It was hard. As much as Ayane understood Sou’s situation and why he couldn’t release her, not now, it was still hard. But the way she saw it, she had two choices. Sit and dwell on the matter, becoming more and more resentful about how the world had treated her badly, or accept it and move on.

Try as she might, she was still concerned about her brother.

There was a six year age gap between Ayane and Kenichi. As a young child Ayane had always wanted a little brother or sister, so when Kenichi was finally born she doted on him. They did everything together. From a young age Kenichi had hero worship; he constantly pestered Ayane to tell him stories of the great heroes of old. He couldn’t get enough of them, and proclaimed that one day he’d fight some great monster and save the world, too. They spent their time hunting imaginary yokai in the forest near Sakuradane Castle, their birthplace and father’s main residence. It was a happy childhood, pretending to fight ferocious beasts together and saving the day. Until one time they accidentally found one.

It was a cold, snowy day not long before the coming of the new year. Their mother was at home taking care of their two younger sisters, and their father was in a neighbouring town visiting some of his men. With nothing to do they decided to climb the nearby Mount Hijo and look for some adventure, only the adventure found them instead. At first it was quiet. Just a sense of unease. But soon they both heard it. A rhythmic ‘thud, thud, thud’ in the snow, like the sound a large man jumping might make. They picked up speed but so did whatever was following them, keeping perfect pace.

They reached a river, its icy rapids halting their progress. Kenichi, a tiny wooden sword held in both hands, turned to his big sister and asked her “Ayaneechan,” he always called her that, “what are we going to do?”

“Just stay calm,” she told him, pushing him behind her. She was the older sibling and a full head taller than him. It was her duty to protect him, and she would do whatever it took.

Only it wasn’t Ayane who saved the day that day. It was Kenichi.

“Who dares trespass upon my mountain?” The voice boomed around them like thunder.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t know anyone lived here,” Ayane replied, looking around frantically. “We were just playing.”

“Playing? So you like to play, huh? Then let’s play a little game.”

Kenichi’s grip on Ayane’s arm tightened. The world became white as snow exploded in the air around them. Ayane pulled Kenichi tighter, trying to protect him from whatever had just landed in front of them. As the snow settled they finally saw it; an ippondatara. A hideous yokai with a single eye and a single leg. Blood dripped from its teeth as it threw down the limb of whatever animal it was just eating. It was huge, at least twice the size of Ayane and covered in thick, coarse fur. Nurses told stories of ippondatara to keep children from travelling too far into the mountains. She was starting to regret not believing them.

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“Y-you leave us alone!” Kenichi, only six years old at the time, tried to threaten the creature with his tiny wooden sword. His hand shook furiously.

The ippondatara bellowed, causing more snow to fall off the trees around them. Ayane took a step back; her foot landed in the ice cold water of the river. She felt a shiver run through her body. She wanted nothing more to be inside and warm and eating some of her mother’s raddish stew and listening to stories about monsters, not facing one right in front of her.

“Little boy, little boy. Careful where you swing that thing. If you’re gonna play the part, you better be ready to actually use it.”

“I-I’m not afraid of you!”

“Say that again with a little more conviction, boy.”

The creature was blocking the only exit. They would have to fight or jump into the icy cold river. Neither choice was appealing.

With another scream the creature leapt high into the air and disappeared. For possessing only a single leg its jumping power was tremendous.

“Where did it go?” Kenichi asked. Snow landed on Ayane’s nose from the tree branches above. She shoved Kenichi towards the exit and then the world went black. When she awoke her arm was screaming in pain and Kenichi was beside her, crying.

“Wha- what happened?”

“Ayaneechan,” Kenichi sobbed. His tiny wooden sword was lying on the ground beside her, covered in blood. A trail of red drops ended by the riverside. “I thought you were dead!”

Her arm was broken, that much she knew. They were far from home and nobody knew where they were. But somehow they were alive.

“Where’s the monster?”

“It’s gone. When it attacked you I stabbed it in the eye. It fell over into the river and floated away.”

Ayane felt a sense of shame. She was the older sister, she was supposed to protect him, not the other way around. His eyes were wide with fear and his lips were starting to turn blue. Ayane stood up, trying to ignore the searing pain in her arm. A shadow in the corner of her eye caught her attention, high on the mountain-side, but as soon as she looked it was gone. Nothing. Just her eyes playing tricks on her after she hit her head. She put an arm around Kenichi to try and keep him warm and they slowly descended the mountain.

Ayane survived that day thanks to Kenichi. They told their mother that Ayane tripped so as not to worry her, and she spent the rest of that winter indoors, recovering with the best healers her father could find. Every now and then when it got especially cold Ayane still felt pain in her arm, reminding her of that day. She wondered what happened to the ippondatara, and what might have been if Kenichi hadn’t gotten so lucky. Perhaps the monster would have killed him, and then her along with him. But he had protected her, and now… now…

Now he was her rival. The little boy she had grown up with telling monster stories to, the little boy who had proclaimed he would save the world but instead saved her had gone and killed a man in cold blood. Had proclaimed himself as their father’s heir. It wasn’t him, Ayane knew that. It was Kuroda Mitsuhide, their father’s ally, using the boy for his own gain. Ayane feared for the type of man Kenichi might become under Mitsuhide’s guidance and control. Moreover, she feared for his life, and what might come were they to meet on the battlefield. Now both children had become pawns in a game that was much larger than they were, and Ayane wasn’t sure they’d all make it to the other side.