Japan, several centuries ago...

A usual spring morning would bring the warm smell of blossoming flowers, all Kazue feels today is an ever present chill in her bones.

She gets up from her little straw bed and prepares herself to carry out her morning chores alongside her older sister.

Save for the odd tension hanging in the air around her, the day goes as it usually does; she follows her mother to their small farm to tend to their crops and once her help was no longer needed, she goes to the family shop. There, she helps her older sister and father until the sun is high in the sky. Her father sends her off to deliver some orders now and again but right after those, she's free to do as she pleased.

Kazue had no friends, no physical ones to be exact. She supposes that's why the odd tension in the air only seems to bother her.

She makes her way to the small shrine at the village's edge, close to the forest.

Years ago it had come as a shock to her parents when she had declared she could see beings no one could but to her misfortune, no one took her seriously.

It only resulted in from her parents and mocking from the other children. They were only a poor, struggling family of nobodies, how was anyone supposed to believe a thing like her had a gift so special?

Many years later, Kazue still hadn't grown out of it, not that talking to yokai was something that one could grow out of. After many warnings from her mother to 'not disgrace our family.' Kazue decided it would be best to keep her chat with the spirits a secret. Which was why she often snuck off into the shrines and deep into the forest to interact with the most wonderful creatures.

She'd met her fair share of mischievous spirits but the gentle ones were present as well. She'd set right what she could but not everything could be fixed. She didn't mind though, the yokai were the most interesting part of her life.

There was one aspect of her life she didn't like...

The fights.

They happen almost daily.

Her mother near tears and her father screaming angrily.

'Why are you so useless?!'

'Stop insulting me, it was a mistake.'

'Mistakes. That's all you can make. No sons, just one sick girl and another crazy one.'

'Don't speak of my daughters that way!'

Kazue sits just beneath the window leading into the small area where they would take dinner. The place her parents are currently arguing. At the moment, she's only fourteen and her sister was eighteen, unable to find a suitor because of her ill health.

Her father hardly let a day go by without reminding his wife of the 'failures'. Kazue didn't wish she could stop seeing spirits. They were good company and she would find a suitor that just had to deal with it.

That was all she'd be good for.

Growing a tad bit irritated by the arguing noises now getting louder, Kazue ventures further from their home. She runs into a little magpie which is no ordinary magpie at all. It was a magpie spirit she'd met pretty often at the point, talking down to her from a tree perch before taking off. She responds back and soon finds herself unwittingly drawn far off to listen to his tales.

She ends up a little off the trail, lead to the forests edge, into the company of other spirits. She hears whispers of conversation she probably isn't meant to.

Another human is there.

She isn't surprised in the least, it was a relatively safe area with no particularrestrictionsput on entering. She turns back about to leave noticinghow dark it's becoming.

It's then she hears something about the human being deathly injured. Kazue can't just leave with that now weighing down her conscience. She turns and approached the yokai, in the dark she can't see their exact forms but they point her in the direction she ought to go.

Kazue walks with hasty steps, scanning the ground with her eyes until they fall upon a figure seeming to crawl along. A male probably.

She hurries to his side.

'Sir! May I be of any assistance?' She asks, her tone anxious. There's blood pooling around them at her feet, much more than her sister's occasional coughing fit.

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'It would be in your best interest to leave, child. This forest gets dangerous at night.' The man states hoarsely, he looks up her, face wrinkled pinched from age but still firm.

Kazue frowns, 'I understand but that's why we should get help.'

'I am fine, young miss, do return to your home.'

'The spirits say we should leave soon, you don't look like you can stand.'

His tired eyes stare at her, calculating, 'You hear them? The yokai?'

'A good deal are my friends.'

He sits up and now Kazue can see his wound more clearly. A gaping hole in his midsection. She was no physician but even she knows he wouldn't live for much longer. She wants to be calm but the chill that had followed her the whole day travels down her spine in alertness.

'I don't have much longer to live if one has to say,' the old man groans.

A piercing holw cuts through the air causing Kazue to flinch. She looks around, fear slowly taking hold of her as the sun set deeper beyond the trees.

Her beating heart speeds up drastically, but she remains at the old man's side. He watches her, deeply touched.

'You must leave.'

'You need assistance.'

'I won't make it, but... there is something in me that should...' he hesitates 'I wanted to hide it but now it seems I have no choice but to use what the gods have provided.'

She raises a confused brow.

'The gods sent you here to take something from me now that I no longer have the strength to keep it safe. You must do the same else the world of man and spirits shall fall into great disarray.'

Kazue feels her blood run cold, this must be what her senses had been alerting too all day, 'What?'

'Our people and the world as we know it are in danger.'

That gives her pause, 'I wish there was more I could do but all my life, I've been nothing but a burden, " Vivid taunts of being the crazy girl fill her ears, she'd accepted her ability a long time ago, it was part of her and she loved it but it had still ruined her life, still made her unworthy of the happiness she craved from being around people, 'I...I can't-'

'Then that isn't the life meant for you.' The old man said, commanding, 'Your gift is wasted sitting among ordinary humans, with what I give you will find your place...and even your true people, all that is for you to fulfill your purpose.'

Kazue stares, mind racing, heart stuttering under the intense glare but elated at the news that there might be more, more to be seen than sitting in her small dusty home and waiting for a future she had no hope in.

Is she being given a choice, or was this simply something else she'd have to accept because she was all that stood between her words and destruction?

'If you accept this, your life will never be the same. After tonight, you shall be a wanderer,' the old man speaks. He takes her left hand, placing jn it a small wooden talisman.

Another shrill howl, this time followed by a scream.

'No one must know of your existence, and your work shall be one with no reward.'

'I'm afraid of what the future yours speak of holds, but...if this is a chance for me to do more for everyone...' She stops thoughtfully. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. But this old man had no reason to lie and he was badly injured. His voice carried no hints of madness but only cool, strong authority.

'You accept then?'

'I can't turn away.'

He closed his eyes briefly, adjusting his sitting and holding back a cough that would result in blood pouring down his mouth. He places a hand on her shoulder, 'It will hurt just barely, but as soon as I say so, you must run. Run until you reach your home. Hide there for only tonight but no more. By morning you must leave. Never stay in one place for too long. You will have my memories guiding you so never let go of that talisman. Protect any man who needs it and help any spirit who needs as well. Your work is for both worlds as long as the balance remains.'

She nods, a deep pool of dread sinking into her.

She feele a spike of pain go through her shoulder, diving deeper into her body and entering her heart. She shakes with her vision clouded with all flashing shades of white, red and black.

Suddenly, a cold envelopes her. A sudden clearness of her mind. Her trance was broken by the frightened scream of

'RUN!'

She's startled into action, heart pounding. Her feet carried her before her brain could catch up. She bows to the old man, tears gathering in her eyes as she casts one last lingering look back to his wound. She forces herself to turn, running as fast as her legs would let her. All the way, this new feeling overwhelms her, jars her senses, and awakens them to an extent she'd never dreamt of feeling.

There's a darkness though, one that threatens to consume her mind but she wouldn't let it. No matter how life had been cruel to her and had put her down, she would never become one of those who took it out on innocent people.

By the time she gets back home, it's already very late. She had failed to take into account her ruffled clothes and the hems stained with blood but fortunately her mother is too panicked, scolding and rushing her towards their bathing area to get ready for the night.

She goes into the room she shared with her sister after washing up and having dinner. She lays down but sleep doesn't come easy and when it did, it was filled with voices and strange dreams that make her clothes the strange wooden talisman in her hold.

On waking the next day, Kazue knows what she has to do.

Or just some part of it.

She can't ever carry on this life, not with what was dwelling within her.

Beings with power so great that she had to keep them from other forces that wanted them. And with them a secret that could unleash a vengeful force upon the world.

As time went on, she would sort things out, but sitting in her little bed with the silver lights of dawn peeking through her curtains, she knows she can't remain here.

Morning light brings with it a new life that no longer belonged to just her. But to the mission she is now tasked with and despite the dread of leaving her family, her life and maybe even herself, Kazue had never felt so free.

She stands on the hill overlooking her small home, the only place she's known for so long yet her soul calls her to adventures so far unseen.

She turns to leave, untethered to the rules of society because they no longer applied to her new self.

She was free.