Bamboo Forest of the Lost

Marran was beginning to get the horrible impression that he was lost. He had been Pretty certain of his location for a few minutes but after that the path had begun to twist and turn wildly and he'd been robbed of all sense of direction. At first this hadn't seemed so bad, the forest was pretty enough and couldn't be that large, if he continued to follow the path it would have to go somewhere. That conclusion had been reached half an hour ago and now he was certain of the magic in this place. What was even stranger though was his normally acute sense for abandoned areas was telling him nothing, leading him either to the distressing conclusion that either very few people used this path or he had been cut off from the normal world. Either way it did not bode well for the rest of the day. He was not quite on the verge of desperation but the fact that the forest itself had endeavoured to get him lost was an alien thought and while he was curious the possibility of being lost in literally hostile terrain was not very pleasing.

Rays of the morning sun flitted through the open window of one of the large bedrooms in the massive mansion very few knew as Eintei. Located deep within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost only a lucky few have even caught a glimpse of it and no human has ever confirmed its existence. A few rumors were sprinkled among the people of the human village but none were able to say for sure that it was really there. Fujiwara no Mokou grumbled as the morning light played across her closed eyelids forcing her to roll over uncomfortably onto her side waking her from her deep sleep. Blinking the sleepiness away from her eyes she stared at the tall ceiling of the bedroom. 'Where am I?' she sat up trying to remember what had happened after her fight with Kaguya the night before.

"Ahh your finally awake, Mokou." A voice sounded from somewhere nearby and Mokou turned her head to see it was none other than Eirin Yagokoro, who was the medical genius as well as one of the residents of Eintei. A Lunarian like Kaguya, Eirin had been serving the Lunar princess for centuries and she was still much of a mystery to Mokou. Though a servant to her sworn enemy, Mokou respected Eirin and appreciated her services after her bloody fights with Kaguya. "I have some clothes here for you since your old ones... well... were done away with last night after Lady Kaguya delivered the final blow to you." Eirin motioned to the side of the bed where a simple plain white kimono lay. "It is one of Lady Kaguya's spares."

The kimono, though colorless and plain was a surprisingly blinding white nonetheless beautiful in its own way. Though Mokou preferred her rather boyish attire, she didn't hate kimonos. She just preferred how easily she could move around in her overalls and shirt. But to think she would be wearing Kaguya's clothes made her hesitate. Eirin seemed to notice Mokou's thought process and sighed. "There really isn't anything else I would offer to you. Besides, she hasn't worn that in ages. Unless you'd rather run around out there with just those wrappings on."

Mokou noticed that she was not completely naked but there were soft cloth wrappings wound tightly around her chest but that was all. "Its not as if anyone is going to stumble through here and see me." She grumbled.

Eirin shrugged. "Suit yourself. Stay as long as you'd like but again I'll warn you -" Eirin suddenly turned very serious and her facial expression was terrifyingly blank. "If I find you and Lady Kaguya fighting within the house there will be hell to pay.... For the BOTH of you."

Mokou gulped. There weren't many beings on this planet that could intimidate her but there was something about this certain Lunarian that sent chills down her spine when she got serious. She remembered the first time Eirin had found Mokou and Kaguya fighting within the walls of Eintei and shivered at the thought. That woman was something else. Mokou sighed and picked up the kimono. She could just burn it when she got home. Putting on Kaguya's clothes for a few hours wouldn't kill her. Slipping it on, she found the "obi", which was the sash that tied around her waist, on the ground nearby. It was a very dark black and Mokou tied it into a crude, sloppy knot. She decided to make her way back to her small home nearby not wanting to see Kaguya after her humiliating defeat.

Though the mansion was massive in size, it was not hard to navigate after a few times being there. Throughout the mansion, youkai rabbits where scurrying about preparing for the day ahead preforming various chores here and there. These Yokukai were usually very peaceful and had made a home here in Eintei serving Kaguya and Eirin protecting them from intruders.

After a few minutes of wandering about the mansion, Mokou finally found herself at the main entrance leading back into the deepest parts of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. She shifted around in her kimono uncomfortably and looked down at herself. Without her paper charms that she usually used to tie up her hair, her off white hair flowed freely almost touching the ground. Combined with her sharp red eyes she looked like a vengeful spirit out to search for lost human souls to feed off of. She chuckled. If anyone saw her now they no doubt would mistake her for a youkai. But she hadn't seen a lost human wander into the forest for quite some time now and the possibility of one turning up now while she looked like this was very low. Though as Mokou set off into the dark forest she was still unaware of the unlucky traveler who had gotten himself into quite the predicament nearby.

Marran had been stuck in this odd forest for what felt like hours, the high tall stalks of the bamboo plant formed a thick canopy above him and aside from a slight dappling of light over the forest floor there was almost no indication of the sun above. The fact that there were also no distinguishable landmarks meant that he felt totally marooned, but even so the passage of time was still weighing on his mind. When the sun went down this forest would be pitch black and finding his way back at that point would be even harder than it already seemed to be.

It was only a few minutes later that Marran heard someone else walking, he crouched down quickly hoping that they hadn't heard him and tried to locate where the noise had come from. After carefully maneuvering through the thick bamboo stems he saw someone or something else on another path. They had extraordinarily long hair and had piercing red eyes. Marran paused for a second as he tried to remember the name of the robe she was wearing before the word "Kimono" came to mind. He had extreme doubts that this was a normal human and the general consensus among the local humans was that the spirits should be feared and avoided, on the other hand Marran was incredulous enough to think that some hysteria might tinge such discussions so he shuffled closer.

After a few moments more thought he decided to chance it, he'd spent far too long wandering this damnable forest and he was not going to let potential help wander past. So he coughed to announce his presence and stood up. "Excuse me."

The woman seemed to be surprised at the way Marran had greeted her, similarly her rather jovial response seemed to indicate that she wasn't hostile, at least not overtly so, besides which it would be pretty impossible to get him more lost than he currently was so it seemed unlikely she was an enemy. Still Marran was nothing if not cautious so he considered his response before he spoke.

"By help you mean finding the exit to this forest? I'm afraid I'm not a local so the layout of this wood has confused me but your assistance would be most welcome."

The stranger did not seem likely to be a villager so he judged she might not have a negative response to him not being from the area, besides which his attire would would make such a fact obvious. And even then if she viewed foreigners with suspicion her wariness might make her more cooperative or at least make her reconsider any hostile thoughts should she harbor them.

As he spoke Marran took the opportunity to examine the woman more closely, her strange hair and red eyes seemed most likely to be natural though not common in the humans he'd met. On the other hand her behavior and looks didn't seem to quite match up with his mental impression of what spirits and gods looked like either. Then again he had a frustrating lack of information about the local spirits, which the villagers referred to as "Youkai". Their information seemed to be either entirely fantastical, garbled, second hand or tinged with hysteria; but Youkai, human or something else entirely was fine by him as long as they could help him out of this forest.

As they continued to push through the bamboo on the way to Mokou's house Marran began to tune up his senses, trying to detect any hint of ruins or abandoned places; but he found nothing. It was certainly strange that a forest this close to the village appeared to have been left alone for so long, it could meant that perhaps this place had been enchanted for longer than the village had been there? It was certainly an intriguing mystery, this entire area certainly seemed to be teeming with spirits and other magical creatures. Perhaps there was a source to it all, some kind of magical wellspring that meant the abundance of such creatures, it was certainly a compelling thought.

Mokou replied to his question and as if to illustrate her point she conjured a flame above her palm. Marran examined it for a moment, either the flame was entirely magical or she had used magic to conjure and sustain a flame, the second one was by and large easier but it was close enough to burn her, so perhaps she had some kind of natural fireproofing?

"I personally would not judge a persons humanity on such things."

Marran held up his right hand a small disk of sand began to form, spinning gently for a moment before snaking it way through his fingers and falling to the ground.

"I personally would not judge a persons humanity on such things."

Mokou watched as Marran displayed his own form of sand sorcery. Interesting, so he wasn't as helpless as she thought. No matter. These forests were merciless. Even if you were able to fend for yourself against the dangerous youkai wandering here one would no doubt die from exhaustion or starvation before they manage to find their way out of the bamboo forest.

Mokou shrugged. "I guess in a place like this you'd expect humans to have some sort of knowledge of magic. You'll get a lot of that around here." She turned away from him and stared into the dense forest. "Though we have to get moving. The evening is drawing to a close and we don't want to stay out after nightfall. We're already very close to my home so it won't be long before-...."

Mokou stopped mid sentence as she sensed movement behind her. It couldn't be. Before she knew it, a dark figure had lunged out of the darkness towards Marran who had his back turned. Without any sort of warning Mokou threw out her hand and the small ball of flame that was still resting in the center of her palm exploded into a pillar of fire which she aimed straight at the creature that had jumped out at Marran. Her flames barely missed the top of his head as their attacker was incinerated in mid jump right above Marran.

"Tch...." Mokou was confused. Right before the creature had been blown away by her attack she caught a glimpse of what it was. It wasn't even a youkai that had attacked them. It was a normal wolf who had tried to make a meal out of her companion. Mokou knew that the animals here were aggressive but even then none had dared to attack her so randomly. Her eyes shifted to another movement to her right. Again? This time Mokou took action before anything could jump out and sent another blazing inferno into the forest. A loud cry of pain shot out but was instantly cut short as another wolf fell victim to Mokou's flames. What was going on here? One she could understand, but another attacking right after?

"We have to keep moving. There's something wrong with this picture. Stay close."

And with that, Mokou took off running as fast as she could into the forest towards their destination. Well.... As fast as her clothing would allow her to. Again she cursed the restricting kimono she wore. Under normal circumstances she would have simply stayed to kill anything that jumped out at them from the darkness but this time was different. She had no clue what possessed these two to attack but whatever it was, she didn't want to take any chances with Marran here.

Mokou sprinted as fast as she could through the dense bamboo stalks with Marran close behind. Though they had dealt with two of the wolves already, Mokou could sense their numbers growing as they ran. This definitely was not right. Mokou had never seen a normal wolf pack attack her out of the blue before. Her presence alone was enough to keep the wild beasts at bay but this was totally different. It was almost as if they were being controlled.....

"I didn't see what attacked us, Youkai of some kind?" Marran's voice interrupted her train of thought.

"You could say that."

Mokou was to focused to give an explanation but now she believed she had her culprit. After a few more minutes of sprinting, Mokou noticed that the bamboo was thinning. They were coming close to the clearing where her house was located. She needed to get out of these woods and out into the open if she was going to do any fighting. Without warning the two burst through the bamboo and sure enough they now found themselves in an open area of dirt and soft grass. Quite a ways away was Mokou's house made from wood and clay resembling a traditional Japanese home.

"There.... We need to get inside before-...."

"Ahhh so this is where you live? Unfortunately for you, I'm not about to let our two tasty treats escape. That would not be good at all. Not... At... All....."

Once again, Mokou was interrupted but not by Marran this time. There standing in front of them was someone Mokou did not recognize. She was a small girl, looking to be no older than ten years old with extremely long pitch black hair that barely grazed the ground behind her ankles. Her most distinguishing features though were the two dark grey wolf like ears sprouting from the top of her head as well as the long grey tail that swung back and forth behind her knees. Mokou stared in disbelief. Was THIS the youkai that had been the cause of all this? By the looks of it, this youkai had only turned into one quite recently or else she definitely would've have at least recognized Mokou who had been a resident of the Bamboo Forest probably for much longer than any of the others who lived here.

Mokou chuckled and eyed the young wolf youkai. "You actually had me thinking that you were something A LOT more.... menacing, I have to give you that. But you really should run along now. It would be unwise to mess with strangers you don't know in this forest."

The small girl blinked and cocked her head sideways in confusion. "Do you not see the situation your in right now? I don't think you should be talking so high and mighty considering your about to die, human." And just to make her point, the wolf youkai leaned her head back, took a big breath (and huffed and puffed and blew Mokou's house down - JUST KIDDING XD) and let out a loud howl that reverberated through the dense bamboo forest.

"Tch...." Mokou covered her ears and winced. It was unbearably loud and she felt as if her head was splitting. How could such a little girl make so much noise?

Though after a few seconds, she finished and turned her eyes toward Marran and Mokou once again with a menacing grin spread across her face. "I'll make you regret what you said, Human. Oh, don't worry I won't kill you that quickly. I like to play with my food."

From all sides of the clearing Mokou could see numerous shadow appearing from the forest. First there were twenty. Then forty. Then sixty wolves that began spewing out into the large clearing. Slowly they came. Calmly and composed as if they had been tamed for years. All this for two humans? It wasn't just about catching a mid day snack anymore. This little youkai was simply showing off. Though as many as there were, Mokou still had to laugh. This was a joke. They were still normal wolves and even in numbers like these they had no chance against her. She even had Marran to back her up. She did not know the extent of his abilities but he definitely knew how to fend for himself. But as Mokou was working up a plan on how they should go about this she realized she herself could take care of this in an instant. Turning to Marran, Mokou asked, "Hey... Can that sand of yours protect you from my flames? Its going to get a bit hot here in a second."