"We shall leave this gift here for you to decide." The priest, smirked victoriously, his thin mustache quivering in obvious joy. Before giving a mocking bow, and taking a step back. Cowering behind the much smaller figure in such a way that might've been comical but no humor came to Yasaka in that moment. Her golden eyes mere slits, glaring a hole into the 'gift' placed before them. A headache already forming between her brow.
Falling into another bow, Doumon Genbu, softly spoke.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us. The journey has been long and our group is weary, we ask that any officials talks are held off until tomorrow morning."
Time for the poison to settle in, to spread amongst the veins of the Yokai's support network. It made it abundantly clear that the girl wasn't entirely ignorant of the plow, maybe her appearance caused the mother to drop her guard a bit. And maybe that was intentional. But whatever the reason, the facts were simple. They'd gotten her.
Not in a truly crippling way, but there would be consequences for the 'gift' left behind. Trying to hide anything wouldn't help. Even if she were to demand every Yokai in that building to swear an oath of silence, she suspected these delegates would be all too keen to 'leak' the news through their own means. And that particular outcome, was the absolute worse.
It didn't matter who she distributed this natural treasure to, there would always be an endless number of clans and families that would believe that it should've been given to them. Granted to their talented youths or used to strengthen one of their own elders. And even she somehow come up with a way to make it fair, like a tournament or an event, most of her nobles would find some fault in whatever winner arose.
Shrine Water was just too valuable of a resource not to cause problems, they would scrabble at her legs. Demanding, proclaiming that this was a due reward for all their loyalty.
Honestly, that thought caused a rather dark and cynical side of her to come back up to the surface. A colder part of herself.
If they were going to complain anyway, why not just gobble it all up? Why shouldn't she just snatch this treasure, hand feed it to her daughter and be done with it?
But the answer was obvious.
"Our guards will escort you to your temporary quarters."
Yasaka spoke for the first time, a well manicure hand waving them away with a sweep of her massive yellow sleeves. Face etched in stone, frozen into a blank mask that mirrored the heiress. At those words, twin pairs of blue skin Onis slid open the paper doors. Their massive tetsubos propped over one shoulder, each give the group of humans a tooth maw-ed grin.
Despite the obvious threat, the group didn't look fearful in the slightest. In fact, they looked more smug than ever before. Cowering behind the power of their Kamis, they quickly departed the room. Soon followed by the lines of servants with a single glance at their grim faced council members. Closing the door behind them, the kitsune acted first.
Before the arguing could start, Yasaka expanded her Ki out. Encompassing the room in her presence. Completely a totally blocking any attempts of subtle scrying or divination on this conversation to come.
She didn't have to wait long.
"I think Kunou-sama should take the Shrine Water." Yū was the first to speak up, like a bolt of lightning striking down on their conversation. "Empowering ourselves won't help much, but she's clearly the most talented of our youth. It makes the most sense."
"But that's not the problem." Akiko huffed, a plume of frost forming on the small table before her. A small micro expression prevalent on that frozen corpse of a face. She probably didn't mean for it to come out so snappy, but it was understandable. There hadn't been any recently born Raijus in centuries, so he had no real skin in the game. But Yuki-Onnas? Her clan had plenty of juniors that would greatly benefit from this treasure. "It's not about what makes the most sense here. Its political. No matter who is chosen, there will always be a fall out."
"I say we just let the strongest prevail!" Marui slammed his fists on the ground, that rosy tint now completely gone in the presence of a such a prize. Small eyes sliding over the box a few too many times. "Let the youth fight for it! Put together a massive tournament and whoever wins, gets the Shrine Water!"
"There isn't enough time." Xoru countered. A scroll already in hand. "To put together something like that...it'll take months of preparation! And by then, it would've already lost those beneficial effects and just become simple water. Even if we were to just do duels here in Kyoto, it would still take a full week! A full week of constant fighting. Even just the youth from clans, which would already cause enough of a stir, would still take more time than we have."
"And what about Yokai that aren't so focused on fighting?" Kiyo threw in their own two cents. "Improving the foundations of someone wouldn't just affect their fighting capabilities but also their channeling skill all together! That means we could introduce a new highly skilled crafter into the fold! Having one powerhouse is fine and all, but what if we got someone who could make stronger elixirs? A blacksmith that can equip an entire battalion? We could have an entire team of elites and not just one!"
"You want to uplift a crafter?! Whose going to protect them?" The crimson Oni shot back. Voice reverberating through the air. "Even if we had the best crafter in the world, how is that going to help us if other factions just start demanding commissions from them? Or what's going to stop them from just taking them all together? We need a future power house to act as a deterrent!"
"I agree," Akiko nodded. Black locks fluttering in an unseen breeze. "That's why we should focus on those with widespread abilities. If we want an army deterrent, then we need someone who can develop to a point to eradicate them with a single move."
"You're only saying that because you want someone from your clan to benefit from this!"
And thus, the arguing began in full. Council members, once brothers and sisters in a united front, descended into ceaseless squabbling. Idea after idea being shot down, jabs exchanged and old grudges, once buried, brought back up to the surface.
It was a sad sigh to see but not foreign to Yasaka. History always repeated itself. A group of colleagues, once bound by blood and righteousness, beginning to tear into each other at the first heaven defying treasure that stumbled into their path.
Maybe Yokai weren't so different from humans after all.
A cane slammed against the ground, sending out a series of screeches from an army of marching demons. Instantly rising above the chaos and drowning everything else out. There, standing at his diminutive height, an old man scowled openly at the collective.
Veins bulging visibly on his elongated and liver spot covered head.
"Show some restraint!" Nurarihyon snapped, thin fingers clenching. That ethereal flag threatening to materialize fully behind him. "Your greed is plain to see, will you truly act like animals when they toss out mere scraps?! Bite and claw at one another like you have no sense at all? You all were so busy fighting amongst yourself, you didn't even once ask for Yasaka-sama's guidance! Did you all forget why we're even in this sort of position? Do you really think those slavers would've offered up something like this if we didn't have The Heavenly Demon behind her? Not us, but her?!"
The elders, centuries old, still had the nerve to drop their head in collective shame. It was the truth of the matter. If the Five Principal Clan had come even a year ago, this prize wouldn't have ever been offered to them without a major sacrifice on their side. And even then, it probably wouldn't have been from such a prestigious shrine!
Seeing them properly cowed, the old man Yokai turned and bowed fully to the Kitsune. His frail figure looking even smaller as he asked.
"Please, Yasaka-sama, tell us what shall be done."