Chapter 29: Arrival

"That is the end of this lesson."

Iori said grandly, his posture straight and noble in a way that belies his current humble attire.

"Thank you Master Yamato!"

His students shouted unison. And he had to hold back from rolling his eyes seeing his mischievous disciple following along with the children.

They had all made a lot of progress so far, while not physical, he could sense his influence over a single of their organs begin to lessen. After the first few weeks of sore muscles and groaning, the teens had learned to suck it up and push through. Simply, he felt a bit smug at their quick progress.

"Umm...Master Yamato?"

The short kitsune, Kunou, timidly asked. Such a tone belied both fear and resolution and he knew that it had taken a lot of courage for her to even speak to him outside of their routinely scheduled lessons. With his identity fully revealed, it wasn't strange that he seemed larger than life to the girl.

"Yes, Fox Junior?"

Iori didn't see a reason to at-least hear the girl out, but he already had a pretty good idea of what she wished to talk about.

"I wish to apologize Master Yamato!" She fell into a full bow, completely disregarding how dirty it made her kimono. She even ignored the indignant squawk from her own mother. He tried to ignore his disciple, knowing full well how dramatic she tended to be. "My bodyguard's family has caused you great trouble!"

The immortal tried not to take note of the visible flinch from the teen Oni who stood off to the side with his head bowed. Ever since that day in which he was ambushed by the Nekomata Clan, one of his students, Sugita Riko, had been absent from his lessons. He wasn't one to force his teachings onto to anyone, anymore, so decided it was for the best if he just waited it out. He wouldn't put blame at the feet of a child for the faults of their family.

"You shouldn't be the one apologizing," Iori shook his head," And neither should Sugita Riko."

At his words, the young fox looked up from her full bodied bow with a shocked expression. She most assuredly hadn't been expecting this at all, probably assumed Ancient Practitioners were sticklers for uprooting trouble due to their different perceptive of time. Who wanted to worry about some forgotten decedent from a foe you killed centuries ago? It was easier to just kill everyone then and there so that no trouble would come knocking on your doorstep when you least expect it.

"You heard Master!" Yasaka whined whiling pulling at the girl to stand, her array of tails patting the dirt off her clothing," This is one of your nicer kimonos!"

"Tell Young Riko that she has nothing to fear or answer for. The decision was made by her elders and she has no reason to pay the price for their foolishness. She is more than welcome back but do make one thing clear, I will not listen to any messages her elders might have for me. If they wish to make amends they must come themselves."

It wasn't hard to figure out which ancient faction the Nekomata's were from, with those techniques and current practices it was like he was looking at a mocking replica of the Orthodoxy. Their refusal to take no for an answer, that pathetic attempt at capture and their obvious hypocrisy with that elder attacking near the end. Now after those plans failed, they acted like turtles in fear of his retribution. If he knew them correctly, they couldn't let such a failure sit. Their honor was at risk and soon enough their enemies will be chomping at the bits to gobble them up for this.

'They'll try something else.'

"Thank you Master Yamato!"

Kunou shouted while falling into another bow with another squawk of indignation from her mother who tried to pull her back up to her feet.

"Your kimono!"

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"-have been up by a full 5 percent. We're way ahead of schedule and should have the necessary amount of Spirit Plums in case things fall through."

The tengu council member, Xoru, said with the enthusiasm of a child hyped up on candy. He either didn't notice or cared about the way the giant Oni's eyes struggled to keep themselves open nor the obviously sleeping tanuki that clutched tightly at their saki.

"That's good."

Nurarihyon nodded, his cool beady eyes looking over the council assembly and taking note of their obviously battle ready attire. Not like he was any different. Each of them wore some kind of tradition armor from their own culture that could maybe be misconstrued with ceremonial wear. Things had been tensed for awhile especially since they got news of the factions sending diplomats to renegotiate the abysmal prices for their primary export, Spirit Plums. Due to their leader's lack of mobility, it was agreed that the meeting would be held in her domain.

But the leader in question, despite all that was riding on this meeting, didn't seem worried in the slightest. Hell, she didn't even wear anything that could even be considered armor. Her normal yellow kimono was replaced with something more golden and resplendent. Those wide sleeves hid her perfectly manicured nails. But of course, she couldn't resist showing a large expanse of cleavage like usual. Despite that and her lazy looking appearance, she still cut the stunning image of some kind of empress of old.

"Yasaka-sama." Akiko asked in a pleading tone, her white hair blowing gently in the unseen and cold breeze," Can you please do something about the Nekomatas? They've been bothering my family for weeks now! Letters and meetings! Do you know how stressful those cats can be?"

"They're bothering you too?" Marui's eyes snapped wide open and nearly bellowed in kind, his own tradition Oni armor covered heavily maintained red muscles that held an excessive amount of power.

"They've been bothering all of us…."

Yū, the lightning clad canine, sighed...well sighed the best way they could given their biology. Their jaw snapping in annoyance.

"They should just be happy The Heavenly Demon didn't just kill all of them." Kiyo, the tanuki yawned softly," But instead, they're bothering us to fix their mistakes."

Yasaka had to hold back her wince at the particular title, her pristine small smile still fixed to her face. She has always, always hated that name for her Master. The kitsune had known him for longer than anyone else in this world and knew for sure he didn't deserve to have his entire existence be consumed by the moniker, Heavenly Demon. He wasn't an evil man, despite the Orthodoxy's attempts to label him as such. While she knew he loved the name, it still grated at her nerves to hear him demeaned to the extent that none of them even called him by his name.

"The Nekomata situation can wait until after this meeting." She said coolly, her words like a hammer that shattered that topic with callous disregard. She needed them to focus, while her Master did agree to back the Yokai as a whole that didn't mean she wouldn't put in the work to make sure her people didn't become complacent just because they had an insanely powerful person on their side. After all, she still remembered his talks of 'ascending' beyond this world at one point..

At that, the council fell in relative silence. Each fiddling and correcting armor in place. Each of them knew that if things went south during this first meeting, then war would erupt in their country. And in order to prepare their people for the worst, they would need to kill the diplomats just to stall for time.

The silence was broken after nearly 30 minutes of tense silence.

"Yasaka-sama." A guard decked out in tradition samurai armor opened the door and bowed to the council as a whole. "The diplomats are here."

"Good." She waved her hand airily," Bring them here."