His gaze looked down at where hands should have been, but in their place there were only gore-covered spinning blades, their almost silent whir continuing although their deadly purpose had been fulfilled. Their spinning slowly started to slow as their owner began to process exactly what had occurred.
Kiko-sensei had been training him to become a ‘Demon’ - a branch of the Myakashi devoted to death and destruction, assassination and insurgency. A fist when the normally manipulative Myakashi needed to strike quickly and hard. Kiko was the finest example of this creed, and Mikki found himself fortunate to be learning from the best.
She was a harsh teacher, firm but fair, and far from the young girl Mikki had protected. She was now the master, teaching the former tsukumogami how to separate and hide his weaknesses, his emotions. Such things were only for loved ones now, and to all others he was the deliverer of fear and death. It was a departure indeed for Mikki who had for millenia been a protector of the weak… now he was a dispenser of death.
Why had Migoya pushed him in this direction? The Myakashi leader was his closest friend, but had been blocking his memories for decades. That betrayal had stung Mikki until his wisdom had kicked in - Migoya was trying to keep him ‘innocent’ in an effort to prepare him for what was to come. Having been changed into a mortal had caused Mikki to develop in ways he had not expected, yet now he was back being a puppet… albeit a different one that his previous incarnation. He felt weaker in some ways, but stronger in others. He now felt more… connected with the mortals now that he knew he could actually die. It was both thrilling and terrifying to him.
“This is the point where you must believe they deserved it. There cannot be any empathy or sympathy, for that will weaken your resolve.” Kiko’s voice was clear and held a measure of caring, but Mikki knew that this was a lesson he had to take seriously. “There are only two types of people now to us Mikki-kun. Those of Yamigakure and others. We hold no love or sympathy to others, for others will hurt us, have hurt us. They are tools to us and to our family. Remember this, and you will not feel like you do right now”.
She looked at him with a rare show of empathy, reserved only for her kin. She knew what he was thinking, the guilt that he now carried, and was trying to get him to forget in a different way. Not directly like Migoya, but in a way that let him process it.
“Does it… does it ever become easy?”
“Nothing easy is ever worth it, Mikki-kun. You need to let yourself feel the pain, but learn to accept it for what it is. Pain is a pathway - a tool that sharpens our skills and our wits.”
“You sound like Migoya”.
Kiko chuckled. “Well, he was my mentor as well as my fathers, and he learned from his brother, my grandfather. Migoya is from the generation born through fire and pain, and whilst I feel that sometimes he lets his caring side blind him, that is why he was wise enough to create us, his demons.”
“So we can do his dirty work huh?”
Again Kiko smiled. “Pretty much, though Migoya-sama has more than enough dirt on his hands already. More than we probably will ever know”.
Mikki clicked back the buzzsaws into his little wooden arms, moving towards a nearby stream to wash the remains of the unfortunate villagers he had slaughtered after they had tried to banish him as a ‘demon monkey’. The path ahead would be filled with blood so he’d better get used to it.
[MFT]
[WC: 637]
Kiko-sensei had been training him to become a ‘Demon’ - a branch of the Myakashi devoted to death and destruction, assassination and insurgency. A fist when the normally manipulative Myakashi needed to strike quickly and hard. Kiko was the finest example of this creed, and Mikki found himself fortunate to be learning from the best.
She was a harsh teacher, firm but fair, and far from the young girl Mikki had protected. She was now the master, teaching the former tsukumogami how to separate and hide his weaknesses, his emotions. Such things were only for loved ones now, and to all others he was the deliverer of fear and death. It was a departure indeed for Mikki who had for millenia been a protector of the weak… now he was a dispenser of death.
Why had Migoya pushed him in this direction? The Myakashi leader was his closest friend, but had been blocking his memories for decades. That betrayal had stung Mikki until his wisdom had kicked in - Migoya was trying to keep him ‘innocent’ in an effort to prepare him for what was to come. Having been changed into a mortal had caused Mikki to develop in ways he had not expected, yet now he was back being a puppet… albeit a different one that his previous incarnation. He felt weaker in some ways, but stronger in others. He now felt more… connected with the mortals now that he knew he could actually die. It was both thrilling and terrifying to him.
“This is the point where you must believe they deserved it. There cannot be any empathy or sympathy, for that will weaken your resolve.” Kiko’s voice was clear and held a measure of caring, but Mikki knew that this was a lesson he had to take seriously. “There are only two types of people now to us Mikki-kun. Those of Yamigakure and others. We hold no love or sympathy to others, for others will hurt us, have hurt us. They are tools to us and to our family. Remember this, and you will not feel like you do right now”.
She looked at him with a rare show of empathy, reserved only for her kin. She knew what he was thinking, the guilt that he now carried, and was trying to get him to forget in a different way. Not directly like Migoya, but in a way that let him process it.
“Does it… does it ever become easy?”
“Nothing easy is ever worth it, Mikki-kun. You need to let yourself feel the pain, but learn to accept it for what it is. Pain is a pathway - a tool that sharpens our skills and our wits.”
“You sound like Migoya”.
Kiko chuckled. “Well, he was my mentor as well as my fathers, and he learned from his brother, my grandfather. Migoya is from the generation born through fire and pain, and whilst I feel that sometimes he lets his caring side blind him, that is why he was wise enough to create us, his demons.”
“So we can do his dirty work huh?”
Again Kiko smiled. “Pretty much, though Migoya-sama has more than enough dirt on his hands already. More than we probably will ever know”.
Mikki clicked back the buzzsaws into his little wooden arms, moving towards a nearby stream to wash the remains of the unfortunate villagers he had slaughtered after they had tried to banish him as a ‘demon monkey’. The path ahead would be filled with blood so he’d better get used to it.
[MFT]
[WC: 637]
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