25 Celtic Pantheon (1/3).

The group of three enjoyed a few more days in Mexico. More like two of them following their new companion, while she went to the places she remembered and complained about how different they were. They also found some other ruins that the humans didn't know about but they were most likely ransacked by other supernaturals. After three full days of following her, they decided that she had to be away from Mexico and it's surrounding areas for a while.

While their new friend had said that she had time to get over the deaths of her friends, she was clearly sad that nearly all the evidence of their existence had also vanished. Very few accurate representation of her friends were still present. It made her sad that the world had forgotten about them and continued on like they never existed. It was the way of the world, but it didn't mean she had to like it.

So, after one final day in Mexico, visiting any museums related to Aztec Mythology, they left for Ireland, where the realm of the Celtics existed, somewhere. They didn't know exactly where but somewhere along the cliffs of Ireland. The only thing was, there were a lot of cliffs in Ireland. But even that information was most likely not accurate. Few of the cliffs were famous tourist attractions. When they reached Ireland, he asked some of the local human, in broken English, where the most famous cliffs were. The most famous were the Cliffs of Moher. They asked for directions and left, voting to travel by foot.

They traveled to the cliffs slowly. He was in a hurry of course, but his companions argued that if the phantoms hadn't caused trouble till now, they were most likely dead or sealed somewhere. He gave up and followed them at their pace. He didn't know when they became such good friends, but it wasn't bad having another person to travel and talk with. Kuku, as she still insisted he call her, was another well of knowledge and she was very willing to share it. Apparently, she was also called the god of learning when she was with the Aztecs. He had asked her why she insisted on them calling her Kuku, as it was extremely informal and more of a nickname. She had said,

"I have a feeling that I will be sticking with you for a long time, so why not familiarize myself more quickly." She answered him with a shrug. He had said that it would make more sense to go slower in that case. Her answer was not really helpful. She had said.

"I am a dragon."

On the topic of dragons, he learned more about the dragon kings and dragons in general. She told him about Crom Cruach, also known as the strongest evil dragon, that apparently originated from Ireland. For some reason, he had his doubts, she was very eager to tell him about dragon physiology, how they found their mates and how new dragons were born. She was very graphic with the details, especially 'how' dragons mated. According to her, it involved a lot of biting, scratching, thrashing and sometimes, even scaring. As they continued with their journey, Kuku became more and more open with her 'feelings' for him.

She would end up in his bed or by his side, pushing her body into his. It was painfully obvious what she wanted, but he was good at acting dense. It became a sort of game between them, her trying to get a reaction out of him and him acting dense and ignoring her advances. Inari would usually stand aside and watch them with a smile. He was sure that Inari had figured it out that he was only acting dense towards her advances as well.

He was also pretty sure that Kuku had started doing it to reassure her that he knew about her feelings as well. But he had already told her during their travels in Japan that he would not be in a relationship for a while. He also said the same thing to Kuku. The next few days continued in similar fashion. They searched the cliffs for any entrances to the realm of the Celtic gods, but they didn't find any. In the end, they had to find the local supernatural community to get a clue as to where to go.

From what they learned, the Celtic pantheon was more commonly known as the Tuatha De Danann and it was based on and around the current Ireland, Scotland and parts of the UK. They called their realm Otherworld and had passages in different areas on the countries. They called these passages or entrances, passage tombs.

The supernatural of Ireland and Scotland usually intermingled with each other, though from what they learned, that had been decreasing over the decades. The most common creatures in Ireland were the different species of Fairies. Cat-sith, Dullahan, Banshees, Werewolves, a small amount of Mer-folks were also present. Of course the most well known creature was the Leprechaun. Leprechauns were also a type of fairy, they rarely if ever met anyone, preferring their solitude. It didn't even take a few minutes of asking for them to know that there was already a passage tomb that was discovered by humans, and that it had also become a world heritage site.

It was known as the Bru na Boinne. It was believed to be a structure created even before the era of gods started. Kuku told them that it was likely made by primordials. Another interesting topic, but no one besides the primordials themselves knew anything about them. There were no more primordials still around and even if there were, nobody knew where they were. One of the most well known primordial was Gaia, the mother earth. She did not belong to just one pantheon or one region. She was everywhere and many believed that the malice and hatred in natural energy was her cursing her children for killing her.

During their travel to the passage tomb, they came across a White Lady. A ghost that, according to the locals, was formed when innocent young women were killed brutally for a crime they didn't commit. Inari was sympathetic and Kuku seemed like she was already used to such things. He asked Zangetsu what would happen if he performed Konso on the ghost.

"Zangetsu, what would happen if I perform Konso on the ghost?"

"Get rid of their resentment. Make it easier for them to move on. That is, if they want to let go and move on." Zangetsu replied quickly. He knew when to joke around and poke fun at Ichigo and when to be serious.

Ichigo went towards the ghost. It was a young woman with pale white skin and dull black eyes. He asked her directly.

"Do you want to move on?"

The white lady was a silent ghost. It wasn't that they didn't speak, it was that they couldn't. He waited patiently for her answer. He always had a soft spot for ghosts, especially ones that left the world early and couldn't move on, not necessarily due to resentment but mostly due to attachment. The ghost in front of him didn't appear older than 20, so she was still young when she was killed.

The white lady seemed to consider his answer for a while before nodding. He materialized Zangetsu and touched the pommel of his sword to her forehead. She smiled and pointed in a direction before fading into motes of light. He sighed before looking at the direction she pointed at and started moving in that direction. His companions also didn't say anything and followed him.

After a few minutes of walking, they came across a small abandoned town. It only had a few dozen house spread unevenly in a small area. Most of them were small and completely destroyed and broken down. As he made his way inside it, he started to come across ghosts, a lot of them. It seemed like the whole town was destroyed at some point and the residents had been killed. They most likely had resentment towards their killers. There were also a few white ladies among the ghosts. He got to work.

First he found the children and asked them the question. All of them nodded and he performed Konso on them.

He went around asking the same question to every ghost.

"Do you want to move on?"

"Do you want to move on?"

"Do you want to move on?"

All of them nodded without any questions of their own. Most of the ghosts he had performed Konso on in his previous world had asked at least one question. Where would they go? but these people seemed to have worked out their resentment and were ready to move on, no matter where they ended up.

"Do you know where they will go?" He asked no one in particular but Inari being how she was answered him anyway.

"They would most likely go to the heaven of the religion they followed." She answered as she came forward to hold his hand.

"Do you want to talk about it." She asked him. This wasn't his first experience with ghosts and she seemed to have picked up on that fact. Many would call him a bleeding heart or a soft hearted idiot, but it was just how he was and he would always be like that. He didn't hate that part of himself and so wouldn't work on changing it either.

"How could one kill children. They were so innocent. They only became ghosts due to how much they loved their families." Seeing children as ghosts was never a good experience. They hadn't even lived their lives before dying.

"Ichigo, our world is a cruel one. You should know that better than most. You cannot save everyone." Inari replied squeezing his hand.

"I know that and I understand that but it still feels bad." Ichigo sighed.

They stood in silence for a few minutes. They paid their respects to the dead in their own ways and words before Kuku spoke up.

"You know what you need Ichigo? You need a drink. This place is known for its drinkers. So, let's go find us a place to drink." Saying this, she dragged him with his free hand towards somewhere. He let her drag him and Inari. After getting out of the town, she teleported them to a nearby city and found a bar.

She quickly walked inside and ordered the strongest drink they had. Now he had never drunk alcohol in his life and after drinking it, he realized that he had a pretty good tolerance for it. Inari being the goddess of wine could also hold her liquor. The one who was hammered the most turned out to be Kuku, a dragon.

Seeing them drink so much and not fall down, the local drinkers also started to join them and started a drinking contest. He kept drinking and drinking as the other drunks started to share different stories from their lives. He also got in the mood due to being slightly inebriated and started to share stories from his own life. He didn't realize it, but he had gotten extremely good at English after only spending a few days in an English speaking county.

He told them about the different fights he had been in, not the gritty and gory details, but him defeating his opponents and coming out on top. Every victory created a roar out the drunks and a toast. In the end he was also infected with the mood and started shouting more and laughing out loud. He even beat up a drunkard for trying to touch the wasted Kuku. Inari on the other hand had found the bartender and was talking about the different drinks he had.

At the end of the day, he was carrying Kuku on his back and Inari was leading him by his hand. He wasn't completely wasted but he was still unsteady while Inari looked completely fine. Well she wasn't the one roped into a drinking contest so.

"That was fun." Ichigo said, as Inari lead them to a hotel.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, but the one who suggested it seems to be completely out of it." Inari replied with a laugh. He smiled back. The room they booked had two beds and a large sofa. He put Kuku in one bed, pulled the covers over her and went outside to sleep on the couch. He quickly fell asleep on the soft couch.

In the middle of the night, he felt a soft weight settle on top of him. He left it alone as Kuku being herself and went back to sleep, holding the weight closer unconsciously.

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