I. Tale as old as time

Once upon a time in the cozy little village nestled at the foot of Funbari Hill, there was a boy and a girl who fell in love and got engaged and are about to live happily ever after. However, this isn't about them. This story is about an oni and the boy who saved her. This is about Anna and Yoh. Now, dear readers, let's go to the Onsen Village where our story takes place.

"Ren! I'm taking the blanket with me for the trip," Jun called out, cupping her mouth with her hands (one which was recently adorned with an engagement ring). After no response, she yelled again. "Ren, did you hear--"

The irritable younger Tao emerged from his room. "Yes, yes, I heard you," he snapped. "Great Spirit, when are you and Bailong just going to leave..." he growled under his breath.

"Okay, I think I got everything," Jun said breathlessly as she pulled her cloak around her finest dress. "We're off now, Ren! We'll be back in--"

"I know, I know, you've only told me a million times—you'll be back in two months," he said dismissively. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Hmm?" Jun paused and thought for a moment.

He coughed.

"What are you talking--Oh!" Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened. "Oh! Oh, oh, oh, dear. How did I forget? I was so busy, I can't believe I didn't—Well, let's hurry now. Bailong and I need to leave soon." She turned around several times, completely flustered. "Bason? Bason!"

The Tao family's guardian appeared. "You called, Miss Jun?"

"Could you be so kind as to be our witness?" The former Chinese general nodded as Jun turned to face her younger brother and cleared her throat. "As Onsen's village leader, I hereby grant you temporary leadership in my absence. All your authority is to be revoked as soon as I return," she stated quickly and mechanically. "Witness?"

"As your witness, I bind myself to seeing that these oaths are upheld."

Jun gave one last look at Ren before breaking into a smile. "Take care of the village, Ren."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course. Now go get married."

She nodded, took Bailong's hand and waved goodbye to Bason and Ren. The two stood in silence until Ren threw his head back and exhaled sharply. "Finally, maybe I'll start getting some respect around here. When Horohoro became the other village leader…" His eye twitched at the thought. Ever since the elders could remember, the Taos had been the leaders of the village. However, when the Usui family recently moved down from the north and Horohoro was born the same day as Ren was, the Taos considered this to be a sign of some sort and joyously invited the Usuis to share their leadership. And right when Horohoro turned eighteen, he was initiated and joined Jun at the head of the council.

Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, Ren chanted in his head as he tugged on his boots and wrapped himself in his cloak. He opened the door and was nearly toppled over by the fierce wind that accompanied the bitter winters of the Funbari region. "Bason! I'm leaving for the council meeting!" Ren barked, not bothering to wait for his guardian's response.

That's odd. The winds and the ice are harsher than usual—his thoughts were interrupted when a lump of snow hit him squarely in the back of his head. He growled. Only one person in the entire village would do that.

"Hey, Tao Boy! Need help?" Pirika said, sticking out her tongue as her entire body seemed to move effortlessly through the blizzard. Ren tried ignoring the younger of the Usui siblings and counted to ten. Stupid girl. Just because she grew up in Hokkaido and practically lived in the snow she thinks that she's—

"Looks like you're having a little trouble there," she teased. "Don't fight the snow," Pirika advised, pointing at his clumsy, heavy footed efforts to plow right through it.

"Just leave me alone, Ainu Girl," he snapped. "Why don't you go and—"

"Watch out!" She darted forward and pulled back on Ren's sleeve before he fell over a rock hidden by the ice. "That was close. Jeez, try to walk with a little more finesse next time," she grumbled.

He stared at her before yanking back his sleeve from her grasp.

"You're welcome! Jerk…"

He turned around to address her but instead was promptly bowled over by Horohoro's huge snow wolf. "What the—Kororo, get off me right now!" Kororo showed no sign of getting off of Ren any time soon, choosing instead to lick Ren's face profusely. "This is disgusting! Stop it, you overgrown dog!"

Pirika caught up. "Kororo! What are you doing here?" she asked, showing no concern for Ren's current predicament. "Why aren't you with Horohoro?" The white wolf stopped her slobbery assault on Ren and looked at Pirika in what she could've sworn was a pained expression. Kororo whined and buried herself in the Ainu girl's cloak. "What's the matter?"

"Why are you talking to that thing? It's not like it can even understand you," Ren muttered, scrubbing his face with the rough material of the hem of his shirt. Kororo immediately pulled back and snarled at the temporary village leader. He rolled his eyes.

"Well, someone's in a bad mood today," Pirika huffed. "What's wrong? Big sister pack you the wrong lunch?"

Ren smirked. He had Pirika exactly where he wanted her. "Miss Usui, I'd expect you to show some respect to your new village leader." He cleared his throat expectantly.

She squawked loudly, sending Kororo into a frenzy. "Whaaaaat?!!" she screeched. "No! This is so not fair! Ugh, I can't believe this. I'm moving to a different village now," she seethed, clenching her fists into Kororo's coat. "How did this happen?!" she demanded.

"Jun and Bailong left today for their two month wedding and honeymoon so naturally Jun transferred all her power to me and…well, you know the rest. So, just for your information, the council meeting we're going to right now is to initiate me." He broke into a sadistic grin. Best to leave out the part on how Jun forgot.

"This is so messed up. So you're going to be the Tao leader for two months?!" She shook her head sadly. "The village is going to collapse now."

"Hmph. You're just bitter that I'm in the head of council before you."

"Shut up! And yes, we should've been sworn in at the same time. I'm only a year younger than you and Horohoro anyways," Pirika spat out indignantly. She crossed her arms in front of her. "Whatever. I hope the Oni eats you in your sleep." Pirika paled and slapped her hand over her mouth. "I mean, uh, I shouldn't have said that." Ren looked at her. "Sorry…" she muttered almost incomprehensibly. The two were silent for the rest of the walk to the council hall, save for a few barks from Kororo at random strangers.

The door slammed open. "Jeez, way to take your sweet time, guys!" Joco growled. He grabbed both of their arms and yanked them inside. "Hurry up, the elders have a really important announcement. They've been flipping out ever since Goldva came back from the sanctum," he said, referring to the sacred room where the village elders did all of their work. Mic mewled and trotted over to Kororo, much to the large wolf's delight. He pushed both of them towards their seats.

"Er, hey everyone…attention? Please? Listen up." Horohoro called the meeting into session. "First off, since Jun is going to the Temple over in Revoir for her wedding, Ren'll be her temporary replacement for the next couple o' months." He paused to give the rest of the villagers some time to soak in the information. "But onto some more pressing news." Ren quirked an eyebrow. He had not been informed of this.

"We need to start making some plans on how to deal with the Oh-Oni sacrifice. The elders have been working on the calculations for the past few months and came up with this: the Oh-Oni will awaken in five years." The rest of the village people gaped and chatter began to swarm up.

"Please, quiet for a moment. As you all know, every five hundred years, the Oh-Oni in the castle on top of Funbari Hill wakes up and will lay waste to our village and the surrounding area and the only way to appease Oh-Oni is to offer a maiden sacrifice. So we need a way to work around this sacrifice but at the same time, keeping the village safe."

Murmurs started. This was the first time a leader had ever suggested something so contrary to the Book. Peyote glared at Horohoro. "Avoid the sacrifice? Are you crazy? You're putting the entire village at stake."

"And who exactly are we going to use for it, Peyote? We don't exactly have any maiden sacrifices that fit the description in the Great Spirit's Book."

"The elders and I have already told you numerous times to use your sister. It makes sense. She's of one of the chief's clans and since she won't be leader anytime soon, she can serve the village by sacrificing herself."

"Absolutely not. She—"

Pirika was seething. "I'm right here you know. You could try asking me for my opinion!"

"Fine, Miss Prissy. Will you give yourself up to save everyone else? Or will you be selfish like your brother?"

"And what makes you think I won't be initiated before Oh-Oni wakes up? Huh? What's your brilliant plan after that? You know that the Book prohibits leaders from sacrificing themselves!"

"Are you going to let hundreds of people die just because of a single phrase in the Book? You know you can't take everything in there literally, you stupid –"

Horohoro slammed his hands on the table. "Alright you two, that's enough. Instead of fighting we need to work together to come up with a better solution. If Oh-Oni isn't appeased, then there will be already a lot of senseless killings. We don't need another unnecessary death to add to that count," he said pointedly, looking deliberately at Peyote. "Does anyone have any suggestions?"

Yoh of the extremely wealthy and influential Asakura family (not to mention Horohoro's best friend), stepped forward. Horohoro breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone with enough sense to actually come up with a solution.

"Does the Book define a maiden as strictly being female?"

The villagers all stared at him. The Ainu leader gaped, unwilling to believe he just asked that. "Wh-What?" Maybe I misheard. "What kind of weird question is that?" Horohoro said, his spirits dropping as his hopes of Yoh contributing something insightful slipped away. Seriously, Yoh… Ren shook his head.

"Well, does it?" the Asakura heir asked simply.

He cleared his throat. I can't believe I'm doing this. "Erm, let me—let's…Silva, can you come here…wait, let me see that. What page? This passage…hmm…a maiden. The clause doesn't—yeah I guess. But—that's so weird. Why does it define the sacrifice as a maiden? I suppose there could've been some differences in language and terms back from when the ancestors wrote the Book. Yeah…syntax and linguistic discrepancies and such…But…So… Then—"

"Will you just tell us already instead of mumbling to yourself?" Pirika snapped impatiently, still irked over her little exchange with Peyote.

Horohoro furrowed his brows and looked up. "Technically…no. A maiden is just someone who is pure in spirit…" He quickly looked back down at the Book. "Or something. Why do you even want to know, Yoh?"

He smiled. "Just wondering."

The Ainu leader stared at his friend for a minute before shaking his head. "A-Anyways, let's just move on. Does anyone have any concerns?"

Thankfully, the villagers took the bait and he was able to sort out some less stressful issues like farming plot divisions, rationing of crops, prayer ritual reform, Goldva rushing in looking like the world was about to end—Wait a second.

"Horohoro, we just received news from the elders working the sanctum." The village's leading elder motioned for Horohoro to join him in the back room.

"What is it, Goldva?" This can't be good, this can't be good, this can't be good, why me? He hung his head in self-pity for a second before bracing himself for whatever Goldva was about to tell him. "Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as what happened during the meeting."

"Ouch, stop shoving, you stupid pointy-headed jerk!" Pirika snapped in a low voice as she attempted to eavesdrop on what her older brother and Goldva were so worried about.

"Quiet down. I should be the one listening in, since last time I checked, I'm the leader, not you."

"Well, leader, shouldn't you be in there, talking to Goldva?" she fired back while resigning herself to tiptoeing above Ren's crouched figure. "Anyways, can you hear what they're talking about?" She strained her ears to listen. "I can't make out what they're saying."

"Maybe if you kept your mouth shut—" Pirika's knuckle met the top of Ren's head. "Urgh…point taken."

"Please tell me you're not serious. This cannot be happening," Horohoro inhaled sharply and put a hand to his forehead. "I'm getting light headed."

Goldva reached forward to steady the swooning boy. "I'm afraid it's true. The interpreters were incorrect in translating a word and they meant five days, not years."

"And all of you expect me to do something about it? What am I going to tell the villagers? There's going to be riots and panicking and what about the preparations and the defense and protection of the village. Jun and Bailong took half of the soldiers with them….Oh, Great Spirit, what about the sacrifice?" Horohoro started hyperventilating. "You saw how restless they were when I told them Oh-Oni was going to be waking up in five years. How are they going to react when I say 'Oh wait, just kidding guys, we meant Oh-Oni, the most feared and powerful demon in the country is waking up in five days?'"

The short Patch man looked up at Horohoro gravely. "We're just as worried as you are, believe me. My apologies for springing this on you so suddenly but the interpreters just caught their mistake mere moments ago. And you won't be facing this by yourself. Don't forget you have—"

A scuffle just around the corner from where Horohoro and Goldva were standing broke out.

"That's my arm!"

"Well you deserved it for punching me in the head!"

"But you wouldn't shut up, what was I supposed to do?"

"So that makes it okay?! Why you little—!"

"Argh, stop, not my hair, please!"

Pirika and Ren collapsed on the floor right in front of the two most highly esteemed figures in the entire village. "Um." Pirika jumped up and smoothed her clothes out. "This…isn't…what…it looks like…?" She bowed deeply. "We weren't eavesdropping, I swear!" There goes my chances of leadership…Goldva probably thinks I'm a freak now. "It's all his fault!" She shot a dirty glare at Ren.

He scrambled up. "Excuse me?! She's the one who suggested it!" He turned his nose up at her while she stuck her tongue out at him. "Er, Mr. Goldva, sir." He coughed and fell into silence.

The Patch elder sighed. "Don't forget you have those two." He shook his head and walked away.

Horohoro rested his head against the wall. "What. Do. You. Two. Want." He emphasized each word with a pointed thump of his forehead against the hard wood of the hallways walls. He immediately regretted asking as soon as they both opened their mouths.

"I can't believe you didn't call me in here when—"

"You weren't ever going to tell me were you—"

"So much for being co-leaders—"

"I'm your sister! You told him you would use me as a sacrifice, didn't you—"

"It wouldn't hurt you to ask for help once in a while—"

"Just because I haven't been initiated yet doesn't mean—"

"If only Jun were here—"

Horohoro's eyes flew open. "Yes, if only Jun were here! She would know what to do. But no, not the stupid, boneheaded Horohoro! He's definitely going to mess up the village with his incompetence, right? If only Jun were here, then she'd be able to handle this, then she'd be the one to take all the blame because if she were here then I'd just be her sidekick, right?"

The two stopped their clamoring. Pirika looked sadly at her brother. "Horohoro…we didn't mean—"

He closed his eyes and exhaled. "I know, I know…it's just…I know that the rest of the village talks like that behind my back. I'm the passive leader and I'm just some kinda assistant to Jun who always takes charge in situations like…this." Ren nodded in agreement and Pirika smacked him in the back of the head. "But the sad part is even if she did the exact same thing I would end up doing right now, then people would be more forgiving, y'know?"

The three of them stood there, Horohoro with his fist clenched against the wood of the walls, Pirika toeing the floor, Ren staring outside the window.

"So…what are we going to do?"

Horohoro looked up. "I don't know. You tell me."

"Well, standing around here isn't going to help. Let's go discuss this with the elders." Ren jerked his head towards the doorway.

"H-Hey guys, what about me!" Pirika began to follow them.

"You're just going to get in the way, Ainu girl," Ren said with a Duh expression written all over his face. He rolled his eyes. "It's not like you'll be able to contribute anything useful anyways."

Pirika's mouth opened and closed in anger. She looked at her older brother. "Horohoro!" He merely shrugged.

"Come on, Ren." They both exited, leaving behind a very frustrated Pirika.

A/N: I loved writing this. Please tell me what you think!