Prologue
Oni Court, Hanamichi Village
1965
Screams filled the many halls of the Adachi household. Rin couldn’t tell whether they had stretched to the rest of the estate, but they did make her sensitive ears twitch, each agonised cry leaving grating shudders along her back. She straightened her spine and pressed the palms of her sweat-slicked hands firmly on her lap, the silky fabric of her white and blue kimono crinkling from having been incessantly tugged on. Her legs, folded beneath her, protested at the achiness seeping into her joints, and the stiffness in her back only made maintaining her posture much more straining. She stole a glance at her father, his arms crossed tightly against his chest, large hands tucked inside the wide sleeves of his dark red robe.
Kazuo Adachi had a deep frown engraved onto his sharp-edged face. Rin didn’t know if he was angry or mildly disappointed, but she didn’t want to give him a reason to be either. The Lord of the Oni Court seemed unfazed by his wife’s pained shrikes as she gave birth behind the wood-framed doors. His lips curled downwards as if the excruciating screams irritated him. He clicked his tongue, and Rin glimpsed the glint of his sharp protruding upper fangs, much like her own, except hers were shorter and far less salient.
She couldn’t quite put any emotion to his expression at the moment, but it did remind her of when Asuka was born. He behaved similarly, albeit a bit calmer.
It was probably due to him expecting Asuka to be a boy, to finally have an heir who was both a male and not a bastard, and for that Rin wondered how he had acted when she, his first child, was born.
Not well, she assumed.
Kazuo seemed to have sensed Rin’s silent observation for those keen, gold-tinted brown eyes flicked at her. Rin possessed her father’s eyes, but something she did not possess was the sheer domineering effect they appeared to force upon anyone—like he knew what she was thinking. She quickly tore her eyes away, reminding herself not to slouch. She couldn’t see anything beyond the semi-translucent panels of the doors, only the silhouettes of the midwives scurrying to assist Lady Adachi. Her heightened sense of smell picked up on the metallic scent of blood she knew was drenched onto the beddings, and she tried to distract herself with other thoughts.
Her younger sister made another sniffing sound, and Rin glanced at Asuka’s more petite frame. She sat kneeling on the mat the same as her, shoulders squared, back upright, and head held evenly. But her round, small black eyes had tears streaming down her pale, plump cheeks.
Rin pursed her lips, trying not to laugh at the redness spreading across her sister’s nose, snot dripping over the tightly wrapped collar of her pink kimono.
“You look like a baboon’s ass,” she whispered teasingly. Matsuko, the head maid, released a pointed cough from where she was kneeling behind them. Rin ignored her.
Asuka sniffled, shaking her head, the short black hairs brushing against her neck. “I do not!” she protested, pinching her cheeks to make the redness go away. “That’s not a very nice thing to say.”
Rin simpered, watching her sister attempt to wipe away any lingering tears with the end of her sleeve. “And when have I ever said nice things? It won’t do you any good to sit here and cry.”
Asuka pouted. “I know, but…”
Lady Adachi screamed; a shrill, piercing shriek that nearly made it seem as if the walls were reverberating. The sound of rustling and something breaking caused the two girls to flinch. Asuka looked like she was about to cry again but heaved a steadying breath. Rin almost whistled impressively at the sound and hoped that whatever the Lady broke it was that stupid vase she wouldn’t let Rin even touch.
Asuka leaned forward to look at her father. “Father, can’t we send her to a hospital? I’m sure she’ll—”
Rin knew the answer before Kazuo had spoken in an authoritative but not unkind voice. “The women of the Adachi household have given birth in this house for generations. It is tradition.”
Asuka retreated to her posture, head hung low. Rin wanted to scoff at that, at the traditions her father had pestered her with for fourteen years. Still, she was somewhat glad that her status as an illegitimate-born child spared her from responsibilities she was in no way prepared for. For Asuka though, things were different. She may be a female and the second eldest, but she was the only child of Lord and Lady Adachi—for now. Whatever duties and expectations Rin was supposed to have, they were all thrust over to Asuka instead.
Rin leaned closer to her sister, brushing the stray short hairs on Asuka’s head that wouldn’t lay flat. She noticed that Asuka’s copper-coloured horns had grown a bit taller; the sleek curves were now visible through the mass of black hair. They resembled Lady Adachi’s horns, down to the colour and width. Rin, on the other hand, had her father’s likeness. Hers had more of a spiral than a curve, but unlike her father’s, they were shorter and less broad, though they shared the same deep, dark scarlet shade.
“Lady Asuka, please lift your head. It’s improper to look down,” Matsuko advised, though to Rin it sounded more like a demand. The old, green-skinned yokai didn’t even bother to look at either one of them.
“Leave her alone,” said Rin, half snarling at the maid.
The yokai looked at her coldly, but only for a second as she turned her face away. Asuka had listened to Matsuko nonetheless.
“She’ll be fine,” Rin assured her sister. “The Lady has done this before—with you. I was there, and she managed to come out alright.”
“But she’s in so much pain. I want to help….”
“It’s a necessary pain,” she tried to say, not knowing how to word her thoughts correctly. “Err…many women go through it, and many come out alright. It’s a pain that brought you and me into this world.”
Rin had to admit that she was impressed with her introspection, and even Asuka blinked surprisingly at her.
“That sounds way too thoughtful for you to say.”
She grinned. “Words of wisdom have been known to occasionally cross my mind.”
Asuka did not need to know that Rin had read something about ‘Women’s pain and gain through childbirth’ in one of Lady Adachi’s books for expecting mothers.
Just as Asuka opened her mouth to say something, the screaming stopped abruptly, and the room fell into a cloud of silence almost too suffocating. Lord Adachi did not say a word, nor did he make any inclination to move. Asuka was seconds away from crawling on her knees to open the sliding doors, while Rin seemed like she was able to hear everyone’s breath, including her own hitched one.
But the sound of different types of cries instantly bounced off the walls of the room. A newborn child. Its high-pitched whimpers echoed through every corner. Asuka released an excited squeal at the sound of her sibling, and Rin smiled at her reaction and at the fact that she now has another younger brother or sister. Kazuo did not smile, but his frown softened.
The midwife who assisted Lady Adachi slid the door open with a soft thud a few seconds later. Her pleasant and relieved expression told Rin all she needed to know. She fell to her knees in a deep bow, one hand clasped over the other as she planted them in her lap. The glimmering coat of sweat on her brows almost trickled down her chin.
“My Lord, you have a son. Congratulations.”
A flash of delight radiated off of Kazuo’s face, his mouth no longer set in a grimace but a satisfied smile. Matsuko was quick to give her congratulations, dabbing her tears with a handkerchief she had tucked inside one of the folds of her kimono. Asuka and Rin both looked at each other, a mixture of natural joy and concern on their faces.
“What about Mother?” asked Asuka, her thin lips slightly quivering.
The midwife looked at her kindly. “She’s fine. She’s recovering at the moment, so you’ll be able to see her soon.”
The relief on Asuka’s face appeared to be more sincere than any of the supposedly joyful expressions happening in this room. Rin did not say anything to her father or offer her congratulations. But it was Asuka’s dejected face that concerned her. She seemed happy enough to have a younger brother, but Rin understood what the look on her face meant, for she had shared a similar one when a different midwife announced Asuka’s birth nine years ago.
“I just want to see him!” Rin complained as Matsuko hauled her away from where Lady Adachi was nursing her son. She closed the lattice door with a firm thud, preventing Rin from seeing into the room, and turned her annoyed, scale-rimmed face toward the young girl.
“Lady Adachi has requested that only family members be present. And while you are in this household you shall only speak in Eno. I believe His Lordship has reminded you of that countless times,” she snapped curtly.
Rin wiggled away from Matsuko’s grip on the back of her collar and glared at the tight-lipped yokai. To spite her, she exclaimed in Aroyan, “He’s my brother.”
Matsuko grimaced. “I know that. You will see him when Lady Adachi sees it fit.”
Rin could hear her brother’s faint, soft cries from beyond the door, which left her wanting to cradle his tiny body in her arms. But Matsuko wouldn’t budge from her position. She doubted that Lady Adachi would allow her to stay even if she managed to enter.
A feminine, cold laugh came from behind Rin. “Oh, how unfortunate, I also wanted to lay eyes upon that little twerp.”
Matsuko tensed, her face contorting in obvious distaste as Yukio’s tall, slender figure swayed close to the decorative wall. Rin picked up the overpowering smell of alcohol before she turned to look at her mother.
The snow yokai was holding a bottle of what Rin knew to be empty rice wine in one hand while trying to prop herself with the other one against the wall. Her white, shimmering hair spilt down to her hips, some of it tucked inside her loose black kimono that bared the pale azure flesh of her shoulders. Rin spotted the redness around her mother’s sleek black eyes, the smudged red on her lips, and the dark blue swipes over her eyelids that appeared to be from yesterday.
“You’re delusional if you think Lady Adachi would ever allow you anywhere near Lord Kenji,” Matsuko sneered with very apparent dislike. “And you’re not allowed in the main keep! Neither is your offspring.”
That word sounded filthy on Matsuko’s tongue as she peered down at Rin.
“Oh, hush,” said Yukio, taking small steps, the hem of her kimono dragging on the floor behind her. “I’m sure Kazuo would make an exception this time. After all, it’s a joyous occasion.”
Matsuko clenched her sharp-edged teeth. “Know your place, and stop referring to His Lordship by name!”
“My place?” She puffed a short laugh. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure His Lordship won’t mind. He likes it when I call him by his name, especially in the bed—”
Matsuko huffed sharply, blocking out whatever Yukio was about to say, and hurried off past the other yokai toward the corner of the hallway.
“Oh, don’t be like that, Matsuko,” Yukio called after the head of servants, waving her empty bottle. “I was just joking!” She watched her disappear and twirled around to meet her daughter, mumbling a very loud and clearly meant to be heard ‘Bitch.’
Rin rolled her eyes at her mother’s usual theatrics. Yukio blinked, dancing on the balls of her feet, and slurred, “What are you looking at?”
Rin knew better not to say anything when her mother was sober, let alone drunk. But if there was one other thing she shared with her mother, besides the colour of her hair, it was her inability to hold back her tongue.
“Looks like now that dear old dad has a son, your plans of making me the heir of the Adachi clan are nothing but a waste. Such a shame.”
Even with Asuka as the reasonable prospect, Yukio never stopped pitting the two sisters against each other, despite Rin’s lack of interest.
She felt the slap before she could see it, hard and quick across her cheek. Rin didn’t flinch, even as her skin stung in pain that numbed the tender flesh.
“Insolent brat!” Yukio spat, then staggered away without another glance at her daughter.
Throughout the fourteen years that Rin has had very limited opportunities to explore the Adachi family’s main household, she had always memorised which hallway led to her grandfather’s sick room, which was prone to be changed every few months or so. With heaviness weighing her heart and the bottom of her feet, she traipsed along the darkened, empty passages until she reached another set of lattice-framed doors.
Two onis, dressed in their magnificent Senshi armour with their swords fastened at their hips, were standing guard, and upon seeing Rin they each gave her a sympathetic smile and let her through. Her grandfather’s chambers always smelled of strongly scented herbs and medicinal syrups. Rin disliked the smell, mostly because it made her head buzz.
At the centre of the floor, atop the straw-embedded carpeting, lay the spread of duvets and pillows on a wide futon, where Jin Adachi sat uprightly with a book splayed on his lap. The physicians keeping a close watch on him glanced at Rin, did not offer anything but a curt nod, and went back to administrating whatever necessary vitamins and nutrients into his veins. Rin lingered at the threshold, waiting for them to finish, and once they did, they packed their needles and syringes, set up a heart monitor with wires coming out of the opening of Jin’s collar, and left to give the two some privacy.
Despite being nearly three hundred years old, Jin Adachi had barely any deep lines engraving his angular face. The sunken cheeks and the few grey hairs kissing his temples along with the hollowness under his amber eyes were the only things that indicated he wasn’t at his full health. His thin, chapped lips split into a full-fanged smile as he regarded Rin.
“Little mouse, what a wonderful sight you are,” he said, reaching out his frail hand. “Come. I’ve missed you greatly.”
Rin scurried to kneel beside her grandfather and planted a kiss on his forehead. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to visit you recently, Gramps. But you know how it is. It’s almost a miracle that I was even allowed to attend the birth.”
Jin shook his head dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. Heard Kazuo’s finally had his son and ‘proper’ heir.” His expression creased into that of displeasure. “As if you or your sister aren’t worthy enough. Anyway, how’s the little one?”
Seeming that he meant her newborn brother, Rin replied with a sigh, “Stepmother won’t let me see him. They’ve named him Kenji.”
“Good name,” noted Jin approvingly. “Strong and resilient—hope he won’t turn out like my dim-witted son.” Rin chuckled at that. “What about Asuka?”
“Don’t know, she went off somewhere. I think she’s a little upset that she won’t be her parents’ favourite anymore.”
There was a speckle of bitterness lacing Rin’s tongue that she hoped her grandfather wouldn’t notice. But Jin’s ears were as keen as his eyes, no matter what the illness had rendered brittle. He traced his stare upon every twitch of muscle on Rin’s face, inspecting the amalgam of conflicting emotions within. It made Rin feel utterly naked as if her soul was entirely bare to him.
To divert herself from his scrutinising gaze, she examined the rows and rows of her grandfather’s prized memorabilia perched on a tall cupboard. More was added since the last time she came, to the point that there was barely any space left on the dusty surface. Her grandfather had obtained various souvenirs from his travels, ones from all over the other neighbouring courts, and others from lands far across the sea. His recent trip to the Kyshand continent, though, was his last, for the previous Lord of the Oni Court had returned as only a fraction of who he used to be.
Rin didn’t know precisely what had happened. But the circulating rumours mentioned that he had gone mad, that something occurred during his travels there that made him come back with half a mind.
That’s when the sickness began. When dark blue spots that appeared a lot like scales started streaking along the skin of his arms and legs, which the physicians attempted to hide beneath his robes. Thus, Jin Adachi was forced out of public sight and confined to a series of countless four-walled rooms. To Rin, she did not think that anything was wrong with her grandfather. He acted stable enough, but there were a few lapses of sanity to which Rin had been a witness, and even then, she’d always thought that no one was really completely of sound mind.
“Have you decided on joining the Senshi program?” asked Jin.
Rin grinned. “Yes! I’m doing it. It’s the best thing for me. Besides, Father’s on board too, which is rare. But I guess it’s his way of getting rid of me.”
“You’ll be a fine Senshi, my dear.” Jin smiled fondly. “It’s good sense that I still had what’s left of my mind to decree the sanctioning of women and halflings before I lost it entirely.”
His laughter was boisterous, loud, and bouncing off the corners of the room. It soothed Rin and troubled her at the same time, filling her heart with both ease and a small sense of dread that she wouldn’t be able to hear her grandfather’s laughter sooner than she would have liked. So she joined in, fits of giggles shortening her breath. She scooched closer to Jin, wrapped her arms tightly around him, and laid her head atop his shoulder. He did not protest, nor did a groan of pain slip past his lips.
Rin had never felt any sort of warmth in this house, but she was willing to cling to whatever little she could get.
“You shouldn’t be out in the cold. You’ll get sick,” Rin told her sister when she saw her perched under what once was a blooming cherry tree. Now, its branches were devoid of any pink petals, and only the white snow had set in like a freshly laid blanket.
Asuka shivered, tugging on the extra thick hanten wrapped tightly against her balled-up frame. Rin joined her on the ground, gathering the short hem of her kimono around her knees, her back resting on the damp, cold trunk of the tree.
“Maybe if I get sick they’ll finally pay attention to me?” wondered Asuka, rubbing a hand over her flushed nose.
Rin snorted. “Yeah, that never worked for me. Though, in your case, it’s different. They’re just busy with Kenji, and a baby needs a lot of shit.”
“You’re not supposed to say that word.”
“Says who?”
“Matsuko.”
Rin had lost count of how many times that nasty old hag yelled at her to behave and speak properly. She had also lost count of how many times she told her to kiss her ass.
“Meh. To hell with her.”
Asuka shook her head disapprovingly. “See, this is why she’s mean to you.”
Rin could name many more reasons why Matsuko detested her, but she didn’t have all day. “So, are you planning on staying here forever? It’s going to snow soon.”
The shimmering whiteness was already piling up, and Rin could tell it would be a heavy snowstorm soon. She could always predict when it was going to snow, and she was immune to the coldness of it. It was one of the significantly few benefits of being the daughter of a snow yokai.
“I just…I don’t want to be alone.” Asuka rested her chin atop her knees, hugging them to her chest as she tucked her hands beneath them.
Rin frowned. She had never heard Asuka voice those kinds of concerns before. Her mother deeply loved her, and even Lord Adachi had a gentler approach to her. Her situation wasn’t anything like Rin who was kept under a different roof, away from the main house, and until now wasn’t allowed to hold her baby brother. On top of all that, Asuka had Rin, so she was never going to end up alone.
“Don’t want to get too sappy,” Rin scratched at her curved, pointed ear, her tanned face a tad rosy, “but I’ll always be there for you. I’m your big sis. It’s the only duty I ever intend to fulfil in this damned place.”
Asuka smiled sweetly, though her smile did not show her sharp, narrower teeth. “But you’ll be gone soon. You have your Senshi training, and you won’t be here until your fiftieth year.”
“I can still visit.”
Asuka sighed. “It won’t be the same.”
Rin didn’t know how to respond to that. She would indeed be off to become a Senshi in less than a year. It’s all she ever wanted to be, all she ever could be in this place; a warrior dedicated to protecting the noble clans in her court, trained in the arts of Blood Binding. The program took thirty-six years to complete, the graduation occurring when the pupil turns fifty. She remembered to stop her ageing at a reasonable time. She didn’t want to be one of those onis who thought that the older you looked the more wisdom you had.
The thought of leaving Asuka did dull down some of her excitement, but Rin reminded herself that she could visit around three times a year. Plus, she could always get one of those landline phones and call her sister whenever she missed her.
“Don’t worry about that. Once I become a Senshi, I’ll come back to be a guard here and protect you and Kenji and whoever the hell Lady Adachi pops out next.”
The two girls laughed, their hearty giggles sounding out through the stillness of the air.
“Honestly,” said Asuka, “I’m a bit glad that Okaa-san gave birth to a boy. I don’t have to follow certain stupid rules all the time. I can do whatever I want.”
“Yeah, that’s Kenji’s problem now.”
Asuka grinned, her small upper and lower fangs now fully showing. She blinked as something dripped on her face, and when she lifted her hand to catch it, it melted under the warmth of her skin. Rin could already sense it before snowflakes started falling over the heads of the Adachi sisters. Within seconds they were growing thicker, almost engulfing anything they touched. Asuka got up and skipped away from the minimal coverage offered by the overhead branches. She edged closer toward the end of the hill, her eyes raking over the landscape dotted with white.
Rin dusted the powdery flakes off her lap and followed her sister. Unlike Asuka, who was admiring the mesmerising sight of the snow-kissed village, Rin grimaced as the cold flecks touched her skin. A tight knot twisted in her belly.
Asuka laughed as she tried to catch a few of them in her hands, but they quickly melted off as soon as they made contact. “Snow is so pretty,” she said, then looked at her sister, and her smile widened. “Just like your hair.”
Rin slipped her fingers through the long, silken strands of her snow-white hair. Something she had very clearly inherited from her mother, and something that made her stick out like a sore thumb, to be the constant target of disgusting sneers and passive-aggressive behaviour. She was the bastard daughter of a lower-level yokai who had seduced the esteemed Lord of the Oni Court. Though Rin supposed her father had gladly dropped his pants for the beautiful vixen with no questions asked.
Rin took her sister’s hand, and it was surprisingly warm despite not wearing gloves. “Let’s go back inside. It’s going to be a terrible storm soon.”
