, I cannot begin to describe how strange it is for there to be no sensation at all. It's so much weirder. So so weird.
"This way, Narauko-sama." Suzaku's words pull at me but I still take a second to respond to them.
Kami it's so weird. Guess that's the divine difference, eh?
Shaking my head, I drop the line of thought and actually take in the sight before me, looking every inch the vast and wealthy compound I've come to expect these days.
Just from the change in the sky, it's clear we've gone a fair difference. However, even beyond that there is a sense of... saturation? I think that's the word. It brings to mind that sliding scale cameras could have to make colours shine brighter in photos.
There's just something to the air here. Everything feels brighter. Cleaner, I realise, finally noting what is so odd here.
I can't feel any Curse in the air.
I didn't even know that was an option.
"Do you lot have a ward set up to purify the air or something?" I ask, and Suzaku nods happily and with clear pride. Cool.
I'm gonna fuck around with Positive Energy just so much after all this, I can just tell.
Regardless, Suzaku doesn't hesitate to lead me through the compound, an urgency to her. Like how people put in that extra effort right at the end of a sprint when the finish line is in sight.
As we go, members of her Clan, presumably, all part for us. Usually with a bow, though I get the feeling that those are more directed to Suzaku than me. While there is plenty of respect and almost reverence given to her, what I get feels more akin to distain. Perhaps condescending is more apt for how they all seem to look down their noses at me. Sometimes quite literally.
It fits more with what I've been told about the Principle Clans being an arrogant bunch, which I find kinda odd because Suzaku hasn't given me that impression at all. What with how deferential she's been.
Weird. Everything about today is weird.
I feel like I'm getting emotional whiplash, going from having such fun fighting the Onmyōji students to feeling morose by winning and now straight back to ecstatic at all these new sights around me.
It's not so different here than at Taira What's-his-face's place. Just less feeling like I'm about to be drafted to war and more feeling like I should be going ohmmmmm. Microwave noise. I should make a microwave Spell when I figure out how to make Spells. Something to cook food in like a few minutes.
Filing that thought away for later, I dutifully follow after the excitable Clan Head all the way to a door that stands out only for the fact that it is rather larger than the others and has a pair of servants standing at a bow besides it.
Suzaku does not so much as break her stride as the servants pull the sliding doors open before us, revealing our destination, and it is so clearly our destination.
I'm not certain if it's just because the compound is that large or if there's some space fuckery going on, but the space Suzaku leads me into is massive. Like a football field or three large.
To either side of the entrance and looping around the entire space is a wide awning of craftsmanship that somehow I just know is incredible despite not looking all too different from what I've seen elsewhere.
Just past the surrounding path is a brief bank of green. Some shrubbery and trees growing and seeming healthier than any flora I've seen before.
Which leaves the majority of the space as one giant lake of all things. The water so perfectly crystal clear that I can see straight to the bottom as well as all the many coloured koi swimming around below. Only the occasional lily pad blocks any vision, and a few of those have these adorable teeny tiny little frogs on them. Or toads, I don't really know the difference.
However it is not all water, as sitting centre stage right in the middle of the lake-sized pond is a good sized pavilion. Three stories tall, each wall sparkling a purest white like they are made of snow or white diamonds.
It's beautiful. Ethereal.
Looking closer, I can even see that there are engravings drawn into the walls. Faint and hard to see at a distance but clear in their intricacy. This pavilion looks like it's more valuable than the entire rest of the compound combined.
Which I guess makes some sense if there's a God sitting inside.
Man, imposter syndrome is hitting hard all of a sudden. That's pretty hilarious. I've long accepted the kami into my heart, but despite everything, the fact that I'm about to meet an actual capital 'G' God is only just now registering in my brain.
My life is fucking crazy man. I love it here. Dying really was the best thing to ever happen to me, because this is just awesome in so many ways.
Kami I love this life.
Suzaku leads me to a path of stone plates bridging across the water as if they shouldn't be sinking and doesn't hesitate to begin crossing over. I'm briefly struck by how distant it all is. Like this space is designed just to separate the pavilion from everything else. A world within a world.
Is it weird that I feel like I should be feeling something more? I don't know. Suzaku is clearly feeling more. For all that she appears stoic, it feels like she's practically vibrating. Woman really doesn't fit the arrogant mould everyone's told me to expect.
There is another pair of servants at the door to the pavilion and then another pair at the bottom of the stairs leading up from the insanely lavish room. Yet another pair of servants stand at the top of the stairs and another at the base of the next set.
Seems a little excessive to me but, y'know.. God.
Some part of me kind of wants to grab something as a souveni-! Camera! Picture!
Suzaku stops and turns with surprise as I abruptly halt and begin digging into my shadow to pull out Thief of Time.
Ignoring her, I turn right back around, hop back down the stairs in a single bound while still ignoring Suzaku's confusion. Then I start taking a bunch of pictures of the bottom floor, because it is seriously beautiful and lavish and the kind of thing I could throw at anyone being overly prideful at their wealth to be like 'Yeah but you don't have this do ya? Heh Heh Heh~'.
I'm so smart.
Laughing at the thought, and at the half panicked Suzaku, I make my way back up the same stairs with her following behind me this time.
"Just remembered to take pictures," I tell her, showing one of them off so she can figure out what a picture is. She's not so stupid to be unable to put two and two together. She also doesn't protest as I proceed to take a bunch of pictures of the second floor as well.
The second floor has a large indented portion to the floor full of steaming water, and it's kind of crazy to me to have what is so clearly an open bath just sitting there like that. Weird placement.
I also take pictures of the servants (after asking nicely if they're cool with it first of course) because they're dressed differently to everyone else and while they don't necessarily look breath-taking like the building itself, they are still different. Unique. Which makes me want to ensure their attire isn't forgotten.
"Narauko-sama," the hint of panic to Suzaku's voice is mostly what gets my attention. "I do not believe we should be making Inari-sama wait?"
That was probably supposed to be a statement, but her strange desire to put herself below me has her voicing it like a question.
She's probably right though.
But at the same time...
"Eh, Inari-sama is an Ōkami. I'm sure she's more patient than you or I. 'Sides, she can probably hear us right? So y'know..." Half in thought, I turn my face to the ceiling as I continue to speak. "Be there in sec, Inari-sama~! Your.. home? I don't know what this place is to you, but it's seriously too beautiful not to admire~."
A sort of keening sound emanates from the back of Suzaku's throat like she is an animal whining in pain, which is deeply amusing. But I decide to take pity on her and only snap a few more pictures before letting her lead me further.
I mayhap am about to be smote, but I have no regrets!
Suzaku looks like her soul's left her body though.
Teehee.
Maybe I'm a bit nervous too.
Another pair of servants stand at the top of the stairs before a door as white as the outer walls, and I manage to restrain myself from asking to take their picture as well.
Suzaku might have actually died if I did. She's so tense~.
That or I'm projecting.
Who knows~.
The door slides open and suddenly I feel like I don't exist anymore.
No, not quite.
Rather, it feels like my sense of self suddenly became so infinitesimally small that I lost sight of it for a second. A bead of sand besides a mountain.
And then the moment is over and I can see with my eyes again despite not having noticed that I couldn't before. But I can't do anything else.
I can't feel anything else.
There is nothing else.
There is just sight.
There is just her.
Inari-Ōkami.
There is no doubt that it is her. Not because that fact is obvious. Not because it'd be easy to figure out, as I can't think right now, so I never would have been able to make the connection. To have that moment of realisation.
Rather, I just know it.
It's as if her body is her name.
As if looking upon her is knowing her.
As if it would be impossible to see her without her name being etched into the back of my eyes.
Inari-Ōkami takes the form of a woman. One with silver hair that flows down and across the floor. Two fox-like ears sprout from her head and a lone tail swishes behind her, fur as silver as the hair.
But none of those words really describe her. Not really.
Her hair isn't silver. Not as I know it. Knew it.
Looking at her, seeing her, it feels as if the word 'silver' has been scrubbed entirely from my mind. As if my ability to comprehend what that word means doesn't exist anymore.
Because her eyes are not silver. But they are. But they can't be.
Because 'silver' is not that real. It would feel more accurate to describe 'silver' as an attempt to describe Inari-Ōkami.
A poor attempt that falls short by several orders of magnitude.
To call her beautiful would be an insult to the word. To compare her to any woman I've ever seen, a disservice.
Her beauty is unnatural. Not in a way that crawls the back of your neck or makes you shiver. She wears her unnaturalness openly. Proudly—as she should be.
It is so so clear that she is not human. Clear in a way I never thought anything could be clear. Her beauty is so obviously a result of her being something greater than the world around her, yet somehow that only makes it even more enticing rather than terrifying, though it is that too, even when it isn't.
Without noticing when or how or why, I can suddenly feel my body again and it feels as if I am about to explode. As if a million bees are buzzing under my skin. My blood rushing and boiling and stilling and rippling all at the same time. Heart beating so fast it feels as if it does not exist. Like I am dead while living. Or living while dead?
And then my body is moving and it is moving down and I still can't think but I still act despite that, my leg snapping forward. Stumbling forward.
Catching itself.
Catching me.
It is only then that thought returns and I realise how I just refused to kneel before a God.
Well I'm dead.
The fact that that is the fist thought that comes to me after regaining the ability to think at all might have made me laugh were I capable of actually moving my body that I can feel in any way.
–Himejima no Suzaku–
The words that travel the air aren't so much spoken as they are understood.
Looking at her, seeing Inari-Ōkami, I do not see her mouth move at all. I have no idea if that is because my sight has failed me again or if she just didn't move it. I'm not even certain that I exist right now.
All that I know for certain is that I see Inari-Ōkami.
"Yes, Inari-Ōkami."
Suzaku's response is the only thing that reminds me she exists. That there are things beyond the Inari-Ōkami that I see.
She is on her knees, I note, not really understanding then what that means. Her head is pressed deeply to the floor, hands just ahead. I try to think what that means, but all I can think is Silver.
–We have given you duty. I, the august one, decree this duty as fulfilled. Leave us now, we commend you your devotion–
The words, are they still words if they are not spoken but simply appear in one's mind, bouncing around the skull like a bullet endlessly deflecting and cutting through one's grey matter? They flow through my mind, through my soul and they fill me with Silver until I can taste it on my tongue when I do not even know what that means.
Suzaku disappears. I don't know when or where or why.
Silver eyes lock on to me and my sense of self falls into further insignificance. It falls so small that I feel the cold touch of death around my neck, and it is only the familiarity of that that reminds me to avoid it.
My mind still fails to think, but some part of me, my body, my soul, I don't know if it is even me. But something fights back. Tries to assert itself. To remind me that I exist. That I shouldn't forget. Can't forget.
I can't forget.
What can't I forget?
I see a forest. It feels familiar but I don't know why.
I see a building I cannot define.
I see a man. Old but not elderly. Strong but weakened. Sad but kind.
I see his eyes. His smile that I have seen so little of. How do I know that?
I see him and I feel something like Home.
Everything is Silver. It's in the air, in my eyes, on my tongue.
It's everywhere, but through the endless Silver I see a man and he feels like Home.
And then there is a deer and it feels like Love.
And then I exist again and feel Me again and the entire world crashes into me like an ocean and I open my eyes and there I see Inari-Ōkami.
Somehow. Somehow I exist again. I feel again, see again.
Inari-Ōkami sits at the end of a room, poised on a cushion like it's a throne. A woman with silver hair and fox-like features regards me.
I see Inari-Ōkami and for the first time, I understand.
This. This is a God.
–Muji no Narauko. You hold your head unwisely high–
Yeah well I'm fucked.
Somehow, I manage to meet Inari-Ōkami's eyes without turning into a goop. Somehow. I feel like I should have turned to goop.
Perhaps a wry smile makes its way to my face. Perhaps it does not. I do not know if my skin is stone right now, but I do feel wryly amused.
Because I know what my answer will be before I even say it.
It's stupid. The last thing I should say. Total suicide.
I am The Strongest, but here and now? For the first time, that title means nothing. It doesn't matter at all. If it came to that, it wouldn't be a fight. Not even an execution. I'd simply cease to exist so thoroughly the memory of my name might disappear entirely.
Guess I'm just an idiot then, because I say it anyway.
"My head does not bow that low."
The air stills, or leaves, or becomes Silver like a static buzzing against the back of my mind.
And then Inari-Ōkami becomes just Inari-Ōkami and she snorts before exploding into laughter?
My brain halts in place and stops working as I fail to process the sound.
What.
But Inari-Ōkami just laughs and she laughs and she laughs and soon enough I find myself laughing too. Just an instinctual response without thought, because it's natural to laugh with others, right?
It's like I've been telling people. Happiness is contagious.
But then she stops laughing and she is looking at me and the past however long I've been here registers in my brain properly.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Nara-kun~," Inari-Ōkami, the God lilts at me, smirking a smile that somehow is the smile of a mischievous fox despite being on a human face.
I am so fucking confused right now. But hey, I'm not dead, so I guess everything's sorta working out?
Inari-Ōkami laughs again.
I think she's reading my mind.
Eww~ creepy~ hentai~!
What the fuck is wrong with me?
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Tehepero~ :P
Next chap will be their convo and probably some other pov's idk.
Also, quick rant time.
How does one describe a God? That's a question I had bothering me in the leadup to this chapter, cuz it isn't easy to answer. Not if you don't want to be lazy anyway.
The way I figure it, I've seen 2 distinct paths one can take to describe a God. One is to do what most people do which is to make Gods just dudes with way more power than anyone else as the distinction.
The other end of the spectrum would be like the old gods in game of thrones where they are describes as the wind between the leaves, the water in the river and the trees and the dirt. That's an interpretation where the God is described as basically being the world.
Now, this fic is mainly set with DxD as the background, and DxD does the whole, just dudes with lots of power. So that was always gonna be how this ended, as I've already shown with the brief glimpses I've given of Gods so far.
But I didn't want that to be the end of it, cuz I hate simplifying what a God is so much.
Inari is a capital G God. She isn't some suped up spirit. She isn't some overpowered yokai. She is a God. And idk if it's just me, but I think that that should mean something. A God should be so far above us that we cannot begin to comprehend it. That's what it means to be a God.
So while I will do like DxD and have Gods interacting like just dudes with lots of power, I wanted to make it abundantly clear first that a God is and will always be, a God. That no matter the shells they wear or the actions they take, a God is an entity beyond mortal comprehension. So great and large that the entire world of humanity is nothing compared to them.
Maybe with this chapter you'll start to understand the scale of overpowered this fic is going to reach.
I have always hated how mortal authors tend to make Gods. We've all read the stories or watched the shows.
I feel like, as a species, we have gotten so used to seeing Gods die that we have forgotten why it is that they are Gods in the first place.